Tyler Grange speaks to Pro Landscaper about how its four-day work week trail is going now that it has reached its halfway mark.
Tyler Grange introduced a four-day work week at the beginning of June, allowing its staff to work Monday to Thursday without a reduction in pay. The ultimate goal of the project is for TG to achieve 100% productivity with 80% of the time, and it is on track!
Simon Ursell (Managing Director)Managing director Simon Ursell said: “Productivity is currently at 99%, measured by the work done by person.” In addition to this, despite expecting longer days as a result of the trail, Simon states: “We have seen the number of 12-hour days reduce by 30%, which is really very surprising and demonstrates a definite and significant increase in productivity; 48-hour weeks have also reduced by 67%, although this was more expected!”
Through the development of its own app, TG Alertness, TG has been able to survey fatigue and happiness before and during the trail. “A range of questions and a simple test give us almost real time data on how our team are feeling. We developed this with a BA pilot.
“During the trial we expected the team to be more tired whilst we adapted to the new ways of working. There was also concern that we would have ‘compressed hours’; however, we have shown that the team is on average 18% less fatigued during the trial than they were before.
“We have also seen the overall happiness of the team (scored out of five) rise from 3.5 to four, a 14% improvement.
“Of course, these results are to some extent subjective; however, it does seem to show a significant change in how pressured the team are and how they feel about their jobs.”
Jonathan Berry (Sales Director)Johnathan Berry, sales director of Tyler Grange, agrees with Simon: “We are a healthier team as well, so there’s less absence through sick leave. People appear more revitalised on a Monday. That’s all data that we can see and is encouraging!”
Pro Landscaper was also able to talk to Joseph Dance, ecology associate at Tyler Grange, about general staff feedback. Joseph said: “I think the feedback from me has gotten better as the weeks have gone on. If you’d have asked me at the two-week point, I would say ‘Oh, I’m still on the fence a little bit’…People did struggle with those first few weeks because it’s a whole new way to work and a whole different culture to deal with but we’ve got better at it.” The feedback he has received from his colleagues in Manchester is now “generally very, very positive”.
Joseph Dance (Ecology Associate)With all these changes it is no surprise that visits to TG’s recruitment pages are up by 60%, and job enquiries have risen by 534%.
With the trial officially at its halfway point, Pro Landscaper wondered what other projects Tyler Grange is working on. Joseph shares: “In terms of having any more exciting projects in the pipeline, there is one – all focused around Biodiversity Net Gain.
“The crux of it is that TG has been working with a landowner in Cheshire East to facilitate the release of their land for the purposes of developers buying habitat units from them – all designed and mediated through TG. It’s the first of its kind in the country (we believe).”
With such successfully feedback so far, it will be great to see the outcome of the Biodiversity Net Gain project as well as the four-day work week trail.
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