Microsoft has introduced a new project – offering three-day weekend — for its employees in Japan to improve work-life balance.
The software company conducted a “Working Reform Project” called the Work-Life Choice Challenge Summer 2019 for one month – offering Friday off to 2,300 employees in Japan.
Microsoft Japan’s three-day weekend for their Japanese employees has resulted into 39.9 percent increase in productivity.
The result was amazing. Microsoft employees took 25.4 percent fewer days off during the month and used 23.1 percent less electricity in the office saving the company money, Sora news reports. This special holiday did not come at the expense of any other holiday time.
Much of the increase in productivity was attributed to changing the timings of meetings, the report said.
With only four days to get everything done for the week, many meetings were cut, shortened, or changed to virtual meetings instead of in-person.
In addition, 92.1 percent of employees said that they liked the four day workweek at the end of the trial.
Microsoft is planning on repeating the project again next summer and potentially at other times as well.
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