There’s a perception in recruitment that you have to be working long hours to be good at your job. I disagree.

I live my life by the motto ‘work smarter, not harder’. There are enough hours in the working day to get your stuff done.

Technology has changed the landscape for recruiters and it’s also enabled us to switch our business model to four days a week.

The background is that by the middle of last year I realised Fairmont Recruitment had become a victim of its own success.

We specialise in the technology sector and by the time of our fourth birthday in April we’ll probably have 10 staff at our offices in Knutsford.

By 2021 we realised the market had been pretty crazy for about a year and staff members were in danger of being burnt out very quickly.

Something had to change and I looked at switching to four days a week, Monday-Thursday.

Iceland trial

They trialled something similar in Iceland and found that productivity remained the same or improved in the majority of workplaces.

I spoke to a good friend of mine who switched to four days a week at his consultancy and we discussed how it impacted on his staff and their productivity.

In the end we took the plunge in July last year and it’s the best thing we ever did.

Staff work 8.30am-5.30pm, Monday-Thursday, with no deduction in salary.

One thing that allowed us to do the four-day week was using tech to automate many of our processes to do things better.

There are different ways and means to communicate with people through technology, be it instant messaging, different video platforms etc.

Refreshed

People are getting an extra day to recover. By the time they come into work on Monday morning they’re fully recharged and refreshed.

Clients were kept fully informed of the changes. We contacted them all before we started and wrote them all a letter. They were very supportive.

The staff manage their own diaries. Occasionally a client might need to speak to them on a Friday but they would do it from home or from a beach rather than the office. We leave it up to them.

As the founder I still work Fridays but I make sure I do the school and try and arrange any meetings for that day.

Would I recommend other companies switch to four-day weeks? It won’t be right for every business but it is for us at Fairmont Recruitment and means we’re in the best shape possible to expand.