Car insurer iGO4 has launched a four-day working week for its 300 employees.
All members of staff at the digital business chose to adopt the new pattern, which will give them Fridays off and leave their salaries unchanged albeit with a slight increase to 8.5-hour days Monday to Thursday.
The latest switch comes on top of a permanent move to hybrid working by the Peterborough-headquartered business, along with the introduction of certain permanent homeworking roles.
According to the organisation, it brought in the four-day week in recognition of the strong preference workers have for flexibility, particularly since the start of the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic that continues to impact the way people live and work.
The new working pattern is part of a wider benefits package aimed at supporting employees, their families, their health and the environment. This includes private medical cover for all staff, enhanced maternity leave, fully paid paternity leave and free car parking at the head office.
In addition, every employee is able to undertake two days per year of volunteering work, join a company electric vehicle car scheme, and access free fruit and drinks when working in the office.
Also available are shopping discounts, life insurance, a cycle-to-work scheme and up to six weeks of holiday depending on length of service.
Matt Munro, chief executive and founder of iGO4 said that extensive consultations had convinced the firm that a four-day week was a “compelling proposition” for both new starters and longstanding team members., He said he was looking forward to assessing the impact of the initiative over the coming months.
“Doing things differently is engrained in our culture and, coming out of the pandemic, we recognised we had the opportunity to take the positives from our Covid experience and create a new working environment that would make a genuine difference to people’s wellbeing and work-life balance,” said Munro.
“Equally importantly, we expect to see this move impact positively on our productivity, and the customer experience we are able to offer, as colleagues come to work feeling happier and more refreshed.”
A number of employers have recently announced plans to switch to a four-day working week, including data migration provider Wandisco bringing in the option this month and mobile game developer Hutch revealing it would take part in a six-month trial of the pattern from this summer.