Recruiter has perfect pitch
THE pitch Margaret Cox uses to attract employees to her recruitment firm is enticing.
Her website states: ‘We don’t have table tennis, football, or massage tables but we do have a three-day weekend most weekends – because when we’re at work we work, and when we’re off work we’re off.’ It’s a formula she said has been hugely successful since her Galway-based
company, ICE Recruitment, became the first Irish business to introduce a four-day week for all its employees three years ago.
Since then, productivity across its offices in Galway, Sligo, Limerick, Dublin and Sydney has increased and its 45 staff are feeling the benefits.
They work four nine-hour days and don’t work on either Monday or Friday.
She said: ‘When we announced it to our employees at first they thought it was a candid camera moment.
‘They were like, “You’re giving us a day off, for the same pay every week. It sounds to be good to be true!”
‘But it’s worked for us. We’ve increased our productivity by 27%. It’s the same or more output for less hours. You get the same bang for your buck.
‘We know ourselves that on a bank holiday weekend we get our work done in the four days, that’s just the way it works out.’
Ms Cox is currently mentoring three of the 18 companies taking part in the four-day week trial currently under way in Ireland.
She added: ‘In another five years I’ll be really disappointed if Ireland isn’t leading the way in Europe. If we became known for this, people would want to live here, they’d want to work in Ireland – it would be tremendous for Ireland Inc.’
The former Fianna Fáil senator, who has co-authored a new book on the subject called The 3-Day Weekend, said businesses need ‘to be brave’ to embrace the four-day week, but stressed the results will pay dividends.
She said: ‘There needs to be a business as well as political will for this to really take off.
‘It’s something that’s worked so well for us, I’m very happy to help others starting out.