Since the beginning of Mordad this year, Divar has been running a one-month trial of a 4-day work week, with Saturdays off, aimed at increasing productivity and improving work-life balance for all its employees.
The 4-day work week, a novel work model, has garnered significant attention from employers, employees, and governments. In this model, employees work only 4 days a week instead of the usual 5, which became common in the early 20th century, while receiving the same pay. This idea has gained considerable popularity in recent years, and many major global companies and developed countries have implemented it either experimentally or permanently.
4-Day Work Week with Saturdays Off
Although there is no previous record of similar experiments in Iran, Divar has conducted a one-month trial of the 4-day work week for approximately 380 employees and expects the results and outcomes of this pilot to be published in the coming weeks.
Hosseini Ansari, Divar’s VP of Engineering, comments on the trial: “We started the 4-day work week experiment from the beginning of Mordad with Saturdays off. The main goal of this experiment was to assess the impact of this work model on better alignment between work and life for our employees and ultimately to increase productivity.”
Ansari tells Digiato that the results of the experiment will be clear after data collection, but initial indications suggest it has been successful in terms of increasing productivity. He adds that to ensure a more accurate evaluation, they have referred to international experiences and performance metrics from other companies, noting: “Many companies have conducted similar experiments, and we have drawn on the insights and experiences of companies like Amazon and Adobe.”
Key Principle: Service Continuity and User Satisfaction
Ansari notes: “At Divar, considering the nature of our work and customer needs, we decided to involve all departments in this trial. However, departments like Legal, which have extensive interactions with external stakeholders, need to remain active throughout the week, and special arrangements were made to ensure that the quality of services provided to customers does not diminish.”
He emphasizes that Divar is committed to maintaining service quality for all customers and stakeholders, stating: “One of Divar’s advantages is the use of technologies like artificial intelligence, which helps maintain service quality and continuity. For example, about 50% of our support services are automatically handled by AI.”
Ansari also highlights that Divar has historically focused on productivity and team collaboration rather than time tracking, allowing employees to flexibly adjust their working hours. He adds: “With the 4-day work week plan, Saturdays along with Thursdays and Fridays are declared as holidays, but the company remains open, and employees can come to the office if needed. In the next step, we might also declare Saturdays as meeting-free days.”
The VP of Engineering emphasizes: “We believe the success of the 4-day work week plan is highly dependent on the organizational culture. If employees and managers believe in the success of this plan, positive results will certainly follow. In other words, this plan is a self-fulfilling prophecy.”
Ansari also mentioned that the results of this experimental plan will be published soon.
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