Chris Langer, top right, co-founder of CMYK, a digital design agency, speaks with an staff member at their office in New York, Tuesday, June 25, 2024. Last year, Langer started hearing chatter about the four-day work week, so he decided to try it out during the summer. , workers across the country may be dreaming of a seaside escape or cutting out early to watch a movie in an air-conditioned theater.
Special summer schedules don't work for all types of industries, however. And it takes some trial-and-error to figure out the best option for each company. “We know that childcare is harder during the summer,” he said. “Summer is a time where people do like to take time with their family or take trips, and we want to be able to reward our employees with some additional time with their families.”
Jim Christy co-owns Midwest Cards, a trading card retailer based in Columbus, Ohio, with about 30 employees. He started offering summer hours – Fridays off after 2 p.m. -- in 2021, a year after founding the company, as the pandemic upended normal ways of working. Communicating with the company’s tight knit staff, who have all worked together for years, makes the four-day week doable, Langer said.
“It is more stressful in terms of getting the work done throughout the week, but the day was much more of a payoff,” he said.