Why We’re Keeping A Rotating 4-Day Work Week

by Jen Ayers on Oct 8, 2021 12:00:00 AM

Over a month ago we published a blog talking about the 4-day work week pilot we were running on a rotating 4-day work week here at DNSFilter.

In summary, our pilot was the implementation of a rotating 4-day work week where we placed ourselves into two groups. Each group rotates and gets every other Friday off. We felt this was going to be the best approach for an early-stage startup, as having an entire company off on Friday (or only folks that are on call working on Fridays) was not an ideal setup.

This turned out to be a success. The end-of-pilot survey showed a resounding 100% vote to continue the program, the participants also provided some excellent feedback on improvements which would help ensure some of the hiccups we encountered are addressed.

In the spirit of transparency, I would love to share some of those improvements with the community. We derived this concept from other companies conducting similar experiments and sharing this knowledge is our way of paying it forward.

What We Learned

Holidays

DNSFilter is a global company. This means that we have a very diverse amount of holidays that are available based on the country someone works in.

The first challenge we needed to overcome was that some of our people felt they were not able to accomplish work items during the week because a local holiday (for example) was on a Tuesday and they were also scheduled to be off the upcoming Friday. A 3-day work week created too much difficulty for meetings, etc.

Our solution: You can choose to take the local holiday day or the Friday.

The second challenge to overcome was when a holiday fell on a Monday. Those who had the preceding Friday off had a 4-day weekend, and those that had the following Friday off had a 3-day work week. Again, very difficult for meetings and created a “compressed schedule” feeling.

Solution: You can choose to take the holiday or the preceding Friday

Company Closures

As we enter the Holiday season and the time of year where globally the company is closed to celebrate with families, we realized that there would be challenges with the rotating 4-day.

Solution: If the company closure falls on a Friday, the preceding Friday is a full workday.

DNSFilter also offers a Flexible Leave policy. So in addition to the rotating 4-day work week, should someone desire to take leave to enjoy a 4-day weekend, they are able to discuss with their Manager and take the time they need.

We are proud that we are able to bring change to employee satisfaction at DNSFilter. Whether it is an experiment that everyone agrees to—or a full fledged new policy—our goal is to ensure that we foster a well-rounded (remote) workplace. For open positions and other benefits check out our career page!

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