Recruiting key technical, engineering, scientific, R&D (research and development), IT (information technology) and manufacturing talent for your open jobs is increasingly difficult. This is especially true in the highly competitive fields such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), Robotics and Virtual Reality (VR). Considering a 4-day work week may help your company gain a differential recruitment advantage.
This was the gist of my interview on CBS Radio affiliate WBBM News Radio 780 on Thursday, February 28, 2019 with hosts Kris Kridel AND Rob Hart.
You can go to:
https://bit.ly/2H68GCQ (must adhere to caps).
to listen to my segment in its entirety.
Below are the questions Kris and Rob asked me as well as my responses in italics. I hope you enjoy this.
(Kris) How does this work?
We are in a War for Talent especially for technical, engineering, scientific and manufacturing technology people that we recruit. As I shared when you last interviewed me, you need to be flexible in your recruiting efforts. How it works is to be flexible. A lot of employers are fixed to the five-day work week. Unfortunately, five work days does not necessarily equate to more productivity. This is another example of being creative in your recruitment efforts and increase productivity.
(Kris) Does the company benefit? Is it putting out less pay to employees (with less work days)?
As part of that New Zealand study, they mentioned that one-third of employees would take a 20% pay cut in order to work fewer days. However, it depends upon the employer. This is not being done universally in the United States. However, there is a flip side to this that was being employed in Japan a while back. In Japan instead of major layoffs (e.g. the recent major layoff by Kellogg’s where they took a $1 billion write off), they employed a four-day work week for all employees including top executives. So this is not only a way to reduce stress as the New Zealand study found, but also create more equality in the work force.
(Rob) This doesn’t sound like a question that can be answered in 30 seconds, but I will try it anyway. How does that kind of fit with this hard charging American work ethic where you are penalized if you want to work less? It seemingly rewards the person who works 60 to 80 hours per week.
Rob, it doesn’t reward them because we have a (work) mindset here. If you look at this from a macro prospective, employees are not necessarily productive for all five days or even for 100% of the time they are working. So it is a question of productivity. How can you recruit the most productivity from your workforce? This is just another way to possibly explore ways to recruit more productivity. Once again, be flexible with your workforce and explore ways to increase your innovation.
Call me today at 312-944-4000 to discuss how we can assist with your engineering, technical, R&D, IT and scientific efforts in the highly competitive fields of Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, Robotics as well as Virtual Reality. Or click here for my full contact information.
