The 4-Day Week Global Programme with Joe O'Connor
This time out on The Work Well Podcast, we've invited Joe O'Connor to join us and talk about the 4-Day Week Global Programme and the studies that support it, including his one-year research fellowship on working time reduction with Cornell University in New York City.
Joe is on a sabbatical year from his role as the Director of Campaigning with Fórsa Trade Union, where he coordinates Fórsa’s national campaigns. In Ireland, he works as the chairperson of the 4-Day Week campaign, having coordinated the formation of the coalition in 2019, and the successful launch of a pilot programme and government-funded research project in 2021.
The path to becoming the 4-Day Week Global Programme Manager
From President of the Union of Students in Ireland (USI) to research scholar and International Global Programme Manager, Joe has an extensive list of achievements under his belt.
Born and raised in Roscommon, he graduated from the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology with a Master’s in Business Strategy and Innovation all while leading the students union in Galway, and later moved to the national role in the USI.
“I suppose, because of my interest in student union advocacy issues, that path led me into the trade union movement, where I've been for most of my career. And I guess it's what brought me to this issue around working time reduction in my role in enforcing. [...] It was an area where we were observing some of the international developments in this area where a lot of countries were introducing reduced working hours.”
The working time reduction research at Cornell University
Joe comments that the growing interest Irish leaders had around reducing working hours was a decisive factor when it came to changing people’s preconceived notions of productivity, and this is something that has happened in the rest of the world. In September, Joe commenced a research project at Cornell University on working time reduction. Along with a local team, he's also working with researchers in Boston College and UCD to implement this pilot project.
Their focus at the moment is on recruiting companies in the United States and Canada to join the programme while also coordinating the first pilot in Ireland remotely. Hopefully, this pilot can work as a template to be adopted by campaigns in other countries interested in implementing this working modality in the years to come.
Due to the pandemic, the interest and momentum in this area has increased significantly, and results have been positive with specific company examples such as Perpetual Guardian in New Zealand and the ICE Group in Ireland delivering strong outcomes.
“In all of those cases, businesses are experiencing that their employees are more focused or more motivated. They're more energised and they can deliver better results. It obviously is a huge benefit in terms of employee wellbeing and work-life balance.”, says Joe.
The challenge now is to isolate and replicate the programme on a broader scale in a way it can work for different countries and sectors alike, even when the initial momentum passes.
How does the 4-Day Week Programme coexist with a hybrid working model?
Although these two models don’t contradict each other, Joe comments on the importance people have given to hybrid and fully remote working models of late, which has blurred the lines for other models such as the 4-Day Week Programme in the public eye.
Nonetheless, the COVID-19 crisis was crucial to opening people’s eyes in terms of how to measure productivity and wellbeing. “I think that's probably unlocked the door for a lot of those companies to actually think ‘you know, what? I could see how a four-day a week', and 'I could see how reduced working hours might work for my mebusiness.’ And I think that that's demonstrated in the level of interest we've had in the pilot program in Ireland, which has been quite significant.”
What is the 4-Day Week Programme and how does it work
The model proposed by Joe and his team is one in which you have only four working days, but with the same salary, terms and conditions of your current 5-day working week. It is not like an unpaid parental leave day off for example.
“We're not talking about purely a 4-day working week in every sector and every setting. The model that we're advocating is the 100-80-100 model. So it's 100% pay, 80% of the time, but crucially in return for 100% productivity.” says Joe.
The Irish pilot has helped a lot in answering the question of productivity. The 4-Day Working Week isn’t just to reduce working days and do nothing else, because this wouldn’t be beneficial for companies. What they aim to do is to introduce the topic of smart work to increase productivity within organisations, so they can get more done in less time, allowing employees to rest and re-energise as well.
The 4-Day Week Programme: an overview
After running a six-month coordinated trial in Ireland, Joe and his team provide companies that participate with training, specially designed and developed by the 4-Day Week Programme leaders in Ireland and already implemented internationally.
Through this mentoring programme, they connect companies in Ireland with experts based on their own specific needs, so each company has a specialised mentor to guide and support them during those six months. This is a great opportunity for companies to network and work alongside companies that are going or have gone through the same transition.
Finally, both Boston College and University College Dublin offer access to the research they’ve developed in each sector so mentors and company leaders can measure and track their own progress.
What you need to know about the 4-Day Week Programme as a HR leader
In terms of what to expect from the 4-Day Week Programme, there’s no one better to answer this than the companies that have already participated. “A lot of the companies that have done this in Ireland, they would tell you that this is probably the best thing they've ever done in terms of a business improvement strategy”, says Joe.
Joe’s advice to leaders who are still indecisive about taking the programme is that the key to other companies’ success is not to overthink it and adopt the pilot and adapt it to best suit their situation. The biggest benefit of the programme is the access to academic support and mentorships crafted specifically for each sector, which allows companies the possibility to adapt the programme to their needs.
What are the requirements to participate?
Joe mentions that “the only barriers to entry right now are number one: that the company has agreed to participate in the research project” because it is extremely important to keep on developing the research, and “number two: that it adheres to the general principles of the 100-80-100 model.”
That is to say, if a company wants to participate, but plans on cutting benefits and salaries along with working days they are not good candidates to take part in the project.
If you are interested in knowing more about the programme before signing up, you can check the white paper available on their global website 4 Day Week. There you can also read some of the results from other companies during their trials.
The future of work according to Joe O’Connor
The first thing Joe mentions is the importance of looking at more flexible working models, but not just in terms of location, which has been the trend lately, but also in terms of working hours and average working time.
Focusing only on location-based working models is risky, as we forget to also implement changes in the amount of time employees spend in front of the computer.
“I think in terms of the future of work, when we launched the Irish campaign back in 2019, we said it was our medium-term ambition to move towards the four day week as the new default for the new standard across the economy.”, summarises Joe.
If you’d prefer to watch our conversation, you can view it on YouTube through this link.
If you liked this episode and want to know more about Joe O’Connor and the 4-Day Week Programme, you can visit 4-Day Week Global and follow them on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
The Irish pilot starts in February 2022 and NOW is the time to sign up. The US pilot will follow a little later but you can sign up now and start the preparations.
Our Partners
This episode is brought to you in partnership with AJ Products who are leading the way in Ergonomic and Active workplace furniture solutions at ajproducts.ie
About Your Host
Brian Crooke is a wellbeing educator, speaker and adviser, empowering organisations to promote and sustain wellbeing within their workplaces.
He is the founder of The Work Well Institute and the Work Well Community and is Course Director of the Postgraduate Certificate in Workplace Wellness at Tangent, Trinity College Dublin. He is the host of The Work Well Podcast.
If you’re looking to bring sustainable wellbeing to your workplace then check out The Work Well Institute’s flagship programme, Developing a Workplace Wellness Programme that Lasts.
In his spare time, Brian is bringing free resistance training to every county and community in Ireland through his parkHIIT social enterprise.
If you have any suggestions for future topics you'd like to hear on the show, email Brian directly, brian@workwellpodcast.com