The Four-Day Working Week: A New Way of Working at Harmless CIC

By Darren Fox (Harmless HR Lead)

The welfare of our workforce is always the most important priority for me as Harmless’ HR Lead. Our team is our biggest asset, so it is important we find improved and innovative ways to support them in what is a very rewarding yet sometimes challenging work environment. We know if we look after our employees, they will continue to be best placed to support our clients and stakeholders. 

As part of this commitment, Harmless has introduced a new four-day working week model. This means our teams will be paid the same to work four days per week instead of five. 

We believe this will help Harmless CIC:

1. Maintain a high level of quality and specialism across all of our services.

2. Promote healthier and more sustainable workplace practices.

3. Align our HR strategies and policies with current best practice, ensuring they remain forward-thinking and creative.

4. Attract and retain the best workforce for the benefit of our stakeholders.

Of course, we are mindful that demand for our services remains very high, so to ensure we do not reduce our clinical and training capacities, we have made several internal changes to support the new model and guarantee there will be no impact on our provision or service offer. We will also use our own self-generated income to ensure we continue to meet the needs of the communities we support at what is a very difficult time for so many people.

The new model at Harmless will be trialled for six months. If successful, we then hope to introduce the four-day working week on a permanent basis.

If you’re interested in joining an innovative organisation where staff well-being comes first, you can view all our current vacancies here.