Motio moves to a 9-day fortnight
Whilst the world is having a moment, Motio has made the bold decision to move to a permanent, 9-day working fortnight, or ‘ten days in nine’.
After a recently completed 3-month trial, there was a clear understanding that work over 9 days was possible, and in fact more efficient. The Motio team grappled with the concept of the 4-day work week, opting for a 9-day fortnight. After deep consultation with our wider business defined a pathway to remain customer centric and get the most of time at work and in the office.
The Sydney based media and audience experience company has a growing team of 27 team members, all of whom are completely happy to take on a heavier load over 9 days to have every second Friday off.
Says Adam Cadwallader, chief executive officer of Motio: “We wanted to take the best of lockdown and frankly, ditch the worst of it. Our team have been delighted to be back in the office and working together, but this has added a real level of excitement and a definite change in productivity for the better.”
The company offer the new 9-day fortnight without any change in pay or conditions, but there are a few rules and some adjustments have been made. The company is split into two groups, with a ‘buddy’ system in place to ensure customers or enquiries don’t slip through the cracks.
Says Cadwallader: “We are doing it nine months of the year with December, January and April exempt giving team members around 18 additional days to enjoy throughout the year, and an additional three weeks off if you lined the days up.”
Gordon D’Mello, 30-year-old product and marketing manager (pictured far left) at the company was extremely excited about the recent changes but conceded that perhaps once or twice throughout the year staff may choose a work from home scenario to ensure that productivity is maintained: “We are a small, growing business and we want to keep it that way, but everyone is totally pumped for the extra time to refuel and reenergize. It’s that flexibility to balance your work, while understanding the power of in-person office collaboration, all with a tangible reward in the extra time off that has certainly got me excited for the year ahead.”
Motio is far from taking a leaf out of Elon Musk’s book, but the company does like its team to be in the office when they can.
Says Cadwallader: “I totally understand people wanting to work from home, and for larger businesses that can certainly work. For Motio, we have a view that growth is every day and whilst the flexibility is always there if people need it, working in the office certainly has a positive knock-on effect for our business.”
While D’Mello said the idea that people need to be at their desk to be seen as ‘working’ is ridiculous, communication would be key to making the concept a success: “We know what we need to do, we have excellent management systems in place and the team can measure and self-regulate what they need to do. I believe in our team here, and as long as we communicate it’s going to be a great program for Motio and our team.”
Motio permanently commenced its 9-day fortnight this week.
8 Comments
“completely happy to take on a heavier load over 9 days to have every second Friday off”
That’s NOT how it’s done, Motio.
I think it is it! happier making sure the work I was getting done in 10 days gets done in 9 to take the 10th off. I don’t expect my employer to pay me the same for less…. that’s not how it’s done.
How’s the level of entitlement and lack of understanding surrounding how a business is run.
Please pay me the same while I do 10% less work.
So are you suggesting you should work less, and get paid the same?
I think you’re missing the point. These guys are working the same as they were before. They own the 10th day if they get the work done. They said it, if they don’t get it done, they’ll work to make it happen. “This isn’t it”. Point missed.
So news week.
Um, that’s EXACTLY how it works unless you (fairly) want a 10% pay cut.
I guess it feels like working on a week where there’s a public holiday, but split over two. On another note, I’ve noticed lately agencies are so keen to squeeze ‘productivity’ that people are starting to do the bare minimum / f-ing off early / quitting to work elsewhere. It’s a far cry from when we all pitched in to go the extra mile because working there was… fun. Understand WFH challenges, but still. When was the last time you took your agency out on a boat? If the answer is Nineteen Ninety Never, maybe have a think.