Blackbird is now one of a growing number of employers choosing to improve staff health, happiness, morale and retention with a four-day work week.
Blackbird selected two teams to participate in its six-month pilot that launched at the end of 2021. Teams were given detailed surveys to fill out, measuring stress levels, job satisfaction, excitement and other variables, while management monitored productivity, quality and output. Christopher McLeod is associate professor in the school of population and public health at the University of B.C.Christopher McLeod, a UBC associate professor at the school of population and public health, said that, “Renewed interest in the four-day work week has emerged from the dramatic reorganization of work that we all experienced during COVID. There has been a greater receptivity as to how we can work differently and make work conditions better.
“People saw the behaviour of big corporations during a crisis, where their first reaction was to lay off employees while companies didn’t lose a dime, and executives took huge bonuses and the burden was placed on lower-wage employees.”