He adds that while there have been some undeniable benefits from the 4DWW, he’s also recognized that occasionally his stress at work has spiked because of it.
Also, remember how he scheduled those doctor’s appointments? He did that for a good reason: Mondays are great days to schedule medical checkups. This isn’t just an opinion — it’s actually backed up by evidence.
However, since the vast majority of IWT employees decided to take Fridays off instead, that means that Andy has a 3-day window to communicate and collaborate with his co-workers.
“It’s been challenging with the three-day situation,” he explains. “But the teamwork has been great when we are together.”
Andy’s situation is a great example of how a 4DWW doesn’t instantly fit into everyone’s Rich Life — particularly if they’re used to a 5-day schedule.
“At first I was thinking about sneaking in five days of work while everyone else did their 4-day workweek,” he explains. “But I decided to try and make it work and it has paid off.“
The beauty of the 4DWW Challenge is that it not only challenges our assumptions of what a typical 5-day workweek could look like, but it also helps us test and prod the 4DWW itself. That can be helpful considering the MASSIVE trend in articles that seem to tout it as nothing short of a gift from the labor gods. Consider these breathless obituaries about the 5-day workweek:
After a few weeks of testing, though, here’s the cold hard truth: The 5-day workweek isn’t dead. Hell, it isn’t even dying. BUT that doesn’t mean that there aren’t some clear and powerful benefits to it that make it worthwhile for a lot of workers.
Bottom line: The 4DWW is not a utopian paradise. Instead, it’s just a different way of approaching work that allows a lot of people to live their Rich Lives a little easier.
A little help from my friends
While Andy has occasionally struggled with the 4DWW, he says that he’s grateful to have received a TON of help from his coworkers and managers.
He added that IWT’s culture allows things that would otherwise be annoying in other companies, like unnecessary meetings, to become non-issues.
“That’s something I love about IWT,” Andy says. “I remember other employers that had meetings that consistently went over time or meetings that could have been an email. But IWT has always had an agenda and we respect each other’s time.”