Work Smarter, Not Longer: Startups Offering 4-Day Work Weeks

February 11th, 2015

The tech industry is renowned for the “insane” schedules people work to ship code and products rapidly. But the typical startup lifestyle is unhealthy, causing stress and burnout. The costly side effect of an adrenaline work culture is lower productivity and higher turnover. But increasingly many companies are prioritizing work-life balance as a competitive edge.

In At some start-ups, Friday is so casual that it’s not even a workday, Brigid Shulte at The Washington Post reports how more companies are recognizing the value of giving employees a 4-day work-week. By many estimates, over 90% of startups fail. Competition is fierce and companies need to operate both excellently and consistently to reliably produce innovative technologies. But while survival in technology is challenging, allowing stress and fear to dictate the company culture is counter-productive (see Why Fear Is The (Company’s) Mind-Killer). The ingenuity of tech professionals is a precious resource that is inhibited by a stressful environment.

10x Management is founded on the belief that giving tech professionals the time and space to manage their lives and work performance is the most cost-effective, high-output model for producing top results. Happiness promotes creativity and productivity, and talented professionals who feel rested and inspired achieve better insight and more efficient execution than burned-out ones. Managing creative productivity as the most vital company resource is a skill both company and employees should foster (see Why Mastering Creative Consistency Is Vital For Tech Professionals).