Why a Shorter Workweek is Better for Building Brands
by Betty Winz, Business Operations Manager
If you’re in California, you’ve probably heard about the recently-proposed bill to shorten the workweek to 32 hours without reducing pay. It’s raised some valid concerns and questions (and is currently stalled in the legislature), but the core critique — that it’s bad for business — couldn’t be further from the truth. Shorter workweeks aren’t just better for employees. They’re also often better for the bottom line.
When Shannon hired me as Purveyor’s first full-time employee, we talked about what a workweek might look like. I was freshly out of a tech startup, and she’d had her fair share of exhausting workplaces. We’d seen too many organizations use mantras like “work hard, play hard” as an excuse to overwork employees, ultimately leading to burnout and turnover. And, because we don’t believe “that’s how we’ve always done it” is a good reason to do, well, anything, we got to work building something different.
My first week on the job, I worked 30 hours. Suddenly I had the time and flexibility to take care of myself and enjoy my life. The outcome was unsurprising: I had more energy for the work I’d been hired to do. I could care more about it. Yes, I’d been given 10 extra hours to do what I needed and wanted, but the positive effects weren’t only for me — since those things were handled, I didn’t have to stress about them on work time, so I could bring my full self to my role.
When we were ready to hire again a few months later, we knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that this was who we wanted to be. We now have a team of 7, all of whom make a market-rate full-time annual salary for their position, and none of whom work more than 35 hours in a given week. In the last year, we’ve found even more ways to build rest into our DNA. We encourage employees to use their vacation. We add an extra week of holiday time in the summer and winter. We prioritize time for our other responsibilities, our families, and the things that bring us joy.
The results? Our clients are happier than ever, the quality of our work continues to improve, we’re more efficient with how we use our time, we’re getting just as much done, and we’ve grown into a healthy, flourishing team — all while doubling our revenue and staying profitable.
And it’s not just us. A survey of nearly 2,000 office workers in the UK found that the average worker is actually productive for less than three hours each day. Alex Soojung-Kim Pang, author of Shorter and Rest and founder of Strategy and Rest, says the number is closer to five. Even the most productive among us, if we’re honest with ourselves, probably don’t spend anywhere close to a full eight hours at peak performance.
30-hour weeks work for us because, after six hours in front of a computer screen, most of us are creatively spent. By choosing to not push through, we’re better able to circumvent the burnout that often haunts creative fields and recharge so we’re ready for the next day’s challenges. After all, six hours into the day, we’re usually left with two choices — continue pretending to work or get up and do something else. And if you ask us, walking away from our desks is the better choice every time.