“People are more motivated, happy and productive”

Onya Health, a communication agency specializing in health created by UMinho alumni and based in Braga, will maintain the four-day working week, following a positive evaluation of the Government’s pilot project in which it participated.

“The assessment we made was very positive and, as we found no disadvantages, we decided to permanently adopt the reduced working week”, indicates the general director, Vânia Lima, in statements to the newspaper Eco.

The company, which last year moved its headquarters from Porto to Braga, chose the rotational model. In other words, every two weeks, employees work one day less (four, instead of the traditional five).

The general director adds that, in addition to feedback from employees, she noted that “there is more fluid work” since this model was adopted.

“People are more motivated, happy and productive. Furthermore, we cannot forget that we are talking about a communications agency, in other words, this reduction in working hours allows more time to encourage the creativity of our team”, points out Vânia Lima to that economic newspaper.

“It’s not in the plans for us to return at 40 pm”

However, the general director of Onya Health also explains the challenges encountered. The company initially tried to close on Fridays every two weeks, but in this new phase it decided that it will operate in a mirrored manner to ensure that customers always have an answer.

“In other words, half the team doesn’t work on Friday and the other half doesn’t work the following Friday. This allows us to maintain the same format as the pilot project, but with an advantage: the company does not need to close on any working day”, he explains.

“We hope to continue like this and, whenever necessary, we are ready to make certain adjustments. For now, it is not in the plans to return to the 40-hour week”, says Vânia Lima.

More than 20 companies evaluate results

Also according to the newspaper Eco, the preliminary results presented in December by the pilot coordinators indicate that the rate of anxiety fell by 21%, that of fatigue by 23%, that of insomnia or sleep problems by 19%, that of depressive states by 21 %.

Tension improved by 21% and loneliness fell by 14%. “The frequency of negative mental health symptoms has significantly decreased”, highlighted the coordinators in the report.

Levels of work exhaustion also reduced by 19% over the six months of testing, and the percentage of workers who feel that balancing work and family is difficult or very difficult fell from 46% to 8%.

In addition, 85% of workers who participated in the pilot project stated that they would only agree to move to a company that operates for five days, subject to a salary increase of more than 20%.

In addition to Onya Health, another 20 companies participated in the test promoted by the Government from June 2023, which are now analyzing the data to find out whether or not they will maintain the model.

Agency went remote and moved headquarters to Braga

As O MINHO reported in July last year, after four years in the Porto metropolitan area under a hybrid regime, Onya Health switched to remote work and chose Braga for casual team meetings. “We adopted a remote regime and started working 36 hours a week. Therefore, we decided to make this change because it is a city that offers easier access than Porto, particularly in terms of traffic”, explained the general director, Vânia Lima, quoted in a statement sent to O MINHO.

“This strategic change demonstrates our commitment to creating a work environment that favors flexibility and freedom, but which strives to maintain contact between employees, through brainstorming It is team buildings”, it could read.

“The new headquarters in Braga, in a space coworking, will allow us to bring our team together for occasional face-to-face meetings. Our priority is to maintain the remote regime, which gives us the possibility to take advantage of the benefits of technology and provide a more balanced and rewarding work experience for our workers”, added Vânia Lima.