The pandemic has fundamentally and forever changed the way we work. But can PR really commit to a four-day working week?  

A new study from PRCA MENA found that 7 out of 10 (70%) professionals in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) feel they work more efficiently within a 4-and-a-half day working week. The study comes as the UAE cut its working week to four and a half days, in a major shift designed to improve work-life balance.  

Our Group Account Director, Kate moderated a panel discussion on this subject as part of the PRCA Virtual International Summit. The panellists included Louise Jacobson, Managing Partner at Brazen MENA, Marcia La-Rose, Head of HR at Four Communications, and Carole Spiers, Chair of ISMA UK. In case you missed it, here we reveal these experts’ opinions on whether a four-day working week could work in the world of PR:  

During the first half of the panel session, Kate offered a poll to the audience about whether they or their companies were thinking about adopting a four-day working week. The results came back and revealed that 33% of the audience were aiming to explore it in the next 12 months, and 67% had not discussed it yet.  

Whilst discussing this result, Marcia and Carole made the point that not everyone may want to have a four-day working week. Marcia admitted that within her company there are a group of employees who want to work five days in the office, as they have done for years in this industry. Carole also mentioned the fact that people would have to work harder within those chosen four days, and this may not be suitable for everyone. Carole believed transferring to a four-day working week would be “running before we could walk.” 

Louise agreed and said, unexpectedly, “my team actually weren’t sure about it, they would rather have a consistent work-life balance.” 

Overall, all three panellists agreed that PR does not stop for the weekends, with out of hours calls and working long hours  a norm in this industry. Flexible working in its various forms is already proving successful in the PR industry – at Liquid, we’ve worked flexible hours since 2019 and hybrid since returning to the office post-pandemic. Would a full office day off be practical? There are certainly ways this could be explored, such as offices still operating five days a week with team members splitting their days to allow for a four-day working week and still serving clients adequately.   

The discussion primarily centred around being the Devil’s advocate to the idea of a four-day working week, as many people can see the benefits, but fewer people consider the practical challenges that could occur if it were implemented. 

Marcia, with her HR admin experience, addressed the fact that the larger your team, the more difficult it may be to organise everyone’s individual needs, especially if you decide as a company for different employees to take different days off. Which is another dilemma in itself, Marcia questioned what would happen if everyone wanted a Friday off. 

Carole expanded on these issues with the fact that if different employees were working on different days, then there could be scenarios where your manager contacts you out of your own working hours and you would therefore feel the pressure to reply and action anything mentioned.  

Louise agreed and explained how it is the micro things that could turn into big issues. Such as people’s attachment to mobile phones and how they may struggle to ‘switch-off’ on their non-working days. To put a four-day working week into numerical terms, Louise had worked out that she would lose around 28 to 30 days of productivity over a year for each team member which is substantial when the company has a high workload. 

Towards the end of the session, Louise expressed her support for a holistic approach to a work-life balance, rather than a four-day working week. Being Dubai-based, they take weather and time zones into consideration by having shorter working hours in the summer, and flexible working hours to accommodate meetings with international clients.  

Carole supported Lousie on this notion and agreed that the health and wellbeing of employees is always the number one priority. She believes managers should focus on developing their EQ (emotional intelligence) just as much as their IQ. She stated how, “I would rather work for a company five days a week and be happy and appreciated in my work, than four days in a toxic environment.”  

This was the theme throughout the discussion, that whatever the decision taken around the working week, employee’s opinions and wellbeing was the most important aspect of the decision. The panellists agreed that the happier your employees are the more productive they are. Whether this is through a four-day working week, reduced working hours across a five-day week, or simply flexible working hours, it must be what works for your employees.  

What do you think? Would a four-day working week work in your industry? Join the conversation over on Twitter – we’re @LiquidPR – and share your thoughts.