Jonathan Elliot CFP® thinks he’s cracked the work/life balance formula, by introducing a five-hour work day for the team at Collins SBA.

Successfully combining work with family commitments and personal life, is the Holy Grail in achieving the right work/life balance and it’s something many businesses struggle with.

So, cutting the working hours of staff without reducing their pay, sounds counterintuitive to improving business productivity and is probably the last thing you’d expect a growing business to do.

But that’s exactly what Hobart-based Collins SBA has done, reducing the staff’s working day by 35 per cent, but still paying them for an eight-hour day. It sounds astonishing, but it’s true!

“Moving our team to a five-hour working day is all about improving our efficiency and effectiveness as a business,” says Collins SBA managing director, Jonathan Elliot CFP^®. “By doing so, we have empowered our team to work better, which has improved productivity and the entire vibe of our accounting and financial planning business.”

Businesses can be more effective

But to understand the motivation behind moving the business to a five-hour working day just over 12 months ago, you first need to go back to June 2016.

Back then, Jonathan was newly appointed to the role of managing director, whilst also carrying his advisory load. He temporarily moved to a part-time position with Collins SBA to care for his wife, Louise, who was undergoing treatment for cancer, as well as their six-month-old daughter, Esther.

“During this period working part-time, I found my workload didn’t reduce. So, I had to become more disciplined with what I was doing.”

Jonathan went about trimming the fat from his workload, which included streamlining his meetings, removing distractions and better focusing on the tasks at hand. By making these adjustments, he found he was able to operate in a much more effective manner.

However, the catalyst for change within Collins SBA came with Jonathan wanting to improve his quality of life (and that of his team) by spending more time with his family. And the key to making that happen was by improving the operational efficiencies of the business.

Returning full-time to the business in October 2016, he set about doing this.

“As a business, I knew we could work more effectively, as I had proved it to myself during my period being part-time,” says the 41-year-old.

He researched trials in Sweden, where some businesses had successfully transitioned across to working a six-hour day. He also read The Five Hour Workday by American entrepreneur, Stephan Aarstol.

“So, the actual concept of reducing hours in the workplace wasn’t new. Others were already doing it. Their stories inspired me to translate their ideas back to a professional financial services business, as there were no examples in our industry to draw upon.”

It was from there that the concept of a five-hour work day at Collins SBA became a reality.

Work smarter, not harder

The Collins SBA executive team set about the task or trialling the concept of a five-hour working day, while mitigating any downside risk. This meant creating a more disciplined team.

“We wanted to motivate our employees to come to work and actually look for better ways of doing things. And so, this idea of reducing our people’s work hours and providing them with more personal free-time, with no change to their salary, was a massive incentive for them.”

Jonathan was excited by the idea of introducing a five-hour work day and so, after working through the pros and cons with the management team, they created a framework and rules around this change. Some of these rules included:

• starting work between 8am and 9am, and working through to 1-2pm, depending on when the staff member started, without taking any breaks;
• staff are required to work a minimum of five hours without a break or non-business activity; and
• ensure work is completed in that time period.

Although trialling the five-hour work day was openly discussed with the Collins SBA team, Jonathan admits that team members initially reacted with disbelief that the business was proposing to give 35 per cent of their day back to them without any change to their pay. But it was reinforced that the business expected them to at least produce the same level of productivity, without any reduction in client services.

However, changing workplace habits of a lifetime, like chatting around the coffee maker and taking tea breaks, required some adjustment. It meant staff had to radically change their approach to work; streamlining their processes in order to complete their day’s work in a compressed time period.

“One of our objectives of introducing the five-hour work day was to encourage our people to have a mind shift,” Jonathan says. “This meant we all had to change the way we worked. Team members had to look at their personal habits, how they were organised, and think of better ways to do their job more efficiently. For many, this was challenging.”

But following the three-month trial period, Jonathan was pleased to see that neither work productivity or client services dropped off, and the rest, as they say, is history.

A year down the track, the five-hour working day is firmly embedded in the workplace of Collins SBA.

Don’t discount the challenges involved

For any business considering implementing a five-hour work day, Jonathan emphasises there are challenges involved. Some of these challenges revolve around workplace stress.

“When you compress the time you have to get the same work done, you need to make good productivity changes to enable this to happen, otherwise you create pressure and this pressure creates stress. And that’s not a good outcome.”

Whilst Jonathan has found that team members are motivated to work more effectively for the extra free time they receive, he concedes that the five-hour work day is not a business model suited to everyone.

“At Collins SBA, some people did leave the team because of this change in our workplace but on the flip side, our unique culture is seen as a differentiator, retaining and attracting people wanting to work for us. They recognise the advantages of working a five-hour day.”

Interestingly, new staff joining the business don’t automatically receive the five-hour work day benefit. They first undergo a probation period, which requires individuals to work a standard eight-hour day. For Jonathan, the probationary period is as much about the business getting to know the new employee, as it is for the individual to get to know the business.

“Because we’re looking for constant improvement, we also use this time to encourage new team members to challenge how we do things,” Jonathan says. “Younger people find that particularly exciting. They want a sense of purpose and they want to contribute.”

By empowering newcomers to challenge existing business practises at Collins SBA, Jonathan is encouraging the next generation of planners to introduce the business to the latest developments in technology and apps, which is all part of the organisation’s drive towards constant improvement.

Managing client expectations

Jonathan talks about the challenges of compressing an eight-hour day into five hours, but has this affected the clients of Collins SBA?

