
How Active DMC Took the Plunge with a Four-Day Work Week
To say that the world has changed over the past two years is an understatement. Our daily lives have been disrupted in many ways, whether it’s the way we travel, shop, socialize, or work. We’ve all adapted to many changes.
So, we thought why not take control of some changes ourselves, and change the shape of our work by moving to a 4-day week?
We have all experienced the challenges and issues that digital transformation and switching to a remote workforce has had, particularly on the security aspects of organizations. Many of us have produced content on the new ways of working and promoted different organizations’ views, but have we truly looked at them and how they might apply to our very own businesses in the Code Red network?
At Active, we have been at the forefront of the ‘new ways of working’ narrative. We shifted our working week to Monday – Thursday, adding Sunday to our weekend as well.
We started evaluating the move from May 2021, holding discussions with our partners, and researching how to align with UAE labour law. Eventually, we put together the framework for a four-month trial period to begin on 1st September 2021. In January 2022, the UAE also shifted their weekend to Friday and Saturday, which aligned perfectly with our shift.
We were initially concerned about what our clients might make of this shift – especially as our weekend is already out of phase with most of our international clients. So, it was very important that we talk things through with them first.
As it turns out, we needn’t have worried. Our clients have always been understanding and respectful of our weekends schedule and this was no different.
They rarely contact us on Fridays unless it’s urgent or they want to share something for the following week. By the same token, while we worked on Sundays, we rarely had to interrupt our clients enjoying their weekends. As such, our Sundays were usually slower-paced administrative days unless a major breaking news event occurred.
Why shift to a shorter week?
The primary driving factor for us was our PEOPLE. We know that in the marketing, advertising and public relations sector, people are what make an agency. We understood from the outset, the challenges involved in attracting and retaining talent in smaller independent agencies – despite there being little difference to the larger global names – and wanted Active Digital Marketing Communications to offer a compelling reason for them to seriously consider us.
At Active, we are passionate about creating an exciting work environment for new talent and retain existing ones.
Productivity is another word you will hear a great deal associated with the four-day week format. We realized that this is a medium-term goal that we wanted to achieve. By offering our team a better work-life balance, they became more energized, creative and passionate.
As one of the first companies in the private sector in the United Arab Emirates to adopt a shorter four-day working week, we were delighted with the UAE Governments’ recent announcement that leads the way internationally in taking this bold and decisive step.
It was interesting to read that the UK is also considering a shorter working week. We’ll be happy to give our clients some advice if they decide to take the plunge, too.