We're a 4 Day Working Week Company. Here’s Why.

This year, we’re making a change that feels both exciting and a little terrifying: we’re implementing a four-day work week.

Yes, you read that right. Fridays off - for everyone.

And not as a trial. Not as a perk. Not as a “we’ll see how it goes if things are quiet.” This is us saying: we want to do this! And we’re excited!

We didn’t just wake up one day and decide Fridays were a holiday. We sat down as a team and asked ourselves what this would genuinely look like in practice. Would we all take the same day off? How would we tell our clients? What would we do if we absolutely had to work on the agreed day off? As it turns out, the hardest part wasn’t the logistics. It was unlearning decades of outdated beliefs about how work should work.

The Practical Bit (Which Was Surprisingly Easy)

Logistically, it was simple. We’re closed on Fridays. Our working week is Monday to Thursday. We all agreed there may be times when, individually, someone needs to flex that but then they’re responsible for finding that time elsewhere. The rule is balance, trust, and accountability, not clock-watching. And honestly? That part was easy. But letting go of the expected ways of doing things is hard.

The Doubts (Which Were Not)

Will this hurt the business? Losing 20% of our work week sounds like a recipe for disaster on paper. What if we can't keep up? 
Can we actually pull this off? It's one thing to say you're doing a four-day week. It's another to make it work without everyone burning out by Thursday evening.
Are we just pretending? This was the big one. What if we say we're doing four days, but work just bleeds into that fifth day anyway? What if we end up with all the pressure and none of the benefit?

These fears are real. We're not pretending they're not. But here’s the thing: we don’t actually believe people do their best work just because they’re given more hours. Most people don’t magically become more productive because it’s day five instead of day four. What does make a difference is trust.

So the real question became: why five days of work anyway?

Why We’re Doing It Anyway

The truth is, where we are in life has shifted. Our team’s needs have changed. What worked three years ago doesn’t work now. People have families. Passions. Lives outside of work that deserve more than whatever’s left after they’ve poured everything into the business. We realised that protecting our team’s time and energy isn’t a luxury… it’s essential.

A four-day week isn’t about working less. It’s about working better. It’s about balance. It’s about believing that when people are rested, fulfilled, and actually living their lives, they show up with more focus, more creativity, and more commitment than they ever could on empty.

Walking the Talk

Research shows that four-day workweeks can sustain, and in many cases improve, productivity, while significantly enhancing wellbeing, engagement, and retention. But beyond the evidence, at Lea_p, we believe something even more strongly: team wellbeing is the number-one driver of performance, creativity, and leadership. It’s why we help our clients put engagement and fulfilment at the very heart of their business strategy. And by embracing a four-day work week ourselves, we’re not just talking about it - we’re living it. We don’t preach change we’re not prepared to make!

We’re Learning as We Go

Will it work perfectly? Honestly, we don’t know yet. This is an experiment, and we’re committed to being open about how it goes... the good, the awkward, and the messy. We’ll be sharing what we learn, what’s working, and what isn’t. Because if we figure this out, maybe it gives someone else permission to challenge their own assumptions and take the Lea_p too.

Are you trying something different in 2026? Let us know! We’ll cheer you along and maybe we can share our learnings as we go.