The online bank Atom Bank has introduced a four-day work week for its 430 staff without cutting their pay.
Employees now work 34 hours over four days and get Monday or Friday off, when previously they clocked up 37.5 hours across the whole week.
Boss Mark Mullen said the decision was inspired by the pandemic and would help improve wellbeing and retain staff. However, employees will have to work longer hours on the days that they are in.
“Before Covid, the conventional wisdom was you had to commute in, sit at a desk all day and repeat that process when you commuted home,” said Mullen, who has been the leader of the Durham-based bank since 2014.
“Covid showed us that it wasn’t necessary…I think doing 9-5, Monday to Friday is a pretty old fashioned way of working.”
Atom was one of the UK’s first digital challenger banks and had 2.7 billion pounds of loans on its books in the last financial year. its new working arrangements kicked in on November 1 following a review finding they would not affect customer service or productivity.
Mullen said the new arrangement was voluntary, but strongly reflected his staff’s preferences for more flexible working.
“Everyone is expected to stick to it,” he added. “I can’t be sending my staff emails on a Friday, I can’t expect them to respond to them.”
