Moving beyond the hybrid work debate

In an era where employee attrition is at its highest, some organisations are trialing alternatives to the 9-5 Monday-Friday workweek. What's been tested - and what could become the norm?

Four-day week: A four-day week trial took place in 2021 with 4 Day Week - Global and resulted in 86% of companies involved claiming they would keep the four-day week once the trial ended based on positive results. The CIPD found that a third of organisations expect the four-day week to become inevitable in the next decade. There is debate over whether this will be a condensed week of longer days or reduced hours for the same pay.

Six-hour workday: Influenced by a shorter work week, the concept of a six-hour workday has been touted - with experts suggesting that a 40-hour work week isn't necessary and is merely 'status quo bias.' Indeed, Norway and Denmark have shorter work days and are within the top 10 most productive countries. Shortening the workday could attract more talent. A vouchercloud study found that we are only actually productive for two hours and 33 minutes of each working day anyway.

Non-linear workday: This involves splitting the working day into chunks and suits parents or those with other responsibilities. It means that the content of the work is completed but at hours that suit the employee. Hybrid working has shown that this is possible as employees no longer need to be together at all times, which means some work can be conducted at hours that might suit an individual (earlier in the morning or into the evening).

The one thing that the new norm of work will have in common is a greater push for a work-life balance for employees. Hybrid working has opened the door for alternative ways of working and it seems that new ideas are being allowed to step over the threshold and take hold in our working lives.

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