Jordan Sanchez: Rethinking the Work Week

Rethinking the Work Week

Jordan Sanchez, MSW Senior Director of Operations at Lilyfield, Inc.

Lilyfield, Inc.

 Lilyfield originally began in 1990 as a satellite office of Colorado

Christian Services

 Formal separation and incorporation of Lilyfield, Inc. occurred in 2000 (initially named Christian Services of Oklahoma)

 Our Mission: A Christ-centered ministry devoted to providing healthy families for at-risk children and youth.

What prompted reflection on the work week?

Continued recruitment and retention challenges following COVID The impact of these challenges on current staff

What prompted reflection on the work week?

- Research based added benefits of a compressed work week:

- Increase in job satisfaction

- Decrease in turnover rates

- Equivalent or improved productivity

- Physical health improvement for staff

- Lilyfield added benefits of a compressed work week:

- Stand out among non-profits

- Increase pay by giving staff the same amount of money for less work hours

- Concentrated periods of work followed by three day weekend of rest

- Better accommodates for long days some program staff work in a more consistent manner

What was the process of selecting and implementing the compressed work week schedule?

 Senior leadership at the agency discussed compressed work week options

 Consideration for clients and specific program needs

 Feedback from program directors

 Development of FAQs for staff, initial “A/B” schedule, and proposed policy changes

 Executive Director presented the preferred option to the board

 72 hours/9 days per pay period (previous schedule was 75 hours/10 days per pay period)

What was the process of selecting and implementing the compressed work week schedule?

 Communicated upcoming change to compressed work week to all staff while participating in bi-annual all staff training in early December 2023

 Allowed for questions regarding this change on the spot, but also allowed more questions in the weeks following with individual staff teams as the compressed work week was not effective until January 2024

 Staff were given their assigned A or B schedule, FAQs regarding this change which discussed in detail situational instances where Fridays off may need to change or instances where an employee does not want to work the compressed schedule

Response & Feedback

- Overwhelmingly positive

- A few staff chose not to work the compressed work week schedule

- Program staff who work longer days at certain times during the week did require more supervisory support in rethinking how to flex their time from evening work

- Formal feedback from staff will be reviewed in end of year staff survey data

- Turnover vs. retention data will be reviewed after end of year

References

 Ducharme, J. (2023 February 20). Four-Day work weeks are good for your health, a large study finds. TIME. https://time.com/6256741/four-day-work-week- benefits/

 Fontinelle, A. (2022 November 13). The impact of working a 4-day week. Investopedia. https://www.investopedia.com/the-impact-of-working-a-4-day-week- 5203640

 Laker, B. (2022 May 16). What does the four-day work week mean for the future of work? MITSloan Management Review. https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/whatdoes-the-four-day-workweek-mean-for-the-future-of-work/

 Merle, A. (2022 January 4). This is how many hours you should really be working. Work Life. https://www.atlassian.com/blog/productivity/this-is-how-many-hoursyou-should-really-beworking#:~:text=If%20you%20want%20to%20achieve,at%20work%20and%20at %20home

Questions?