Synergy Vision to introduce four-day working week

Thought to be a UK health comms sector first, Synergy Vision is trialling a four-day working week for employees.

The medical communications consultancy says the new initiative, which is part of Synergy’s drive to set team-focused and forward-thinking work standards, will not effect salary or holiday entitlement.

The move follows research that identified benefits for staff and productivity levels that have been achieved in other industries.

As part of the initiative, Synergy will explore reducing the low-use of freelancers too, which it hopes will counteract the industry-wide low staff retention levels.

Synergy’s chief executive Ffyona Dawber, said: “Synergy Vision’s ethos is founded on developing happy teams that we can respect and trust. This promotes excellence and stability in the workforce and helps us to deliver the difference for our clients.

“We have the vision, critical mass and determination to make a four-day week work and improve our employees’ work-life balance. Importantly, we think clients will benefit too, with longer working days increasing the time that teams are available. Individuals will have greater focus and productivity because their life ‘admin’ and leisure time can be planned into their fifth, ’free’ weekday.

“Happy, fulfilled teams do better work. It’s a ‘win-win’ situation and we hope to set standards that the rest of the industry will want to follow.”

The four-day week will launch in December for six months, which will see all staff work 36 hours over four days, compared to their previous 40-hour requirement.

As part of the trial, employees’ happiness and satisfaction will be measured to evaluate the impact of the new policy.