247 Andrew Barnes on why (and how) a 4 Day Work Week is the secret to success at work

Behind the Brilliance

A dynamic and growing group of companies and organizations are moving to a 4 day work week. Andrew Barnes is the pioneer behind this movement. It all started with an experiment to see what would happen if his team worked 4 days instead of 5. The results were so breathtaking that he never looked back. Now there's an entire organization - including research, a book, and tools - dedicated to making the work world more efficient.

Through his company – New Zealand's largest corporate trustee company, Perpetual Guardian – Andrew announced a 4 day week trial, with staff receiving an extra day off work, on full pay, each week. The trial was an undeniable success, sparking widespread international interest and winning a number of global awards.

Today, Barnes is considered the pioneer and architect of the global 4 day week movement. As co-founder of 4 Day Week Global with his partner, Charlotte Lockhart, they are conducting the largest ever trials, currently taking place across the UK, US, Canada, South Africa, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. More than 250 companies around the world with over 100,000 staff are taking part in the trials to change their workplaces combined with a global research programme involving academics from leading universities.

Continuing our season long thread on creating work/life integration, this conversation is an excellent primer for both employers and employees on creating a 4 Day Work Week.

Andrew is the literal pioneer of this movement so I invited him to BTB to discuss how it was born, the concerns many leaders have, why the movement has picked up steam, and how you – whether you’re a leader or a team member – can use these ideas to create a more sustainable and effective approach to work.

We spent a lot of time at the top of this conversation exploring Andrew’s background because I think that context is important once he starts discussing the 4 Day Work Week. That said, if you want to skip to the topical portion, it begins around minute 25.

Behind His Brilliance: Finding opportunity anywhere

Say hi to Andrew on X/Twitter @andrewhbarnes

TOPICS COVERED

-how Andrew built a career as an international entrepreneur

-Andrew’s reflections on betting on himself (and why you should too)

-the keys to navigating organizational change

-how and why the 4 Day Work Week became a thing

-the art and science of designing down time

-the counterintuitive ways less work powers more efficiency

-how to save your company from meeting culture

-how to trial a 4 day week in your organization

-addressing employee concerns about the 4 day week

-the 4 day week’s impact on wage expectations (spoiler: workers value their time!)

-the legislative activity around a 4 day work week

And much more!