Carlene sheds light on Cloud9’s innovative nine-day working fortnight

On Wednesday 26th of October, our CEO Carlene Jackson joined a panel of Brighton professionals including Social Firefly’s James Armstrong, St. John’s School and College’s Christina Brown and Brilliant Noise’s Antony Mayfield to discuss the science behind the four-day working week, which ITV has recently reported on.

The panel sat down with the University of Sussex’s Dr. Charlotte Rae to go beyond the theory of the working innovation; James, Christina, Antony and their colleagues have completed questionnaires and time diaries, undergone MRI scans and each worn sleep watches in a bid to better understand how a shorter working week might make for happier, healthier employees.

Already, it’s proven to improve productivity by more than 10%! Positive emotion has increased, while burnout has decreased.

Of course, Cloud9 Insight has its own innovative nine-day working week, and Brighton Chamber invited Carlene along to their event to discuss how this alternate approach might even improve on the concept.

Click here to download the full report on Cloud9’s nine-day working fortnight.

Here’s a small section of what Carlene had to say on the matter:

“I never set out to do a ‘four-day working week’ or a ‘nine-day working week’; as a founder and a business owner, I probably share a lot of the scepticism people might have. ‘How is that going to work at Cloud9 Insight?’

We did an employee survey and we asked, what are the benefits you’d like that aren’t currently offered? 60% actually came back and said they’d like to trial a four-day working week. So, I took the data home and set out a list of objectives; if I did make the change, what would be my criteria?

I took a problem-solving approach and came up with a new nine-day fortnight. We did a pilot… and then we rolled it out.

Our take on the nine-day fortnight: we’re operating a four-day working week, in terms of client-facing work completed. On alternate Fridays, we have what we define as a SILCC day – Strategy, Innovation, Learning, Community and Charity. That day is dedicated, every second Friday, for the team to work on projects that matter.”

Want to find out more about the event, and the science behind the four-day working week?

Keep an eye on Cloud9’s blog for more material on the company’s workplace benefits and innovations coming soon.