After experiencing first-hand the shortcomings of traditional collection agencies, Australia-based InDebted’s CEO and Founder, Josh Foreman, envisioned a better way with a product-led solution that is changing the world of consumer debt recovery for good.
Foreman is a self-professed engineering nerd, with a background in computer science and a love for building great products and turning these products into companies. Using data science and digital communication, InDebted is placing the experience of people in debt at the centre of the process, rather than the amount they owe – disrupting a global industry to improve overall financial wellbeing, providing real support and real options to people at the time when they need it most.
Here Foreman explains how his fintech successfully implemented the four-day working week, and discusses the lessons he learnt from doing so.
NOWADAYS, it feels like you are never too far away from a discussion about the future of work. The pandemic has led to an explosion in the adoption of new working practices, whether that be a shift to hybrid working, working from anywhere, or even trialling new initiatives like the four-day working week.
We are all invested in the follow-up from the pandemic, how companies navigate shifting work patterns, as well as the demand for flexibility. The Great Resignation and subsequent ‘War for Talent’ has further lifted the lid on the need for companies to adapt to the changing needs of workers, in tandem with new customer demands.
Employees are no longer content with a traditional nine to five, five days a week, and lengthy commutes. With the pandemic bringing about innovation in this space, the time for sitting on the fence has passed. Those who have not taken the opportunity to adapt face being left behind.
Our own path at InDebted has always started with questioning what has been done in the past and finding a better way for everyone. It’s this approach that truly sets us apart from traditional debt collectors. We have embraced technology and personalisation to improve outcomes for consumers, and we have sought to do the same for our employees.
We see the four-day working week as an opportunity to get the job done in a new way for our 250 employees, located across 11 countries while supporting their wellbeing. We see this flexibility as a key pillar in turbocharging InDebted’s growth, while maintaining our customer-centricity.
Our Story: How InDebted Implemented the Four-Day Working Week
In 2021, InDebted launched the four-day working week with an opt-in pilot programme for select teams in the business. This enabled us to monitor feedback during manager check-ins and see how this scheme would impact productivity across the business.
Following this trial period, we took a phased approach to transition our teams to this new way of working. This enabled us to take into consideration each teams’ unique needs, adjust hiring requirements, and address any issues with team goals so that no member of the company was worried about this move.
Our project management team further facilitated a comprehensive review and discussion with each department to carefully plan the transition to a four-day workweek company-wide.
During this period, we encouraged everyone to utilise asynchronous working tools for collaboration and more efficient ways of working. Meetings have become less part of the day – a sigh of relief for those experiencing Zoom fatigue – and when they did occur, calls were more focussed. We also hired additional resources to smooth the transition for teams like IT and customer service where there is an obvious need for an always-on 24/7 service.
The Evaluation: What We Learned From Implementing the Four-Day Working Week
Since implementing this programme across the company, the four-day working week has boosted our performance and supported our international expansion.
Since implementing our four day work week in September 2021, our headcount has grown by 71 new employees. As the business scales into new and global markets, the shortened working week has had a tangible impact on our talent acquisition in a highly competitive candidate market.
Following the launch of the initiative, there were more applicants for open roles in the first 45 days than the preceding four and a half months, with our average number of applicants increasing by 283 per cent. The four-day working week is a key differentiating factor for those that choose to come work with us.
With shorter work weeks, employees are given roughly 416 hours back every year to disconnect, take care of themselves and their families, and pursue passions outside of the office.
There have been amazing stories of how employees are using their extra day, whether that be volunteering for organisations fighting against climate change, starting up their own side hustles, or just being able to have more time with family. In our January pulse survey, 97 per cent of employees said that the four-day working week positively impacts their wellbeing.
Our Learnings: Advice if You’re Considering the Transition
When implementing a radical new workplace initiative, uptake has to come from leadership.
Leaders in the business need to set the precedent, advocating for their team members to take their Fridays off and setting realistic expectations for the rest of the business to plan their weeks and manage their workload.
Transparency, communication, and visibility are important to ensuring the success of this scheme and will determine whether your business can make a success of it. Having the right tools in place that support asynchronous communication, collaboration and efficiency have been critical to the success of this rollout at InDebted. Getting this right has been vital to ensuring that our clients and consumers receive first-class service.
For InDebted, the four-day working week is just the start as we aim to create a winning formula for the future of work that works for both our employees and our customers. We don’t sit on our hands when it comes to supporting our team members, and the results for the business and consumers from this initiative speak for themselves; higher retention; better and quicker recruitment; improved productivity whilst maintaining a high-quality, 24/7 customer service; and employee wellbeing ratings going through the roof.
As we expand into new territories, the bold steps we take to support our employees enables us to attract the best fintech talent in the market, benefitting our clients and customers alike.
The business succeeds when our employees succeed – the four-day working week embodies this.
