CANADIAN HR REPORTER
MARCH 2019
NEWS 3
Small B.C. company sees success
making move to 4-day workweek
Greater efficiencies at work lead to boosted employee productivity: Experts
BY SARAH DOBSON
LAST YEAR, Beelineweb de-
cided to try something radical at
its workplace. Instead of sticking
to the usual 9-to-5, five-day work-
week, it decided to make the shift
to four days.
e online marketing services
company based in Lake Country,
B.C., was looking to improve the
health and wellness of employees
by providing better work-life bal-
ance, according to Amy Gaglardi,
Beelineweb's director of business
development.
"We always like to question
the status quo and see if there's
a reason for it, instead of blindly
following it. In this case, we ques-
tioned the need for a five-day
workweek."
e small company also has a
big environmental focus, having
built its office using rapidly re-
newable resources, reused mate-
rials and geothermal heating and
cooling, said Gaglardi.
"Obviously, there's a huge envi-
ronmental benefit of people not
commuting to the office those
extra 52 days a year."
e change also appeals to dif-
ferent demographics, she said.
"We have all ages in our office,
ranging from mid-20s to late 50s.
So everyone is appreciative of the
extra family time or time to work
on their hobbies, spend time with
their friends, go on weekend
trips... things that feed their soul."
Beelineweb has always focused
on a healthy workplace, with perks
that include an office gym, fitness
breaks and organic fruit delivery.
It also recently switched to offer-
ing a set amount of personal days
instead of sick days so employees
could use the extra time to engage
in healthy activities if they so de-
sired, said Gaglardi.
And in making the change to a
four-day workweek, employees'
workload, vacation time, benefits
and salaries were not impacted,
she said.
"ey're just having to come
to work 32 hours and learning
to manage their time more effi-
ciently so that they're getting this
amount of work done in a shorter
amount of time."
Making the transition
e change from five to four days
had a few hiccups before it ran
smoothly. For one, while staff
were happy with the extra day of
leisure, some of Beelineweb's goals
and bigger projects weren't pro-
gressing as hoped, said Gaglardi.
To help staff manage their time
more efficiently, the team was
flown down to California for a
two-day course by Franklin Cov-
ey called "Extraordinary produc-
tivity: e five choices that drive
success."
ONE-THIRD > pg. 14
"Obviously, there's a huge environmental
benefit of people not commuting to
the office an extra 52 days per year."
Beelineweb's office design in Lake Country, B.C., highlights the company's environmental focus.
Credit: Beelineweb
