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Hello friends,
What would you do if you had three days off every week? Could you find creative ways to work smarter and not harder, getting your job done in less time? Well, the staff at Volunteer Lawyers for Justice (VLJ) will find out the answers to those questions and more when we trial a 4-day work week from May through October. For those six months, VLJ staff will work eight-hour days, Monday through Thursday, with the office closed on Fridays.
VLJ has an ambitious mission to ensure access to justice for people experiencing poverty. While the 4-day work week is a change to when we work, it is not a change to how we work. VLJ will not eliminate programs nor reduce the number of clients we serve. The research shows that shorter work hours can boost focus, teamwork, and well-being. We are concentrating on results and impact and not just the number of hours worked.
VLJ is an organization that puts people first—our clients, our volunteers, and our staff. To continue serving our clients and making progress toward our larger goals, the health and wellness of our team must be a priority. As VLJ is, and always has been, a women-led organization, a 4-day work week is also a purposeful move toward a more gender-equitable work week for women who regularly come home to a second shift of unpaid caregiving and family responsibilities. At VLJ, we are looking toward the future and believe the 4-day work week will enable our team to take on legal challenges for years to come. We are in the fight for justice for the long haul.
Fortunately, we are not the initial trailblazers in this effort. There is a growing body of domestic and international research on the benefits of a 4-day work week. Perhaps you saw the results of the most recent successful pilot in the United Kingdom involving 2,900 employees at 61 diverse companies or heard that U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders proposed a 4-day work week in the United States? The conclusion of the pilots that have gone before us is the 4-day work week works. VLJ is working with 4 Day Week Global, an international leader in reshaping how we think about work, to design and implement our pilot. With the help of researchers from Boston College, we will methodically track data about our productivity, health and well-being, client and volunteer service, effect on retention and recruitment, and impact on our financial position.
Rest assured, if an emergency arises on Friday you can reach us at (973) 645-1955, a number that will be monitored by VLJ staff. We just ask that you reserve this for genuine emergencies, otherwise, the team will get back to you on Monday. Clients, volunteers, and partners should experience no disruption in the services we provide.
VLJ has ambitious service delivery goals in 2024 across all our programs and we plan to meet every single one of them. We believe our team can do that while also living healthy, sustainable lives outside of work, increasing the chances those familiar names and faces already doing incredible work will remain with us for the long term. The staff is excited and ready for this challenge.
I want to thank VLJ’s Board of Trustees for looking for innovative ways to effectuate our mission while prioritizing the wellbeing of VLJ’s staff. I look forward to sharing our progress with you and maybe you will even be inspired to join us in this movement. Please reach out if you would like to learn more about VLJ’s 4-day work week pilot.
In justice,
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