“Not at all,” he says. “One of our key metrics to determine if these new hours were working or not was if our clients realised we were doing it. We didn’t tell any of our clients we were moving to a five-hour working day. It was some months after, when our initiative gained some media exposure, that our clients first learnt about what we had done. That was a sign of success.”

Today, Collins SBA is still open from 8:30am to 5pm, with receptionists rostered on for their respective five-hour shifts.

“If a client calls in the afternoon and their adviser isn’t available, then another adviser will take that call. If no adviser is available to take the call, then the adviser will contact their client the following morning,” Jonathan says. “And naturally, if it’s an urgent call, then the adviser is contactable on their mobile phone, but this rarely happens.”

Importantly, Jonathan adds that client needs always come first, so while most clients are happy to organise face-to-face appointments with their adviser in the morning or early afternoon, advisers do have the flexibility to meet with clients outside the five-hour work period.

“If clients need to see us in the afternoon, we make ourselves available. So, advisers don’t have to leave the office after five hours. Our people are building flexibility in what they’re doing, and this is working well for the business.”

The right balance

With its successful introduction of a five-hour work day, Collins SBA is one of the rare breed of businesses that is actually ‘working smarter, not harder’ when it comes to offering true work/life balance. It’s also a demonstration of the importance the business places on the health and wellbeing of its staff.

And judging by the profiles of some of the team members on the company’s website – who are active in hiking, scuba diving, soccer, cycling and coaching kids’ cricket – staff appear to have openly embraced the extra leisure time that this new business model offers.

“One of our core values at Collins SBA is putting our people first,” Jonathan says. “That’s because in order for clients to receive a great outcome, you first need to have a great team of people.”

The business places great stock in the health and wellbeing of staff, with a significant part of that revolving around technology – or rather, the reduced usage of it.

“When it comes to stress in the workplace, technology is not always a friend,” Jonathan says. “Today, everybody is connected and there is a tendency to feel that we have to check our email and messaging services constantly. But I don’t believe that’s the right way to work productively.

“We encourage our people to switch off after work. That includes not contacting the office when they’re on leave or on weekends. There’s a limit to how effective you can be if you’re working long hours all the time,” he says. “I challenge anybody to show me how effective people actually are by working long hours, compared to working in shorter blocks when they are mentally fresh.”

And it seems Collins SBA has cracked the formula for delivering work/life balance in the workplace. It’s approach to improving the health and wellbeing of its 28 team members has resulted in a year-on-year reduction in sick leave by 12 per cent and a significant improvement in the overall energy of employees.

Jonathan adds that since the introduction of the five-hour work day, staff don’t feel the need to take as many breaks from work, allowing them to accumulate annual leave for longer holidays.

“Our productivity hasn’t dropped, in fact, in some areas it has improved. Time spent in the office has reduced significantly. People are taking less sick leave. But I think culturally, our approach to business has created a better vibe and more energy in the office. People are more willing to take on new ways of doing things and adapt, because they personally benefit from every productivity enhancement.”

Don’t forget the efficiency enhancements

However, Jonathan warns that if any business is thinking of implementing a five-hour work day by aiming to do the same things in the same way in less time, then that approach has the potential to destroy a business.

“Without first focusing on enhancing the efficiencies of the business, your people will become over-stretched and stressed,” he says. “So, first work out how you can improve and streamline your internal processes and use technology better.”

But even as head of the business, Jonathan admits he hasn’t fully mastered the five-hour work day just yet, although it’s something he is getting better at.

“We haven’t solved all the productivity issues yet. A five-hour work day creates a platform to give everybody some skin in the game. Now it’s about embracing better ways of working in the business. We’re still learning and implementing as we go along,” he says.

“And while we don’t have all the answers yet, it’s been a great journey so far.”

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10 tips for a five-hour work day

1. Same job, same money
All staff remuneration, work expectations and KPIs have remained the same, despite working shorter hours.

2. Stand-up meetings
Collins SBA has a weekly stand-up meeting that runs for 10 minutes. Every staff member has 30 seconds to brief others on what they are currently working on or to praise a team mate who is making positive changes. The business also uses Yammer and Planner – tools that allow team members to communicate non-urgent messages and collaborate on projects across a shared group.

3. Technology disruption
Not all technology in the workplace is helpful. Know when to turn off distractions, like automatic email and messaging notifications, to allow you to remain focused on your work.

4. Time to learn
New staff on probation are expected to work a standard eight-hour day, which helps them learn how the business operates. Staff can work longer than five hours to complete their work but this is not encouraged.

5. Work times
Staff are required in the office between 8am and 9am, and must work five straight hours without any breaks. Employees working between five and six hours have the option of taking a 30 minute break. For staff working over six hours, they are required to take a mandatory 30 minute break.

6. Accommodate client requests
Aim to schedule all client meetings during working hours but provide flexibility for those clients that need to meet in the afternoon.

7. Full day coverage
Collins SBA reception is open from 8:30am to 5pm. It is covered by two shifts of receptionists, ensuring the phones are answered during business hours.

8. Clear expectations
Clearly understand what it is you want to achieve. You need to lead with improvements to the business that will help with efficiency, and understand what your clients want and need.

9. Empower your team
With the constant development in technology and changing client preferences, it’s important to empower staff to help improve processes and procedures within the business. The best ideas are probably with your team and the five-hour day incentivises them to contribute.

10. Billing clients
For businesses that time bill their clients, a five-hour work day will probably not work, as this model will cut their revenue by 35 per cent. Instead, businesses need to move to upfront pricing and clear client value propositions based on pricing outcomes that are delivered, rather than how much time is spent on delivering a job.