Peterborough business adopts four day working week

Peterborough-based digital insurance business, iGO4 has launched a four-day working week, available to all of its 300 plus employees, with no change in salary. The new working week went live this month and was greeted with ‘unanimous approval’, as all of iGO4’s employees chose to adopt the new work pattern.

iGO4 has introduced this change in recognition of the strong preference workers have for the opportunity to work flexibly, something which has been emphasised throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and is set to have an enduring impact on the way we live and work.

iGO4 CEO and founder, Matt Munro, said: “We’re extremely excited to be leading the way in offering a four-day working week. Doing things differently is ingrained in our culture and, coming out of the pandemic, we recognised we had the opportunity to take the positives from our Covid experience and create a new working environment that would make a genuine difference to people’s wellbeing and work-life balance.

“Equally importantly, we expect to see this move impacting positively on our productivity, and the customer experience we are able to offer, as colleagues come to work feeling happier and more refreshed.”

The four-day week is on top of a permanent move to hybrid working (part home and part office), with some permanent homeworking roles.

It’s part of a wider package of new benefits aimed to support individuals, their families, their health and the environment. This includes private medical cover for everyone, enhanced maternity leave, fully paid paternity leave, and free car parking at the company’s newly refurbished head office.

Health and wellbeing and supporting the local community are also high on the agenda, with every employee able to undertake two days per year for volunteering work, and to access a company electric vehicle car scheme, as well as free fruit and drinks when working in the office.

Lee Hitchborn, Finance Controls Manager at iGO4, has already adapted to her new three-day weekends.

She said: “I spent my first Friday off enjoying a bit of pampering and self-care, before surprising my niece and nephew by picking them up from school.

“I’ll be dedicating my Fridays to ‘life admin’, the weekly food shop, all the errands that are usually completed at the weekend - this means I can spend more time with family and friends, including a few extended breaks at the coast, now without the Friday night traffic.”

Munro added: “Covid has shattered many of the myths of the modern workplace. It taught us that we could be productive in a four-day week as we invested heavily in technology and introduced new ways of working, making ourselves more efficient and productive in the process. This gave us the confidence to explore seriously how we could continue to achieve the same customer and business outcomes while reducing colleagues’ hours and delivering the ultimate work-life balance.

“We consulted extensively within the business and held focus groups to validate new proposals. The result is a compelling proposition for both new starters and our longstanding team members, and we look forward to assessing its impact over the coming months.”

Other benefits, already available to iGO4 teams, include up to six weeks holiday depending on length of service, pension contributions, life insurance, flexible and home working opportunities, and shopping discounts, as well as cycle to work and wearables schemes.

With the company on a major growth drive, there are opportunities to join its rapidly expanding workforce. Information on current job vacancies can be found at: www.igo4careers.co.uk