Sudbury based manufacturers of external blinds is in to its fourth month of a 4-day working week incentive for the employees working in the Caribbean Blinds factory, as it continues on its mission to create a flexible and nurturing working environment.
Introduced in August, it was agreed that employees would complete 40 hours in 4 days from Monday to Thursday, leaving them with a 3-day weekend. Along with the re-structure, there was also an increase in pay, partly to take into account the cost of living and also to create a pay scale structure, which gives transparency and allows the team to see a clear progression path.
The feedback from the Caribbean Blinds employees after the initial 4 months has been unanimous in its praise for the incentive, with employees saying they feel well rested and refreshed when they return to the factory on a Monday morning and has made a noticeable difference to their wellbeing.
After a shift in work patterns across the UK during the pandemic, with many businesses switching to a hybrid system, a nationwide pilot scheme commenced in June with over 60 UK companies taking part in a 6-month trial of a 4-day week. At the halfway point of the trial, 88% of respondents said it was working well and nine in ten said they would keep the new hours.*
Stuart Dantzic, Managing Director at Caribbean Blinds commented: “We are a family-run business with family values at our heart and staff wellbeing is at the centre of what we do. We wouldn’t be who we are without them and hoped that the introduction of a 4-day week would give them a better work-life balance.
“The feedback we have received since introducing the 4-day week has been really positive and we have definitely seen an increase in productivity as a result. The incentive will undoubtedly help with recruitment and staff retention as so many businesses are now offering a more flexible working environment.”
Manufacturing all of its products here in the UK, Caribbean Blinds has always been proud to make the highest quality products and are the only company in the UK dedicated purely to external shading. This year they have invested in a 10,000 sq/ft extension to their factory to ensure they can keep up with demand by being able to hold more raw materials, but drive down lead times. This follows a £100,000 investment in 2021 in new IT and manufacturing software, specifically built for Caribbean Blinds.
The team recently scooped the Manufacturing Excellence Award at the national Scale-Up Awards 2022 – further proof that the 4-day working isn’t doing them any harm at all!
Find out more about Caribbean Blinds UK Ltd on their member profile page here
Member-created content 2 years ago | From members