This story originally appeared in the 2024 Spring issue of strategy magazine.

It’s often said that Europeans work to live while North Americans do the opposite. But some shops in the advertising sector – known for its grind culture and high burnout rates – are channeling continental values by giving staffers some of their time back.

About a year-and-a-half ago, Tux Creative, which employs 100 staff, adopted a shortened four-day workweek (with Friday off), first in its Montreal office, and later in Los Angeles. Tux reports that, in 18 months, revenue margin increased by 24% in 2023 versus 2022, and turnover reduced from 27% to 8%, the lowest among Quebec agencies. It also reports it attracted more senior talent. The diversification of staff had impacted its work and client relationships, while Tux saw a “significant change in employee satisfaction metrics and overall happiness.”

Dominic Tremblay, Tux’s founder says he was inspired by the book Shorter: Work Better, Smarter, and Less – Here’s How by Silicon Valley futurist Alex Soojung-Kim Pang, which, despite detailing case studies outside of the marketing milieu, was helpful in implementing the model at his agency. 

There are diminishing returns in advertising, says Tremblay, with no 1:1 relationship between hours and creative output. As he explains, in a typical 55-hour workweek grind, you probably get “20 great hours,” and “10 not too bad” ones with the rest being “crap.”    

Meanwhile, Winnipeg indie agency Brandish marked six months of a permanent four-day workweek in the spring of 2022, and at the time, the shop told strategy that it received “nothing but positive feedback from clients, employees and community members about this change.” Brandish also reported that its productivity and efficiency improved by reducing unnecessary meetings and working asynchronously.

For the 30-person agency, the move to four days came about as a response to mid-pandemic burnout, inspired in part by HubSpot’s “global week of rest,” in which the software giant operated with reduced staff, while still able to respond to urgent matters. 

“It was a quick decision… and looking back, maybe we could have thought about it more,” admitted Brandish co-founder and managing partner, Lee Waltham. The move to a so-called 4DWW began with Fridays off for two months in the summer of 2021 as a test, before the four-day workweek was officially introduced that fall. Over time, Waltham figured, “Why don’t we continue to do this… and figure out the process stuff as we go?”

Prior to implanting its 4DWW, the agency was used to seeing alarmingly high turnover with hires that came out of Toronto. However, now, “the four-day workweek… and the culture we have at Brandish is the reason people stay here.”

Some of the results include seeing a notable 39% year-over-year decrease in the use of sick days, dropping from 252 to 156 days, according to the agency.

“By adopting various meeting optimizations, we’ve successfully reduced our weekly meeting time by 20 to 25 hours. This efficiency gain has allowed for more focused work and less time spent in unnecessary meetings,” it adds. There has also been a +60-point surge in Brandish’s Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS), and 96% of the agency’s team have reported improvements in their work/life balance.

“Contrary to concerns about reduced work hours leading to decreased productivity, our experience has been quite the opposite,” according to Waltham. “We’ve observed an increase in the volume of work processed through the agency (+15%), with no adverse effects on our ability to meet deadlines and complete projects on time.”

“These outcomes illustrate not only the feasibility of a condensed workweek but also its potential to revolutionize workplace dynamics, productivity, and employee satisfaction,” he adds.

When it comes to big global agency conglomerates, both Waltham and Tremblay agree that they’re far too margins-focused to adopt a 4DWW model. For now, anyway. As smaller organizations operating remote/hybrid workplaces, Brandish and Tux are able to accommodate the transition to this new world of work in a way that bigger, more complex agencies likely cannot.