The 9-day fortnight, how does it work at Figures?
“It’s simple, since the end of November 2022, everyone has one day off every two weeks. Wednesday or Friday, employees choose. Except for some teams, customer support in particular, where you have to make sure you have at least one person present. In this case, if there are not enough people one day, we have to find a compromise! This day off is obviously paid. In July and August, we will go back to the 4-day week”, immediately explains Virgile Raingeard, founder of Figures, a real-time compensation application.
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Why didn’t the 4-day week work for Figures?
The Parisian start-up, which had experimented with the 4-day week paid 5, is therefore backpedaling on the subject! There are several reasons for this:
- A gap between theory and practice
To put it simply, at Figures, there are two teams: the tech team and the “customer-facing” team. “With the 4-day week system, the team in contact with customers still found themselves having to work a few hours during the day off to meet customer requirements. So an impression of not being able to really enjoy this day. At the same time, the tech team was really off. So he had created a two-speed gearbox,” analysis Virgile Raingeard. - The organization of work itself
At Figures, employees based all over Europe used to meet every 6 weeks for collective work sessions of 2 or 3 days and share convivial moments. “Many employees have told us of their feeling of no longer having time to work ‘normally'”, explains the CEO of Figures. Between trips, reunions and the weekly day off, this is no longer tenable. - Decline in team productivity
“Our initial organization was already based on demanding organizational efficiency. From the outset, for example, we had already limited the number of meetings and their duration. During the transition to the 4-day week, we finally did not have a lot of fat to cut and gain more efficiency »he acknowledges.
Faced with this triple observation, the experiment of 4 days paid 5 is abandoned in favor of the fortnight of 9 days.
Why is the 9-day fortnight a compromise that works?
Fervent defender of the 4-day week at the base, Virgile Raingeard recognizes that this solution was therefore not optimal. But there is no question of going back to the world before. By brainstorming with the teams, the managers therefore model the 9-day fortnight.
Obviously, the tech team made leaps and bounds by losing one day off every two weeks, but the others were smiling again.
We had warned them that the 4-day week was an experiment and that we reserved the right to backtrack if necessary. By placing the subject in the context of the organization of work, the employees understood. With the new 9-day fortnight system, the employee satisfaction rate is 4.8/5. The day off is taken and really not worked
Virgil Raingeard, co-founder of Figures
On the reunion side, they now take place every 8 weeks against 6 previously. And each employee also has the possibility of joining a small group of colleagues for collective work sessions wherever they want. And this, all expenses paid by the box.
It was therefore live from Malaga that Virgile Raingeard answered our questions. Other employees were these days in a work group in Berlin! A rhythm that seems to appeal to employees but also to managers who, for the time being, are considering this fortnight of 9 days in a sustainable way.