"People are worried that the customer experience would be negatively impacted"
Name: Marc Sumner
Role: CEO, Robertson Sumner
The UK has just kicked off the world's biggest ever 4-day-week trial. Will the model catch on in the UK IT channel?
Potentially - if it is going to catch on, I think that it will be vendor led. With the shortage of talent in the UK channel it could be a very attractive selling point to help entice people to join the business when hiring. Due to the nature of their business models, I am not 100 per cent convinced that this will catch on within distribution or the reseller channels in the short term.
Based on the conversations you're having with your vendor and partner clients, how many are seriously looking into a 4-day week, and how do the hiring bosses you talk to generally feel about it?
Most businesses aren't in a situation where they can afford to leave a customer waiting until the right person is back working to resolve any of their issues
Currently nobody has proactively brought this up with me at all. Most are just getting used to getting back into the offices once again! People I have mentioned it to, aren't considering this as an option yet. They are worried that the customer experience would be negatively impacted. Customer requirements/demand doesn't necessarily fit neatly into a four-day window and most businesses aren't in a situation where they can afford to leave a customer waiting until the right person is back working to resolve any of their issues.
What are your personal views on the 4-day week model?
I think it sounds like a great idea if you are an employee, however I am not convinced it is great for your end user customers. The customer experience could potentially go down/response times will likely go up meaning the productivity could be affected elsewhere. I'm not sure how sustainable this will be.
Do you think the new workplace models that have emerged since Covid hit (for instance shorter hours and hybrid/more flexible working) will really stick in the long term?
There is no doubt that the pandemic has shown that there is scope for us to work as efficiently from home versus being in the office full-time. Given that the current conditions in the job market are dictated by the employee, companies are having to be creative/offer flexibility in order to compete in order to maintain and grow their workforce. I am not sure this will last forever. Fast forward to a time when there are fewer jobs available, hiring companies will in essence be able to dictate the terms under which they bring people into the business and most business leaders and hiring managers that I have spoken to still prefer having people back in the office.
Secondly, I think a lot of businesses have actually missed the benefit that comes from their employees collaborating face to face - it is harder to replicate this when you aren't in the same room.
