The typical five-day workweek is a thing of the past for Buffer, at least for now. The company has decided to implement a four-day workweek for the “foreseeable future.”
Last year, the company surveyed its employees to see how they are dealing with the ever-changing landscape of the pandemic and the anxiety and stress that came along with it. They soon learned employees didn’t always feel comfortable or like they could take time off.
Employees felt guilty for taking PTO while trying to meet deadlines. Juggling work and suddenly becoming a daycare worker and teacher for their children at the same time was stressful. So, Buffer looked for a solution to help give employees more time and flexibility to get adjusted to their new routines.
Four-Day Workweek Trials
In May, Buffer started the four-day workweek one-month trial to focus on teammates’ well-being. “This four-day workweek period is about well-being, mental health, and placing us as humans and our families first,” said Buffer CEO and co-founder Joel Gascoigne in a company blog post.
“It’s about being able to pick a good time to go and do the groceries, now that it’s a significantly larger task. It’s about parents having more time with kids now that they’re having to take on their education. This isn’t about us trying to get the same productivity in fewer days,” Gascoigne said.
Buffer’s one-month trial proved to be successful. Survey data from before and after the trial showed higher autonomy and lower stress levels. In addition, employee anecdotal stories showed an increase in worker happiness.
With positive results, Buffer turned the trial into a long-term pilot through the end of 2020. This time, the trial would focus on Buffer’s long-term success.
“In order to truly evaluate whether a four-day workweek can be a success long-term, we need to measure productivity as well as individual well-being,” wrote Director of People Courtney Seiter. “Teammate well-being was our end goal for May. Whether that continues, and equally importantly, whether it translates into customer and company results, will be an exciting hypothesis to test.”
Trial Results
Company Productivity
Buffer’s shorter workweek trials showed employees felt they had a better work-life balance without compromising work productivity. According to the company’s survey data, almost 34% of employees felt more productive, about 60% felt equally as productive, and only less than 7% of employees felt less productive.
However, just saying productivity is higher isn’t proof. To make sure the numbers added up, managers were asked about their team’s productivity. Engineering managers reported that a decrease in total coding days didn’t show a decrease in output. Instead, there was a significant output increase for product teams, and Infrastructure and Mobile saw their output double.
The Customer Advocacy team, however, did see a decline in output. Customer service is dependent on customer unpredictability so this makes sense. Still, the survey showed about 85% to 90% of employees felt as productive as they would have been in a five-day workweek. Customers just had to wait slightly longer to receive replies to their inquiries.
Employee Well-Being
With more time and control of their schedules, Buffer’s survey shows an increase in individual autonomy and decreased stress levels reported by employees. And, the general work happiness for the entire company has been consistent throughout 2020.
What’s in store for 2021?
Based on positive employee feedback and promising company results, Buffer decided it will continue the company-wide four-day workweek this year.
“The four-day work week resulted in sustained productivity levels and a better sense of work-life balance. These were the exact results we’d hoped to see, and they helped us challenge the notion that we need to work the typical ‘nine-to-five,’ five days a week,” wrote Team Engagement Manager Nicole Miller.
The four-day workweek will continue in 2021, but the company will also be implementing adjustments based on the pilot results.
For most teams, Fridays will be the default day off. For teams that aren’t project-based, their workweek will look slightly different. As an example, the Customer Advocacy team will follow a different schedule to avoid customer reply delays and ticket overflow. Each team member will still have a four-day workweek and need to meet their specific targets. They will just have a more flexible schedule.
Companies who follow this format understand that output expectations will be further defined by area and department level. Employees who aren’t meeting their performance objectives will have the option to choose a five-day workweek or might be asked to do so.
If needed, Fridays will also serve as an overflow workday to finish up a project. Of course, schedules will be evaluated quarterly to make sure productivity is continuing to thrive and employees are still satisfied.
But, Miller says Buffer is “establishing ambitious goals” that might “push the limits” of a four-day work week in 2021. With the world slowly starting to normalize, who knows when a four-day workweek might reach its conclusion.
“We aren’t sure that we’ll continue with the four-day workweeks forever, but for now, we’re going to stick with it as long as we are still able to hit our ambitious goals,” wrote Miller.
Elaine Reese
March 27, 2009 at 8:27 am
Missy, good advice. I’ve noticed the same thing. I create maps for each listing (and link to them on my blog & web site). I also took the time to make one for the homes I’ve sold in my farm area. Basically, if a map is warranted, I create one in the “My Maps” section.
Mack
March 27, 2009 at 8:52 am
Last fall a buyer searched on Google for my office as he and his wife lived in an apartment near by. He contacted me via Google local and we ended up about 6 weeks later at the closing table.
