A four-day week just doesn’t work in a seven-day world

Straight-talking common sense from the front line of management

Q I run a fairly small chain of shops and our head office staff are keen to try out a four-day week. I would be open to such an experiment myself, however it feels unfair to our shop workers to introduce such a policy when they must work five days out of seven. Are there other ways to help my staff avoid burnout, and what are your thoughts on the concept of a four-day week?

A The four-day week may work well if you are a four days a week business surrounded by people working in a four-day world, but your business doesn’t come into that category.

You need to realise that the main purpose of your office is to support the colleagues who run your shops. To emphasise that point I recommend that you stop referring to “head office”, a term that suggests that your central team makes all the major decisions and sets policies that everyone else has to follow. We don’t see things that way, we want our branch colleagues to be free to use their initiative, with everyone else providing support and clearing any obstacles that get in their way.

During the early weeks of lockdown I got a classic reminder of the supporting role our office-based colleagues play in securing success. I was visiting the Timpson shop in Lancaster, where Hayley was taking more than £6,000 a week all on her own. An amazing achievement when you consider that she was serving customers, cutting loads of keys, repairing shoes and watches, handling the admin, ordering stock and keeping the shop tidy.

“How do you do it all on your own?” I asked. “It’s simple,” she replied. “Whenever I need help it’s there at the end of an email or phone call. Everyone else in the business makes sure I have all I need to do my job.”

Your chain of shops is probably similar to an area of our business. Each Timpson area has about 45 shops and 85 colleagues. Our customers are likely to see only one colleague in each branch but, bear in mind, most branches open seven days a week, so a substitute will be there on the manager’s days off.

Things were very different 40 years ago, when most of our business was shoe repairs and each shop had at least three cobblers and a couple of other people serving customers. Every shop had to follow our standing orders and an area manager made sure that they did. It worked, but our branch colleagues simply stuck to the rules and many nipped out for a smoke every hour and popped to the pub at lunchtime. We probably provided an adequate but average level of service.

Today, every area is supported by a team of seven colleagues who give training, provide holiday cover, act as a business helpline and, crucially, become mentors for colleagues who encounter problems outside work. There is no way the area team could operate a four-day week.

I was with one of our area managers a couple of weeks ago and she gave me an idea of her routine by describing the highlights of her previous seven days. For her, it had been a typical week, spent travelling round a number of shops and dealing with problems from all over her area.

There was a flood in one branch and a key cutting breakdown in another. Both these emergencies were sorted pretty quickly, but most of her time had been spent solving people problems. One colleague was moving house and his friend’s van broke down so she hired a truck and, as the colleague didn’t have a driving licence, spent Saturday helping with the move. Two colleagues phoned in sick on Sunday morning, she called on a colleague to hand over a present for his 40th birthday and, as one of our Mental Health First Aiders, she can expect to be contacted any time during the day or night.

So, before you establish a four-day working week in your office, remember that disasters don’t just happen from Monday to Thursday, your branch colleagues can need help on a Friday and at the weekend – and so do your customers. Don’t make the mistake of abandoning the personal touch by putting all your customer helplines in the hands of a computer. It is thoughtless to deny a complaining customer the chance of talking to a real person.

By all means care for your office team by encouraging flexible working, giving extra time off for dental appointments and special family occasions and being generous when compassionate leave is needed. But never forget that you are providing support to a seven-daysa-week business.