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Lifestyle / Fashion
Sandqvist CEO Caroline Lind on introducing a four-day workweek of 30 hours for the employees
After receiving ”overwhelming” feedback during the last couple of days, what are the challenges?
By JOHAN MAGNUSSON
16 Feb 2023

This week, the Swedish accessories brand announced that it’s introducing a four-day workweek of 30 hours for its employees, with retained salary.

— The ambition is to maintain the same productivity and service, says Lind, but improve the balance between work and free time for our employees. We do this to improve quality of life, and to provide personal development, both for us as a company and on an individual level. We want to enhance work-life balance and challenge business norms, being a front-runner when it comes to building a successful, sustainable, and responsible company.

Sandqvist.

Have you received any feedback from industry colleagues?

— The feedback has actually been overwhelming with positive comments, cheers, and virtual high fives. People say that we are brave and inspiring and that it’s a great initiative — it feels like a topic that engages people.

Who’s idea was it in the first place?

— The idea was mine from the beginning, after reading a lot about the subject itself and well-being in general. When we started talking about it, it felt right from the owners’ perspective as well. The planning for this started right after the summer and the management team got involved very quickly. We introduced the concept to the rest of the team in January — and here we are now.

How long will you try it? And what do you hope to achieve?

— At first for 6 months. The goals are to increase well-being and commitment in the organization as well as create more value for the company with even better results. And last but not least we want to make a ’statement’ in responsible business and inspire people to live a sustainable life. 

”We are offering our staff an education in ’stressfree productivity’ where we will learn to handle our daily workload”

Will there also be challenges?

— Changes often come with some form of challenges, and we are aware that shorter hours with the same productivity level could create stress and that is why we are offering our staff an education in ’stressfree productivity’ where we will learn to handle our daily workload, setting meeting structure, work with less stress and more free time where we need it. Learn how to focus without being disrupted feeling more relaxed and in control, Lind explains. She adds:

— I strongly believe if you feel good, you perform better, and it has been long known that engaged employees create sustainable results. Our employees are our most important asset. Being able to give our employees the opportunity to work smarter, to be able to have more meaningful free time with more time for themselves and their relationships, feels both nice and progressive for us as a company.