New ways of working

We’ve now officially introduced a full-time working week of 32 hours with no changes to salary. This is a contractual change which equates to the “gold standard” called for by the four-day working week campaign. Alongside this we’ve given staff flexibility in how they work their hours; from offering a four-day working week to term time working. 

One of the drivers for us in embarking on the trial was to create a working culture that encourages wellbeing and personal growth, but still gives us the time to get the job done as effectively as possible. Several studies suggested that we would see an improvement across multiple areas from productivity, retention, staff welfare and sickness, so we put various measures in place during the trial to capture if this would indeed be the case for us. We are pleased to now share some of the findings with you: 

• 100% of staff have said there is an improvement in their work/life balance (26% of staff felt it was ‘poor’ before the trial) 
• 87.5% of staff feel their productivity has increased since the start of the trial with 12.5% saying it has remained the same 
• 87.5% of staff feel their life/work balance has improved since the start of the trial with 12.5% saying it has remained the same  
• 100% of staff feel more motivated in their work 
• Team collaboration and communication has increased from 63% of staff finding it effective at the start of the trial, to 100% at the end of the trial 
• 75% of staff feel the trial has positively impacted their relationships with their colleagues with 25% saying it has remained the same 

Our independent HR consultant, Roots HR, also produced a final report after interviewing each member of staff at the start, mid way, and end of the trial. Their report noted that the trial has been “very successful”, with several themes emerging during the six months: 

1. Improved focus on use of time to deliver work 
2. Improved awareness of other people’s availability 
3. Work/life balance improvement 
4. Retention 

It notes part of the success of the trial is down to the way it was managed by the leadership team. It also found that the measures put in place to monitor the impact of the trial “were all equally appreciated, and employees felt that they were heard as management has already adapted the pilot in response to employee feedback”. 

We’re really pleased that the trial has been a success, and hope it encourages other organisations to pause and think about what they can do.  

We’d also like to take this opportunity to thank our trustees. This wouldn’t have been possible without their support in enabling us to introduce the trial in the first place and work through what it looks like at London Funders.  

Going forward 

Looking to the future, we are proud to be part of a growing movement of employers who are re-thinking how we work. But we aren’t finished here! We’re still looking at how we can improve, whether that be through policies (such as our equal parental pay and pregnancy loss policies), pledges (from menopause workplace to show the salary) and practices (being a Disability Confident Employer). You can read more about what we are doing here.  

And if you want to know more about our approaches, we’ll be talking at the Festival of Learning next month, in partnership with our member Barking & Dagenham Giving. In this session, we’ll share how both organisations approached trialling new ways of working, the different processes we put in place to create better work-life balance and what the results have been. London Funders have also spent the last year thinking about how we practically put inclusion and equity at the heart of our staff and recruitment policies. We’ll be sharing the learning from this and how it’s helped us create a stronger, healthier and more productive team. You can book your space here.