Did you re-read the title of this article more than once? Yes, you’re reading it correctly. We are talking about the recent concept of the seven-day working week.
Before you jump to conclusions, it’s not as bad as it sounds (trust us) the seven-day concept doesn’t actually refer to working 9 – 5 seven days a week, but rather having the option to work during any of those seven days.
How does the seven-day working week work?
The way this idea works is that each employee is still required to work their normal weekly hours. However, rather than being constrained to Monday – Friday, they have the option to switch these days with the traditional weekend days.
Benefits
There are several positives for this seven-day working week, one of which is the ability to be flexible with your hours. If you need a weekday off due to childcare commitments, or if your other half is a shift worker (such as NHS staff), having the ability to change what day you work your hours is a huge plus.
Another positive is to do with client projects. It can be easy to work long hours to ensure projects are completed by week end, especially if the brief comes in late. However, the stress of having to stay logged on late on a Friday could be alleviated with the individual knowing they can log in on Saturday and take a different day off in the week.
Negatives
However, one negative could be that greater communication is needed to co-ordinate when individuals are online. It is all well and good working on a project over the weekend, but if for example, you require access to a developer during website testing and no one is available, the hours switched could be fruitless.
In real life practice
ARUP, a global engineering company, was one of the first larger business organisations to trial this concept over a three-month period. They found that 87% of employees felt that their work-life balance was better because of it.
With more companies opting for a blend of working from home and office-based work, could the seven-day week be seen as a welcome addition in the ever-growing world of flexible working?
While the idea of flexible working across all seven days is relatively new, as with working from home, the way in which we see normal office working is changing. But will this be something employers will encourage down the line? Only time will tell.
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