4-Day Workweek FAQs
How will this change affect clients?
The only effect you may notice is that routine meetings will not take place on Fridays. We will still be available to handle emergencies and urgent situations such as a website going down unexpectedly or an ad account being suspended. Your success is our success so we wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize your business or ours. In fact, with this plan, we are creating more efficiencies in our internal working so that we can spend more time on client work.
Why is PML working only four days a week now?
We’ve always taken a fresh approach to business and were a fully virtual company way before most other companies. The pandemic changed things and it became harder to retain top talent when other companies offered similar flexibility of working from anywhere. We’ve always been committed to being successful for our clients no matter what the circumstances. What the pandemic showed us is that we needed to take an extra step to be successful for our team members as well, especially with the added burdens COVID-19 has brought to families everywhere. We decided on a shorter (36-hour) 4-day week instead of 10-hour days because we wanted to ease the burden on our team, not increase it. And studies have shown that 10-hour days can negatively impact employee health and make employees more susceptible to feeling overworked and fatigued.
What made you decide the pilot was a success?
Once we started the pilot program, we noticed right away that our people were coming back Monday super-refreshed. At the end of the summer, it was clear that by shortening the workweek and creating more efficiencies in how PML runs internally, we had found a better way to continue to grow our business and serve our clients. This new way of working helps us continue to attract and retain top talent and reduce burnout among employees. Our employees told us they are able to prioritize life differently and really be present both while working and when with family.
Will my projects take longer now?
No. We trimmed time from non-client tasks and PML internal meetings so that we could be more efficient and spend more time on client work. Not only will your projects NOT take longer, but some projects may finish in less time than usual because of the efficiency we gained.
Are there now time restrictions on client meetings?
No. We have only reduced the time spent in internal team meetings. Client meetings will be whatever length the client needs – typically 30 or 60 minutes or more.
What happens if I want to schedule a Friday meeting with a PML team member?
We will not be scheduling any routine or non-urgent meetings on Fridays. However, if an urgent or emergency situation comes up that requires a quick meeting before we can act on a solution, we will be there.
Why would I choose to work with an agency that only works 4 days a week instead of 5?
We pride ourselves on having a fresh approach to business that helps us serve our clients in innovative ways and help us retain the top talent you rely on for the best possible digital marketing results. In our work with clients, we believe in combining the science of analytics with the human element to develop winning strategies and marketing campaigns that align with your business goals and objectives. We do the same when it comes to running our own business. The human element, especially in this post-pandemic world, has become even more important to retaining top talent and being able to deliver high-quality results. We’re not afraid of change. In fact, we embrace it because that’s the only way to keep our business and our clients ahead of the competition.
What happens if my website goes down or my digital marketing account is suspended on a Friday?
We will still be available when needed for urgent and emergency situations, just like we have been previously on weekends, holidays and vacations. Our service promise to you is not changing. If you contact us on a Friday because your site went down or your ad account got suspended, one of us will get back to you the same day, as soon as possible, so we can minimize the time your site or account is down.
Will you change back to a 5-day workweek if clients want you to?
We piloted the 4-day workweek from July to September without telling our clients so there was no bias as to whether it was successful. If the results of the pilot were positive (and they were), we knew keeping it quiet initially was also the best way to prove to you that the 4-day workweek would not have a negative impact on your digital marketing results or our relationship. We expect to continue this as our new normal, and if you find yourself considering the same for your business, let us know. We’d be happy to give you more details on how we set up our pilot and how we arrived at this decision.
