“A 4-Day Workweek for Nurse Leaders: Unveiling the Lessons Learned” is based on a study conducted at the 100-bed specialty cancer center. The study aims to evaluate the influence of a four-day workweek on nurse leaders’ perceptions of workload and job satisfaction. Results of the study were published Feb. 17, and included 24 care delivery units and 43 nursing directors, managers and assistant nurse managers.
Participants were surveyed before and after Fox Chase implemented an optional four-day workweek for nurse managers in 2021.
“A formal policy and guidelines were not prescribed nor outlined, outside of the usual mechanisms required to effectively run their units,” the study said. “Instead, the [chief nursing officer] encouraged nurse leaders to remain productive and visible to their respective teams, without compromise. Nursing directors and managers were invited to discuss the four-day workweek structure at the team level, and ensure leadership presence and coverage for staff on the nursing units, as appropriate.”
Fox Chase said that during the program, nurse managers were expected to return to the traditional workweek schedule as needed if key performance indicators were trending negatively. They were also required to be available for emergencies when at home.
“We thought, ‘This is a great opportunity. Let’s use it and survey ourselves to see how people feel about it over a certain timespan,'” first study author Jennie Gilliland, RN, clinical director of infusion services at Fox Chase, said in a news release. Ms. Gilliland conducted the study with corresponding author Susan Rux, PhD, DNP, RN, associate vice president of professional nursing practice and research, and Anna Rodriguez, RN, chief nursing officer and vice president of nursing and patient care services at Fox Chase.
Eighteen of 43 nurse leaders eligible to participate responded to a survey before Fox Chase implemented the optional four-day workweek. Sixty-seven percent of respondents were very or extremely satisfied with their job, 28% were satisfied with work-life balance, 66% worked at least 10 hours per day, 78% felt guilt when taking time off, 67% were confident their units could run efficiently in their absence and 73% felt that the four-day workweek would improve their job satisfaction.
The survey was repeated 15 months after implementation with 15 nurse leaders participating. The post-implementation survey found a 6% increase in job satisfaction, a 45% increase in satisfaction with work-life balance, a 52% improvement in feeling guilty for taking time off and a 36% increase in confidence in the ability of units to run effectively in their absence.
Ms. Gilliland said in the release that nurse managers learned they needed to be more productive during the four-day workweek to take advantage of time off.
“They also had to be flexible, as they often found themselves responding to email on their at-home days and were sometimes called into work,” she noted.
Ms. Gilliland also noted that the four-day workweek has helped recruit nurse managers.
Fox Chase said another four-day workweek study will be conducted in the future to measure the ongoing effects of the program. The recent case study is slated to be published in the journal Nursing Economic$ later this month.