The widely accepted and adopted 9-to-5 working schedule has been the standard for so many people in different positions, from CEOs to teachers and waiters. However, over the last few years, more and more businesses and employees experienced either a gradual or sudden shift toward other modes of work. Since the 40-hour working week is becoming outdated, these other work models are proving one can be more productive over a shorter period of time at work.
Results of such dramatic updates include an increase in employees’ well-being, effectiveness, and stress reduction, as the study by the American Psychological Association related to the rise of the 4-day working week suggests.
Along with alternatives such as 21-hour working weeks, getting rewarded for the actual number of items sold or installed is growing in popularity. Let us delve into each alternative.
Innovative Work Models to Replace Traditional Schedules
Are alternative workweeks always better for employees to handle? Does the idea of such work models always imply reduced hours? Not all answers can be found on the surface. What sets a non-standard working week apart is its flexibility and spreading work tasks across as many days as viewed more conveniently.
Thus, even a 7-day workweek can exist as long as suitable for a firm. It might often be that being engaged in work assignments from 7 a.m. till noon is what works for people best! At the end of the day, they are left with plenty of energy to do life on the same day, can spend time with family and friends, or dedicate it to hobbies. This is the much desired work-life balance that so many nowadays are striving to reach.
Do alternative work models only suit programmers and freelancers? Far from it. While some have the opinion that a four-day week and similar schedule solutions are just meant for spheres such as technology and IT, it was proven wrong by large and small companies all around the world. For instance, Canadian window contractors have welcomed the idea of their employees being occupied part-time and remaining at the highest of their resources rather than going ‘all in’ and staying in the office morning to evening.
It still makes perfect sense to categorize alternative work models and discover in which ways one can benefit from them.
Reduced Hours or Compressed Workweek
These are two different phenomena in the world of modern organization of the working time. Reduced hours mean that a regular 5-day week remains and a team works fewer total hours, e.g. 34 hours weekly spread evenly across 5 working days. In its turn, a compressed workweek will often look like four normal days of work that consist of 10 hours of work. This scheme is known as a 4 10-hour week. At the same time, one may come across a 3 12-hour week.
Pluses of reduced hours and compressed weeks include:
- No time and costs wasted on transportation
- Increased work-life balance due to extra days off
- Businesses or service centers may benefit from extended hours of work.
Organizations with loads of work and large client flows, as well as large industries are certain to feel the positive chances from implementing a compressed work model.
Remote & Hybrid Work
Especially relevant in positions which don’t require an employee’s direct presence in the office or among other team members, remote work has boomed in the Covid times. One can perform job-related tasks from any spot on the globe, – a favorite coffee shop, library, or a skiing resort. Some companies never ‘recovered’ from this as their productivity went up while workers saved time and focused better in contrast to multi hour commuting.
From an employee’s perspective, there is a sense of deeper trust in them. However, with this model, workplace interactions are put to the bare minimum and corporate culture can get diluted. If you’re puzzled how to improve it, try:
- Organizing remote / hybrid collaborations
- Focus on teambuilding
- Encourage honest feedback
Other insights on making hybrid and remote work a catalyst for success rather than a workplace culture inhibitor are found in this article.
The trendier and perhaps more realistic schedule for the vast majority of office professions nowadays is hybrid work. This model allows for far greater autonomy compared to the standard 5-9. Some days might be fine for work from home while others might need one’s presence at a company’s facility. Showing up every now and then to attend important meetups, take part in conferences, or report to those higher in the position hierarchy is normally required.
It is argued that hybrid work boasts incredible results, especially among professions of knowledge, and is already becoming the new normal way to work. Other its pluses are:
- Making the workplace more inclusive
- Tapping into a wider talent pool
- Office rent expenses going down
- Skipping excessive traveling costs
- Leaving a smaller carbon footprint.
Among other non-obvious benefits of having a flexible job, a special place belongs to significantly higher retention. Even back in 2019 the survey found that nearly 80% of employees would have been more loyal to a firm if it granted flexible working times. At the same time, nearly 30% of employees quit their jobs because positions had a serious lack of flexibility.
If this is true for that time, how much more a contemporary wage-earner values the freedom of choice and being able to breathe through the week instead of merely surviving. That is why most employees given flexible work models tend to stay and companies adopting these models experience less staff turnover. In its turn, this will contribute to career durability. Those motivated to work in their own rhythms almost always will demonstrate better results and desire to go up the career ladder
Flexible Schedules
This term stands for employees choosing their own week duration and the number of hours per week. It means they will have shorter breaks at times or come and leave in non-fixed times. Once there is an agreement between one and the administration, a sort of individual schedule is created, with lots of places to customize it on condition of fair and clear communication between sides.
This kind of working model is demanding but often turns out to be unbelievably rewarding. As long as one can manage their time well and is disciplined, the model is going to work. Its pluses are:
- Employees remain intact with their natural rhythms
- Schedules are made with respect to employee’s interests
Job Sharing
As unusual as it sounds, this working model might be a key to success. Not every company might be ready for this but some take the risk of hiring two team members who share the responsibilities within one full-time position. In practice this looks like two workers doing part-time hours and oftentimes compensating for each other’s weaker points by using their skills to work in the same field.
On the one hand, such employees don’t feel too much of a load on themselves. On the other hand, giving a way to people with different skill levels will provide for plenty of room for mentorship, sharing, teamwork, as well as covering up for sick leaves and vacation.
Result-only Work Environment (ROWE)
In simple words, this alternative scheme involves getting take-home pay in proportion to the output rather than hours of work. This takes off the burden of an employee having to spend a fixed number of hours in the office. As long as the result is not lower than what is agreed upon, the employer does not care when they come and leave and how much time they spend completing job assignments.
ROWE appears even more flexible than remote work since there is no set schedule at all. Once a worker delivers the necessary quality of product or service, they are good. This model, however, requires complete trust from chief members.
Freelance
For some people, it is perfect not to get tied up by a full-time dedication to a certain position. Even a part-time job or 4-day working week can be too much for them. Freelance is the answer to talents working from home or while traveling as it relies on a person completing projects in a way that most of the time requires no regularity or schedule.
Very often companies choose to outsource, i.e. hire such employees, per project in order to have tasks completed with their outstanding skills and knowledge. Seasonal work is, in its turn, an alternative for those whose jobs are extremely reliant on the weather or times of demand.
Shift Work
Nurses and doctors are the first who come to mind when speaking about shifts. While night shifts are difficult to handle, it is often a requirement of the profession. It is typical for data centers, hospitals, logistic chains, manufacturers to work in shifts while normally employees get to choose which shifts they prefer or how many nights they can do per month or per week.
Conclusion
Teams working four days a week or hybrid work models might be challenging to manage and organize as they require innovative approaches to deal with. However, choosing an alternative work model is likely to prevent a burnout in employees, expand company’s staff sourcing horizons, and lead to higher job satisfaction and overall productivity.
The choice of an alternative model for a company needs to be made in connection to the business type, culture, the sphere and the nature of work, as well as taking into account the preferences of the team and how they can benefit from a schedule both at work and in day-to-day lives.
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