Results of Our 4-Day Mindset Shift
We’re living in an ever-changing world. The landscape of how, when and where people are working is constantly evolving. The wants and needs of employees are changing, and employers are trying to keep up. A structured 40-hour, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday through Friday work week doesn’t fit most people's needs today. Many employees are looking for more balance, flexibility and autonomy in work and life.
Media Minefield was founded to disrupt the PR industry with a culture that puts people first, and we pride ourselves on putting innovation at the forefront of everything we do. It’s why we believed we could adopt a 4-Day Mindset while still providing extra-ordinary services to our clients, allowing our employees, called Miners, to be more efficient with their time and giving them more flexibility at work and at home.
Changing Lives
A 4-Day Mindset doesn’t mean four, 10-hour shifts each week. It also doesn’t mean a set day off every week. We asked Miners to decide what they want their week to look like based on their clients, team and family needs. After a three-month pilot program, we asked them to tell us how the policy was working for them, and the response was overwhelmingly positive.
“I feel like I can show up better both in the workplace and in my community with the shift to the 4M mindset.”
“I am able to go into the next week even more prepared and am more productive working within those four(ish) days.”
“I love being able to have concentrated work time without interruptions or the expectation of having my Slack light on. I feel better prepared/energized to tackle each new week and motivated to address things in a quicker manner.”
“I feel more in charge of my calendar and my workflow. I've been able to gain some hours ‘back’.”
The feedback from our Miners’ significant others was along the same lines, as they’ve expressed how much they appreciate the new policy and the positive impact it’s had on their lives as well.
A Mindset Shift
As we began to explore a 4-day work week, we knew our initiative could not be modeled after companies with a similar policy. The services industry currently requires a 5-day work week – or more - and because we work so closely with the 24/7 media industry, our Miners often take care of client needs at night or on the weekends.
Adopting this change required our Miners to shift their mindset. In flexing when they work, our employees are often able to move things around to better align with each day’s demands. Each week will look a little different to every person, and chances are no two weeks will look exactly the same. But as we adopted this mindset, our expectations remained the same: clients will continue to receive exceptional service and media requests will be handled in a timely manner.
Miners First
Our Founder, Kristi Piehl, started Media Minefield with the goal of making it the best place people will ever work. Over the years, we’ve adapted and changed to make sure we are sticking to that goal. This is just one thing on a long list we do to put Miners first. A decade ago, our unlimited vacation policy was almost unheard of as an employee benefit. Today, it’s much more common as businesses adapt to what will attract and retain employees.
We anticipated some hesitation around the 4-Day Mindset at first, but we were confident it would be a positive benefit for our Miners. Change takes time, and it does take a true mindset shift after being conditioned that employees do their best work at 40 or more hours a week. Our goal is to shift our Miners' mindset that doing their best work is based solely on results, not on hours.
This rings true to one of Media Minefield’s core values of innovation. As we continue to innovate our services and the way we provide for clients, we also continue to innovate for our Miners.
How We Make It Work
With any new policy or change, we took time to evaluate how this would be adopted company-wide. Taking into account each person’s role, we looked at how it would affect them. We enlisted the help of our executive team to see where there might be issues and got buy-in from managers and team leads.
While there was a bit of uncertainty as we introduced it as a pilot program to all of our Miners, we took steps to make sure no one was left behind. Weekly check-ins across all teams allowed us to be nimble and to proactively address issues.
The policy has done what we hoped and believed it would: Give our Miners fulfilling careers that allow them to have a life outside of work. We adapted it to fit what made the most sense for us and our clients. A 4-day workweek will look different for each business. One size does not fit all. It’s a challenge, but one that could allow both employees and companies to grow and thrive. Our people are our first priority, and this is one more way we can help them be their best at work, at home and in their community. We challenge others to shift their mindsets to see how things can be done in a new and different way in order to see a positive impact.