Althams Travel is to move staff to a four-day working week while retaining existing salaries in a bid to create a better work-life balance.
The radical move by the travel agency, which has 200 staff and operates 31 branches across Lancashire, Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, will be in place from April 1.
It follows a pledge pre-Covid by managing director Sandra McAllister to improve the work-life balance for the company’s workforce.
Staff backed the decision by management to reduce the working week from five to four days following discussions in 2019.
New contracts were then drawn up, with the original aim of rolling out the new working arrangements in April 2020, only to be put on hold as a result of the Covid pandemic.
McAllister is confident now is the right time to make the change, with the company in a “strong position” and ready to put its “forward-thinking pledge” into practice.
She believes it will help the company retain and attract more staff.
“Many times throughout my career I have watched good, ambitious work colleagues leave their jobs or stand down their full time roles to bring up their families as they found it impossible to juggle full-time work and raise a family,” said McAllister, who was only able to continue to pursue her own career after having two sons thanks to her parents’ decision to retire early and help with childcare.
“I was very fortunate,” she said, adding: “Back then you had to be full time, five days a week, to be a manager.”
She said the reduced working week would not only allow staff to have three days with family and friends and for parents to play a bigger role in their children’s upbringing but also allow staff keen to maximise their income to take on a second job or pursue a serious hobby.
She said: “By reducing work to a four-day week I think many different avenues will be open for mums and dads to pursue their working ambitions and also play a big role in the upbringing of their families.
“You only have one life and I think work plays a huge part in that life but my ethos is that you don’t live to work, you work to live a better life.
“I am happy to be able to do this at Althams and I am confident this is the right move.”
McAllister also passionately believes the reduction in working days will create a happier and more motivated workforce, and maintain productivity levels.
She said: “It sounds too good to be true but I promise we will see the rewards. Our staff will be highly motivated, enjoy their work, and give more in the time they are here. Gone are the days when they will be desperately counting down the hours until their day off.
“We asked them – could you give me five days’ productivity in four days, could you up the output? Overwhelmingly they promised that they could.”
She added that having staff working four days would also open up more vacancies and help in terms of local unemployment.
The company already has an out-of-hours booking team which operates until 9pm and is open on Sundays so clients can always get in touch, she added.
In addition, the agency chain is adjusting its shop opening hours. Shops will open at 9.30am instead of 9am and close at 5pm “enhancing our vision of being the family friendly and best travel agent to work for”, according to McAllister.