Moving to a four-day week while scaling

Flexible working has become one of the most talked-about topics in modern business, but for startups and scaleups, the real question isn’t whether new ways of working sound appealing, it’s whether they actually work while you’re growing.

At Interlink, we decided to find out.

As a fast-scaling B2B demand generation business, moving to a four-day week wasn’t an obvious choice. We were growing our team rapidly, looking at how we scaled our business internationally, and operating in a competitive sector where responsiveness and performance matter. But we also believed that building a genuinely sustainable company meant rethinking not just what we do, but how we work.

The result has been one of the most transformative decisions we’ve made, not because it reduced working hours, but because it forced us to rethink how the business operates.

Why a growing startup would choose fewer working hours

When we founded Interlink in 2018, we wanted to challenge assumptions about what a successful company should look like. Growth was important, but not at the expense of burnout or unsustainable working patterns.

Like many startups, we faced familiar challenges around attracting top talent, maintaining engagement as the team scaled, and building a culture that could evolve alongside the business rather than break under pressure.

The four-day week became part of a broader strategy focused on long-term wellbeing, stronger retention, and creating a more focused, outcome-driven culture. It also offered a way to stand out in a competitive hiring market and to test a belief we had held for some time: productivity isn’t measured by hours spent at a desk.

That said, we were realistic. If the model failed operationally, it could impact clients, delivery and growth and so experimentation had to be deliberate, not impulsive.

Treating change like a product launch

One of the biggest mistakes startups make is assuming culture changes can be implemented overnight. We approached the four-day week the same way we would a major product rollout: test, iterate, measure, and refine.

Over 18 months, we gradually evolved the model. The journey began with a 4.5-day week to test workload compression, followed by rotating Fridays off for different teams. A full trial period came next before the change was made permanent.

Alongside these adjustments, we invested in the infrastructure needed to make the shift sustainable. Collaboration tools were introduced, legal advice ensured compliance, and workflows were redesigned to prioritise clarity and efficiency. Throughout the process, we asked ourselves a difficult question: if productivity dropped, would we reverse the decision? Being honest about that possibility helped us stay disciplined and focused on results.

Redesigning work, not just reducing hours

Moving to a four-day week quickly exposed inefficiencies that had previously gone unnoticed. Meetings were shortened or removed entirely, communication became more intentional and teams focused more clearly on outcomes rather than activity. In many ways, the model forced us to become a better business.

Today, our structure combines a four-day working week with full pay, hybrid working supported by structured in-person collaboration, flexible hours within a 32-hour week, opportunities to work remotely from abroad for short periods and additional wellbeing-focused leave throughout the year.

One important lesson was that flexibility works best when everyone is included. Applying the model consistently across roles and seniority levels has been key to maintaining fairness and cultural cohesion.

What actually changed and what surprised us

The results have challenged many assumptions about productivity. Our retention rate has remained above 90%, with voluntary departures well below industry averages. Sickness absence has reduced significantly and employee satisfaction around flexibility has noticeably increased.

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From a commercial perspective, the business has continued to grow strongly, hitting revenue targets and maintaining high client retention rates. The feared drop in performance simply didn’t happen.

Perhaps the biggest surprise has been cultural rather than operational. Trust increased. Autonomy improved. People became more intentional with their time, not because they had fewer hours, but because those hours felt more valuable.

Lessons for founders considering a four-day week

The four-day model isn’t a universal solution, but there are principles any start-up can apply:

1. Start with outcomes, not hours: If your culture still rewards busyness over results, reducing working time won’t fix the underlying issue
2. Treat it as an operational redesign: this isn’t a perk; it’s a structural change that requires systems, processes and leadership alignment
3. Test before committing: gradual experimentation builds confidence and reveals where adjustments are needed
4. Communicate relentlessly: transparency with teams and clients helps manage expectations and maintain trust

 A new definition of productivity

For us, moving to a four-day week wasn’t about doing less; it was about working differently.

As startups scale, leaders often default to adding more processes, more hours, or more pressure. Our experience suggests the opposite can also be true: simplifying how work happens can unlock performance and resilience at the same time.

The future of work won’t look the same for every company. But if there’s one lesson we’ve learned, it’s that challenging long-held assumptions about working patterns can be one of the most powerful growth decisions a startup makes – not just for productivity, but for building a culture that lasts.