Spreading your working hours over five, six or seven days is now an option for thousands of employees at Arup, a global design and engineering company, based in London. In this episode, Isabel talks to Diane Thornhill, Arup's director of people for UK, India, Middle East and Africa, about the companyâs âWork Unboundâ seven-day work week experiment in Australia and the UK. Diane talks about the importance of senior leaders âleaving loudlyâ themselves. That means signalling publicly that itâs OK to step away from the desk and take flexible time off.
But how does a seven-day work week affect teamsâ communication and collaboration? And do people really want to be able to work all the time? Isabel chats to the FTâs Emma Jacobs, who has written on Arup, about the perks and pitfalls of an always-on work week. Plus, the importance of transparency - in a flexible workplace, itâs vital to be open with our teams about where and when we are working. Is that always a good thing?
We love to hear from you: email us at workingit@ft.com or Isabel directly at isabel.berwick@ft.com. Follow @isabelberwick on Twitter or Instagram.
Mentioned in the podcast:
Emmaâs article on Arupâs seven-day work week
https://www.ft.com/content/1405cb93-6625-4834-ac07-09e4062e7aa7
Arupâs own website https://www.arup.com/news-and-events/arups-new-hybrid-work-model-allows-6000-uk-employees-to-choose-their-working-days
The FTâs Sarah Oâ Connor on the mysterious decline of our leisure time
https://www.ft.com/content/9df289b9-d425-49e6-899f-c963b458625f
Presented by Isabel Berwick. Editorial direction from Renée Kaplan. Assistant producer is Persis Love. Sound design is by Breen Turner, with original music from Metaphor Music. Produced by Novel.
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