On this week’s episode of IndieGameBusiness™ the featured guest was John Cooney from Armor Games to talk about their internal shift to a four day work week. Right off the bat John explains that dating back to even 2019 in pre-pandemic times about 70% of the company was working remotely even though they had an office and now in 2021 they no longer have an office at all. John stated the biggest change was ensuring that employees were interacting and they did this by hosting social events online so all employees would play things such as Jackbox, Among Us, etc. together.
The talk then shifts more into how the four day work week discussions began which all traces back to the beginning of the pandemic. John states how hard it was for everyone in that initial phase of adjustment to pandemic life and how his company began telling people to take more days off for themselves and how important it is to make sure the employees are okay and not being overworked. John talks about how important trust is in the workplace in regards to trusting them to actually take time off and decompress from their workload, trust that they will get their work done despite not being in an office, and trust that their voice can be heard if there are any concerns that need to be brought to light.
The talk moves into how the four day work week was decided upon and John actually mentions the variety of different workplace models there are. From things like more hours during work days to make a four day work week possible, to Fridays being reserved for special projects, to even half day Fridays, there are a lot of ways in which companies can incorporate different models to what best suits their work environment. John also mentions that they have readjusted their company so even though people are working less hours they are still being compensated the same in order to promote a healthy work-life balance.
John mentions how the pandemic was kind of the nail in the coffin for the workplace revolution to begin. People are tired and now companies are having to come up with incentives of sorts to appease employees and keep them because now more than ever they will leave without a second thought. He thinks change will continue to roll out through the years and that this is simply part of the cycle that the United States especially goes through every few decades.
