Why Almond Housing Association is switching to a 'nine-day fortnight'

Almond Housing Association has become the latest social landlord to reduce the number of days its employees are required to work, launching a ‘nine-day fortnight’ trial at the start of the year. We caught up with the West Lothian-based provider to find out more.

Can you provide some background to the trial? 

One of the objectives of our business plan is to be an employer of choice. Our aim is to create a flexible workplace which supports the principle of work being something you do, not somewhere you go, to develop a culture which aligns fully with our values and which provides a flexible, supported and trusted environment in which colleagues can grow and develop. 

Our People Strategy compliments this via an overarching emphasis on colleague wellbeing. This includes exploring initiatives designed to provide a working environment promoting wellbeing. 

What prompted the launch of the trial? 

We established a working group with colleagues from across the business to review the benefits of a four-day working week and participated in the ‘4 Day Week National Rollout Programme’ in 2023, which consisted of a series of workshops with other businesses across the UK who were considering moving to a four-day week. 

Following participation in the workshops, two sub-groups carried out risk assessments on what the likely impact would be of introducing a four-day week in Almond Housing Association, considering both the benefits and risk. 

It was agreed that the following areas should not be impacted negatively by the introduction of a shortened working week: 

• Impact on customer service 
• Impact on performance  
• Impact on productivity. 

As a result of the work by the sub-groups, we concluded our current online offering was not sufficient to allow the business to reduce to four days without it affecting our customers. Rather than delay realising the many benefits associated with a shortened working week, we turned our attention to the nine-day fortnight model. 

What do you see as the benefits of a nine-day fortnight structure? 

Many trials and studies have shown a positive impact resulting from a shortened working week across many areas. 

Proven benefits include: 

• Improved staff wellbeing 
• Greater innovation by staff 
• Reduced sickness absence cost 
• Environmental benefits 
• Boosted productivity 
• Talent attraction and retention 
• Greater community engagement 
• Higher morale 
• Improved sustainability 
• Being carer friendly 
• More gender equality. 

It’s early days, but what kind of results are you anticipating? 

We are anticipating benefits aligned with the above, with our main aims being improved colleague wellbeing, sustained (or improved) productivity, and enhanced ability to both attract and retain talent. 

What have you learnt from other housing providers that have implemented similar initiatives? 

The working group benefitted from a visit to Melville Housing Association. However, the 4 Day Working Week Rollout Programme allowed us to learn from businesses outside of the housing sector. 

We also benefitted from learning about the trials held outside of the UK. Our trial will be included in the research programme, which is being conducted by Boston College (USA). This will involve regular surveys of our colleagues during the trial to determine the impact on overall wellbeing. 

What has the response been from employees to the trial so far? 

It is very early days. However, colleagues have been looking forward to the trial, and there is positive feedback from both those who have enjoyed their initial ‘rest day’ and those who remained in work on that day, who found they were able to focus on work as there was less email traffic and fewer meetings. 

You’ve chosen to run the trial for 12 months. Why this length? 

We originally intended to run the trial for a nine-month period to ensure we gave sufficient time to make the trial meaningful. We are fortunate to have a very supportive board, who suggested running the trial for a full 12 months to enable it to be experienced during a full year, given fluctuations in workload dependent on the time of year. 

Alongside this, they are keen to monitor and understand the impact of the trial and to ensure the principles we identified are adhered to in terms of impact on customer service, performance and productivity. 

What are the potential drawbacks of such a system? 

The potential drawbacks in many ways is that the trial results in a negative impact on any of the areas of customer service, performance or productivity. Additionally, colleagues’ wellbeing might be impacted negatively (rather than positively) by feeling too stretched, given the reduction in working hours. We are determined, however, to make the trial a success and to benefit from the positive outcomes, which many businesses have already realised. 

We are also running a resource review project in parallel with the trial, looking at different areas of the business to identify efficiencies and in particular any work that is high volume but with low impact, which we can do differently or stop doing altogether. 

For other housing providers who are thinking of bringing in a similar initiative, what advice would you give them? 

Involve colleagues from across the business in exploring the benefits and potential disadvantages at a general level. Look beyond the housing sector to learn from others who have implemented a shortened working week approach. Apply the principles to your own organisation to assess the likely impact of different models, ensure you continue to communicate progress with colleagues and the board, and ask for feedback on whether such an approach would be supported.

Image credit: Almond Housing Association