[From the industry] Hutch kicks off four day working week pilot

This is a press release posted in addition to our usual editorial content.

Hutch, the renowned automotive mobile game developer and winner in the Gamesindustry.biz 2021 Best Places to Work Award, has today commenced a universal four day work week trial. Set to run from June to December 2022 for all Hutch staff, the trial will be implemented as a Monday through Thursday working week.

With the trial, Hutch is actively encouraging the team to use their additional day off for positive and constructive pursuits such as volunteering and following passions and hobbies. The game developer has had an ongoing commitment to championing employee wellbeing and will continue to do so with the trial, ensuring that one less working day does not entail additional working hours during the other four.

Taking place for six months, Hutch will use the trial as an opportunity to measure the impact a 4 day working week has on staff wellbeing, enhancing organisational productivity, sustainability (reduced commuting), improving the distribution of responsibility for parents and carers, alongside other advantages. Key processes will be put in place to learn from the trial as an opportunity to improve and grow, while making sure business needs are met and ensuring workload is balanced appropriately.

The pilot is coordinated by not-for-profit 4 Day Week Global in partnership with the UK think tank Autonomy, the 4 Day Week UK Campaign and researchers at Cambridge University, Boston College and Oxford University. With 3,000 companies taking part in over 60 countries, Hutch is taking part in the trial to further bolster its commitment to supporting its 120+ staff and their work life balance.

With support and training from the non-profit, important insights and sentiment will be gathered from the Hutch team across their studios in London, Dundee and Nova Scotia, and objectively reviewed throughout the trial. With the team enjoying the long Jubilee weekend in the UK, the first day of the four day week will effectively commence on Friday 10th June.

Shaun Rutland, CEO of Hutch, said “For 10 years we’ve ensured Hutch is a great place to work. The 4 Day Work Week trial is a natural next step for us to promote productivity, sustainability and better work life balance for our Hutchies. We want the industry to learn alongside us, and use our results to help make working in games the fantastic experience it should be.