Why this Sunderland business is moving to a four-day week - and what it means for staff

Online events business StreamGo, based at Defender Court in Sunderland, is making their working week shorter in a bid to find a better balance between work and life.

The pilot project run by 4 Day Week Global in partnership with think tank Autonomy, the 4 Day Week UK Campaign and researchers at Cambridge University, Oxford University and Boston College involves 30 companies nationwide.

Companies will measure whether employees can operate at 100 percent productivity for 80 percent of the time.

Employees at StreamGo – who work with the likes of Sony, Pfizer, Retail Week and Speedo – now work a 28-hour week instead of a 35-hours, which will gain over 50 days of annual leave in addition to their existing allowance.

The company will then move to a four-day week by summer 2022 and will be paid the same amount as if they were working their usual five days.

StreamGo say they hope the move has a positive impact on reducing stress levels, increasing productivity and boosting team engagement.

Andrew Dipper, Head of Marketing at StreamGo said: “Everyone pines for the idea of working four days a week and there are clear benefits for both employees and the employer.

"We want to reduce stress levels but maintain quality of work and productivity, it’s about finding a balance.”

Currently, the business closes at 12:30pm every Friday.

Richard Lee, Production Director said: “As part of our phased approach to this change we’ll initially close on Fridays at 12:30pm (UK time), as this is often our quietest period for client requests. Our clients shouldn’t notice any difference in our service.

“We’ll continue to deliver events on Friday afternoons but use a flexible approach with our production teams to make sure they still benefit from the shorter working week."

The company say they will measure how successful the pilot project is by monitoring specific areas including wellbeing, motivation and happiness.

Mr Dipper added: “Following the pandemic, positive reduction in stress levels and general well-being is what’s at the heart of our new policy, we want staff to be happier but still productive.”

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