4.5 Days Of Work At Bioderma
I n the name of providing travel ease to its employee base and increase the productivity at work, Bioderma- a brand of North American Atmospheric Observing System(NAOS) has announced in India a 4.5- day workweek module, starting December 2022 in India. At Bioderma, an employee is expected to clock in 9 hours a day with the clock-in time being flexible from 8 am to 9:30 am. While their 9-hours work system continues, policies regarding flexibility of work hours are being implemented on the basis of the comfort of their employees.
Need for less work days
Lead researcher Juliet Schor, an economist and sociologist at Boston College who partnered with counterparts at University College Dublin and Cambridge University, says, “In many countries, we have a workweek that was 4.5 Days Of Work At Bioderma enshrined in 1938, and it doesn’t mesh with contemporary life. For the wellbeing of people who have jobs, it’s critical that we address the structure of the work week.”
According to 4 Day Week Global data, the majority of employees on the trial didn’t report any feelings of job insecurity, and they didn’t use their free time to take a second job.
NAOS claims that their sole aim behind implementing this policy was to provide their employees with sometime in the midst of their extremely hectic working schedule and stressful lives. “We conducted numerous trials, the most recent of which took place during monsoon this year. We counted travel time as working hours, so an employee who travelled 2 hours to get to the office had to work precisely seven hours instead of 9 or 10.
Though the government has the mandate to make it 4 days a week with 12 hours of average output, Bioderma has offered 4.5 days of the work week with 9 hours of daily output. “We are a firm with a purpose and a goal that was allegedly inspired by a humanist paradise. Jean-Noel Thorel, NAOS’ Founder, has carried this vision into action. We are simply attempting to do our part to help provide our employees with a work-life balance by doing what we can, no matter how small it may seem,” states Sanjay Sahu, MD, NAOS.
Piloting the policy
“Starting the pilot policy on reduction in the number of hours for employees staying in far away location we realised that the work didn’t get impacted. People were able to deliver more than what we had expected. As an organisation, we decided to run a new pilot policy of 4.5 days to validate the comfort of an employee and the deliverables,”explains Sahu.
The management offers flexible working hours to their employees. The employees have to log in anytime between 8 am to 9:30 am. Additionally, during monsoon, 1-2 hours out of the total working hour is levied for the employees staying far away. This shows the priority given to convenience of the employees.
Further the management also claims that with this new policy their employees are able to spend more family time and pursue their new hobbies. They are able to spend more time with themselves to do some self-learning or fulfil their personal commitment, which is not possible otherwise on normal weekdays.
Employee feedback
The management has received a positive response from their employees, with a special mention that they have been able to get similar productivity as five-days-a-week working policy. The employees are now able to put in extra time to manage their work-life balance and indulge in self-learning and pursue their hobbies. They are also planning their weekend to travel with their friends and family. There is a significant reduction in office running cost. Sahu says, “We have been observing an increase in productivity level. Employees are more focused on their deliverables. This policy also helps in new hires and retention strategy. Employee engagement activities are conducted usually on Fridays to make their day little exciting and to look forward for the weekend. This also helps employee wellbeing as NAOS’ complete focus is on humancare internally and externally.”
Road ahead
“It’s time that we all prioritise work-life balance, move past it, and treat our employees more like people than like robots. Most of the companies have already declared hybrid model post Covid-19. They have realised that by having the hybrid model, employees are more happy and able to maintain worklife balance with the higher output,” states Sahu. It has also saved lot of travel time which has helped them to deliver more from what they were been able to do earlier. Post Covid, Bioderma decided to call their employees back to work to have a stronger team bond and celebrate the success and festivities. The management also understood that just calling employees back to work on daily basis will not motivate employees at par with the other organisations’ hybrid model, hence the thought of coming up with 4.5 days a week.
