The Four-Day Workweek Now Comes With a Mandatory Fifth Day of Preparation

From the employee handbook of Morrow Practice. Revised edition.

1. A WEEK DESIGNED AROUND YOU

Beginning this month, your standard working week will run from Monday to Thursday. We are proud to offer a benefit that recognizes the life you lead beyond the office. You may have hobbies. You may have people you would like to see in daylight. We want to make room for these possibilities.

Please use Friday to prepare.

The success of a shorter week depends on careful planning. Tasks must be allocated, capacity assessed, and obstacles identified before the four days begin. Asking you to do this during the four days would eat into the benefit. Friday has therefore been set aside to protect it.

2. UNDERSTANDING YOUR DAY OFF

Friday is a voluntary Readiness Day with required attendance. “Voluntary” describes the spirit in which we hope you will approach it.

The morning is devoted to understanding the week just completed. After lunch, you will prepare the week ahead. At 4 p.m., each team will share an example of how the policy has enriched a colleague's life. Please identify your example in advance. We have found that asking without warning can result in a long silence that takes up everybody's Friday.

Readiness Day ends at five. You may leave earlier once your manager is satisfied that you are ready.

3. QUESTIONS FROM COLLEAGUES

Q. Can I book a haircut on Friday?

A. We support this goal. Please check that the appointment does not conflict with a readiness activity, including preparation for that activity or the short reflection afterward. Your manager can help you find a suitable interval. Current intervals are approximately four minutes.

Q. Could I go on Saturday instead?

A. Saturday is the optional celebration of our shorter week. Attendance is how we express collective support for individual freedom. If you cannot attend, please arrange for a colleague to express your support and submit a photograph of you enjoying the benefit elsewhere.

A photograph taken at the barber's would show the barber working. We ask that you consider the message this sends.

Q. Is Sunday clear?

A. Sunday is Monday rehearsal. Colleagues told us they sometimes find Monday daunting, and we listened. Rehearsing the actual agenda allows everyone to begin the week knowing what is going to happen.

Please do not complete Monday's work during rehearsal. This would shorten Monday, which would affect the integrity of the four-day model.

4. MEASURING SUCCESS

Only Monday through Thursday should be entered as working days. Preparation and celebration occur outside work by definition. Rehearsal is a simulation of work, even where the distinction is not immediately apparent to you.

When completing the wellbeing survey, answer with reference to the four days. We understand that you may feel tired on another day. That feeling belongs to a different reporting period.

The pilot will continue if the evidence demonstrates that it is working. Please bear this in mind when supplying the evidence. We would be sorry to withdraw such a popular benefit.

5. AN ILLUSTRATIVE REQUEST

An employee wishes to take Friday as annual leave. The request is declined because Friday is already free. She then asks to be excused from Readiness Day. This request cannot be processed as leave because the day is not work.

Her manager convenes a Saturday discussion to resolve the difficulty. The employee attends, thereby demonstrating that the new week has made her more flexible. This is included in the success report.

The haircut remains a personal goal. It will be carried forward.

6. CALENDAR SUPPORT

Some office calendars still display seven days with equal prominence. This legacy format has caused understandable confusion. The calendar beside the lifts has been placed on an improvement plan after repeated failure to reflect the new culture.

Its response, moving from Friday to Saturday without consultation, has been disappointing. We have offered support. It will be given a small desk calendar to use as a mentor.

Replacement calendars are now available. They contain four columns. Activities outside these columns should be written on the wall, taking care not to cover the statement of our commitment to work-life balance.

7. ENJOYING WHAT WE HAVE CREATED

To celebrate the launch, an unused Friday has been installed in reception. It shows a kitchen at half past ten. There is a cup of coffee on the table and a book turned face down. Through the open window, someone is cutting a hedge. Nothing requires an immediate reply.

The display is illuminated throughout Readiness Day. Colleagues are welcome to visit between sessions. A member of the People team can explain any elements you no longer recognize.

Please leave the cup where it is. The coffee has been arranged to remain warm.

Factual note: The employer, handbook, and events are entirely fictional. This satire makes no claim about actual four-day-week studies, trials, or policies.

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