BTW~I enjoyed meeting you last week at RETechSouth. Thanks for sharing your insights.
DOVE4PEACE
March 27, 2009 at 9:20 am
With the economy being the way that it is and with the housing market making a gradual climb, every positive tool to assist with housing sales is greatly needed. This is a team effort. We need all of the realtor info that can be accessed. Maps are a must. Anything that saves time is greatly appreciated. Take a look at what AGAPE’ Soldiers are doing. Every house sales brings us that much closer to economic recovery and stabilization of our economy. Thank you for providing ways to making real estate transactions easier.
Brandie Young
March 27, 2009 at 9:27 am
Great job, Missy. I think many people will find this quite helpful. And, how impressive that you constantly monitor and refine – letting the data tell you what to do.
Brandie
Missy Caulk
March 27, 2009 at 2:54 pm
Elaine, very cool, I added all my listings to a map too but they are spread out all over Washtenaw County so I need to figure out how to make them smaller or would you suggest a map for each listing ?
Missy Caulk
March 27, 2009 at 2:55 pm
Mack, good for you.
Missy Caulk
March 27, 2009 at 3:01 pm
Dove4Peace, thanks for commenting and being encouraging. You are correct every home sold brings us closer to a recovery. I have not looked at Agape Soldiers but I will I have two sons in the Navy.
Missy Caulk
March 27, 2009 at 3:03 pm
Brandie, I thought it was so interesting as I had never thought about searching or trying to optimize that way.
And if you read Mack’s comment it worked for him too.
Elaine Reese
March 27, 2009 at 7:43 pm
Missy, for listings, I do a single map since they would be too far apart as you say. For these, I include a link to the Google map.
I have a special section on my blog for my neighborhood. I’ve sold 42 homes here so have put all those homes in one map as a reminder for my neighbors. I embed the map into that blog page so it is seen without further clicking.
When I do the ‘local scene’ videos for my blog, I make a map.
Where you used Google Local, I did the maps in MyMaps section. Not sure what the difference would be in doing that.
Elaine Reese
March 27, 2009 at 7:46 pm
Just thought of one more thing regarding the office search map (that you show in your post). Apparently the public can leave comments on those maps. I noticed that for one of the local real estate offices here, a disgruntled client had posted a nasty comment about an agent that worked at that office.
Missy Caulk
March 27, 2009 at 8:26 pm
Elaine, well lets hope that doesn’t happen. I will play around some more and take a look at your blog. Good geo tagging I am sure.
Matt Thomson
March 28, 2009 at 9:11 am
In terms of the “House” search, I had found the same thus two of my main domain names are GigHarborHouse.com and PortOrchardHouse.com, and the sites reflect that verbage. Lots of traffic that way.
Now on to Google/Local…I haven’t done that yet.
Matt Thomson
March 28, 2009 at 9:25 am
Okay, now I’m curious. Can I add to more than just Gig Harbor? For example, can I put myself on the Port Orchard local even though I don’t have a physical address there. Also, what maps do you use for your listings? Is maps.live good, or is googlemaps better?
Elaine Reese
March 28, 2009 at 11:26 am
Matt, for my listings you can see an example on the home page of my web site (elainereese.com) and click on the link below the slideshow of the home.
To see an embeded map of the homes sold in my own neighborhood, go to reesespiecesofrealestate.com/stratford-woods-news-2/ and scroll down a bit.
Hope that gives you some ideas. As I said, I created these (and others) in the MyMaps section of Google. Also, be sure to include the listing address in your alt tag.
Matt Thomson
March 29, 2009 at 9:47 am
Great, thanks!
Kim Wood
April 1, 2009 at 10:06 pm
Thank you Missy! I didn’t put it off and quickly added myself to the GoogleLocal ! You are so full of information – thank you for sharing it with us!
Karen Goodman
April 4, 2009 at 11:15 pm
Missy – Thanks for a great tip. I often read things in blogs that I mark to save for another day. Rarely do I stop and immediately take action as I did from your post.
I just added myself to Google Local. Hope it will work for me as well as it does for you and I’ll get some additional traffic.
I’ve been using Google My Maps for my newsletter restaurant reviews. I do a short blurb on a local independent restaurant in every issue. On the map, I include my review, contact info for the restaurant and the date of the issue it was reviewed. I always have a link in the newsletter to the map so people can see all prior reviews. So far I haven’t gotten any traffic to my blog from this map, but it is one of the more popular features of my newsletter.
I like the idea of using the maps to identify listings.