Mastering Work-Life Balance at Provizio

Provizio was established not only to do great work, but also to be a great place to work. A key goal of the company is to be an industry leader in driving work-life balance and positive mental health initiatives to support all employees, both inside and outside of work. Provizio also understands that to attract and retain the best talent, providing and supporting a flexible working environment that can adapt with the needs of employees is of vital importance.

Our Initiatives

The 4-Day Work Week:

Provizio is a firm believer in “it’s not about how many hours you work, it’s about what you do with the hours that you do work”. While the logic of this sentiment is something many people agree on, the concept of a 4-day work week is one which still scares many employers. Despite various research studies highlighting the potential benefits of a 4-day week, the thought of losing eight hours of precious development time each week proves too difficult a pill to swallow for many organisations. However, at Provizio, like with anything we do in our organisation, we approached the 4-day week like an experiment - create a hypothesis, test the hypothesis and evaluate the results.

In adopting a 4-day work week, a critical enabling component was to first understand how our existing 5-day process would adapt to ensure productivity wasn’t compromised. This included evaluating meeting schedules, understanding common productivity disruptors, assessing our team alignment processes, and ensuring that individuals were empowered to enhance their individual day to day productivity.

After a successful trial, it was amazing to see just how much our workflow process changed in accommodating a reduced hour workweek. New initiatives like “Deep Dive Days”, meeting blocks and asynchronous chat and video updates enabled vast reductions in daily disruptors, while an extra day of rest each week enabled employees to spend more time with family, friends, or on their favourite hobbies, leading to increased productivity and job satisfaction.

Remote Work and Flexible Hours:

Remote work and flexible working hours are other critical aspects of Provizio’s work-life balance approach, aligning with current workplace psychology research. One study found that employees working remotely reported higher job satisfaction and reduced attrition rates, owing to employees being able to create a personal work environment conducive to their productivity. Flexible working hours also play a significant role, as evidenced by a 2016 study which found that flexible schedules led to reduced stress and burnout.

In our own experience, remote work and flexible working hours are a critical enabler of enhanced creativity and productivity for most employees. Our internal studies showed that many employees use both flexible working hours and remote work to their advantage, taking time during the traditional workday for running errands or minding children, and using quiet time later in the evening for deep focus.

In addition, many people have different circadian rhythms, with some preferring to do their most complex work in the morning and others preferring to work at night. With a flexible and remote work approach, employees are free to utilise the work day to their advantage, maximising productivity while minimising distraction. This approach isn’t just good for our employees; it’s beneficial for our business. A rested and fulfilled team brings more energy and creativity to their work, driving innovation and helping us stay ahead of competition.

Productivity Boosters:

In addition to the initiatives outlined above, we found the below techniques to be very helpful in improving overall productivity. However, it is key to remember that not every approach is suited to every person or role, so please take the time to assess what may work best for your unique situation.

• Time-box your work in regular focus intervals, separated by short breaks (Pomodoro Technique). This often helps to reduce distractions & improve consistency in your daily workflow.
• Create a quick plan of your work at the start of each day, with set timeframes within which you expect to complete your tasks. This can give you a stronger intention to complete your work than if you just go about completing tasks in an ad-hoc manner.
• Ensure any meetings you create or attend are valuable, have an agenda, are time-boxed, have action items and are attended by a relevant audience.
• Use meeting-free deep focus time to enable complex work to be delivered without distractions.
• Use online whiteboarding tools and meeting timers to keep everyone engaged, to record action items in real-time, and to maintain a focus on accurate timekeeping.
• Try and group meetings together, where possible, to avoid ad-hoc distractions throughout the working day.
• Record screen-share videos to replace or augment meetings, or for announcements or status updates.

Conclusion

Provizio’s adoption of these progressive work practices is not just a response to modern trends but a well-considered strategy informed by extensive research in workplace psychology. By fostering autonomy, embracing agile methodologies, and promoting a healthy work-life balance through innovative scheduling, Provizio is not only enhancing employee satisfaction and retention but is also driving the creation of higher quality products.

In the evolving landscape of work, Provizio stands as a testament to the power of aligning workplace practices with targeted, informed research, showcasing how a modern approach to work can lead to substantial benefits for both employees and the organisation.