Cambridge business reports positive outcomes from 9-day fortnight

A Cambridge business has revealed that its implementation of a nine-day fortnight work arrangement resulted in positive outcomes for productivity and employee happiness, according to a report.

Te Miro Water, an engineering consultancy company, has been implementing the nine-day fortnight arrangement for the past year, Radio New Zealand reported.

Under the scheme, employees get a three-day weekend every other week after working for nine days in two work weeks. Despite this, employees still get paid for full 10 days.

Positive outcomes with 9-day fortnight

Britta Jensen, co-founder of Te Miro Water, told RNZ that they judged the scheme's success via productivity, the output, and the general happiness, satisfaction, and enthusiasm of their team.

"Everybody knows that there's some parts of your day when you come to work and you actually don't produce much," she told the news outlet. "You're sort of just sitting at work and you're finding it hard to be motivated and keep things going, but just knowing that you have your one day off definitely changes the way your mind thinks."

According to Jensen, there was "buzz and energy" among their 15-person team during shorter work weeks.

Their clients also had no problems with not being able to reach staff during Fridays off, and even felt the energy and happiness radiating from their team, according to Jensen.

The success of their nine-day fortnight expelled Jensen's initial concerns that staff would feel more stress in trying to jam an extra day's work during a four-day week.

Te Miro Water's success in trialling an alternative work arrangement adds further evidence to how shorter work weeks benefit workplaces.

Various organisations have been implementing four-day work weeks, such as Unilever NZ and Perpetual Guardian, joining the growing trend of organisations implementing alternative work arrangements to boost work-life balance.