Less work: A pipe dream?

LearnJam

Exploring your resistance to reduced working hours and more rest!

Join us for a lunchtime session to get under the surface of the reduced hours discussion. We will hear from some organisations who are already experimenting with reduced working hours, and look more deeply at some justifications for and resistance to a shorter work week._________“For many people, and many industries, work isn’t working. Today’s economy is capable of amazing but unsustainable things ... and shows blithe disregard for sharing the benefits of rising productivity.Small-scale solutions to these problems are no longer enough. We need bigger, more holistic approaches that help fix today’s problems and give us the means to build a better future.”Alex Soojung-Kim Pang – Author of ‘Shorter: Work Better, Smarter, and Less—Here&#x27;s How’_________Last year, LearnJam implemented a 4-day work week, Enrol Yourself have this year started trialing 90% work time, with every other Friday off, and Dave is wondering how on earth to make this work as a freelancer with a child and a mortgage! All of us feel that reducing working hours can be genuinely transformative for humankind, but we have also felt in ourselves the instinctive resistance to the idea. We operate in a culture that values productivity and profit above people and planet. Our work lives often don’t leave enough space for adequate rest, relaxation, family and community, and this exerts a considerable toll on us as individuals and on society as a whole. Reducing our working hours is a way to redress this balance, and there&#x27;s a growing movement of individuals, organisations and countries making this change. By spending less time at work we have more time for the things that energise us and can be more creative and conscious as a result. By slowing down, we are better able to listen to our bodies and connect with what we believe is right. Unlearning that time is money, and decoupling productivity from self-worth, allows us to be more connected, happy and healthy. Add to this the benefits for organisations and the planet, you can see why there is an attraction to the idea of reducing working hours. But change is hard, and there are many reasons why we instinctively resist a shorter work week, or put off taking the leap to making it happen. _________Event format<ol><li>Hear from individuals and organisations already experimenting with reduced working hours</li><li>Explore the benefits and your own resistance more deeply</li><li>Put your most pressing questions or worries to the panel of speakers and other participants</li><li>Hear more about the League of Less Work, a peer learning expedition, hosted by David Heinemann, designed to help organisations and individuals take the first steps to reducing their working hours in 2022. </li></ol>Note: The session will involve breakout room discussions, but there will be an alternative option available in the session for those who are unable or would rather not participate in a breakout room._________Panelists / SpeakersMark Walton, Shared Assets. With a small team that were already mainly working part time already we saw an opportunity to move to a 4 day week in 2020. Given the team&#x27;s existing work patterns we have not faced much resistance to the move but issues we have had to address have included making a 4 day week something that is really affordable for all staff and maintaining our commitment to paying a Living Wage, and the knock on impact on pay scales. Lucy Williams, LearnJam. After grappling with our attraction and resistance to the idea, LearnJam introduced a 4-day work week as a trial in July 2021. Two months later we unanimously decided to make it a permanent change. We&#x27;re making changes to other parts of the organisation to help make the shorter working week a success.Anneka Deva, Enrol Yourself. This year, we decided to put our values in action and are trialling 90% time at Enrol Yourself. Our whole team is taking every other Friday off, without impact on their pay. And we&#x27;re using every other Friday as a team/strategy/learning day - strictly no delivery stuff. We&#x27;re looking forward to seeing what we can learn from this and figuring out how we can make it work in practice for us as individuals and as an organisation._________The money from your ticket will be donated to the Trussell Trust, to help tackle hunger and poverty in the UK.

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Less work: A pipe dream?

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Less work: A pipe dream?

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