- Studies have shown $4 can boost employee productivity and happiness.
- But making the transition from the standard Monday-to-Friday week can be challenging.
A $4 while maintaining — and sometimes even increasing — productivity, some recent studies have shown.
But $4 can be tough.
$4 and carving out more time for focused work can help. At least that's what worked for ThredUp.
The online clothing consignment company moved its nearly 300 salaried employees to a four-day work week in 2021, and a few key changes helped smooth that transition, according to a Wall Street Journal $4 published Monday.
The consignment company cut 20% of its meetings and set aside Tuesdays as "maker days" for $4. ThredUp also encouraged employees to hop on the phone to talk things through if an issue being worked out over email wasn't resolved after three rounds of back-and-forth, the Journal reported.
The changes have apparently proven beneficial: In an employee survey of ThredUp's corporate salaried staff, 93% said the abbreviated week improved their productivity, ThredUp's chief people and diversity officer, Natalie Breece, $4 in March.
Meanwhile, turnover among those employees was down by 55% compared with 2019 — and more than half of the company's new hires said the four-day work week tipped the scale in their decision to work there.
Beside curbing turnover and helping attract talent, $4 and even $4 in some cases. Going to the office one fewer days a week can also help employees save time and money, and reduce emissions associated with their commutes — not to mention spend more time with their families and save on childcare.
Even implementing some of the changes individually, without fully transitioning to a new schedule, can produce benefits.
Earlier this year, Shopify $4 and all meetings scheduled on Wednesdays, a move it says eliminated freed up more than 322,000 hours of time given back to employees to "get shit done."