How would you like to have a four-day work week? Icelab shows us how

By Sarah Michael MOST of us dream about having a three-day weekend every week. This business has made it a reality.

MOST of us dream about having a three-day weekend every week.

But one Canberra digital design firm has made it a reality.

Michael Honey, director of Icelab, takes a different approach to the traditional nine-to-five, Monday-to-Friday work week.

Instead, his staff work four days a week.

“We've got a certain amount of work to do, let's work when we feel like it,” he said.

The company implemented a four-day work week in 2008, allowing his staff to have Fridays off.

Would a four-day week work for you?  Would you take less money for more flexibility? Take our New Work Project survey.

Staff hours are also fluid and they can decide when they come in to work.

But Icelab’s laid-back approach doesn’t mean they don’t get the job done.

“We need to make money, we can't afford to slack off, but also we don't have to do things the way everyone else does them,” Mr Honey said.

The company, which builds websites, mobile phone applications and touch screen interactives for museums and other businesses, has been based in Canberra for five years.

One of the company’s three directors, Max Wheeler, recently moved to Melbourne and can work from there, communicating with the Canberra office through video chat and email.

The company’s third director, Tim Riley, is moving to the Philippines in November and will work from overseas for at least eight months.

Mr Riley said having the three directors in different locations around the world actually makes running the company easier.

“In a sense, if one of us is going to be somewhere else, it’s actually better if we’re all somewhere else because we communicate more evenly,” Mr Riley said

“You can’t throw a few offhand comments to the guy sitting next to you (in the office), which the third person might miss out on.”

But even Icelab’s two other full-time employees can be flexible about where they work.

“Maybe you'll work late one night and not come in the next morning. Maybe you'll stay in bed the next morning and just answer someone emails in your pyjamas. I think that's just fine,” Mr Honey said.

But the hardest part of having employees scattered around the world is a decent internet connection.

“If you have a good internet connection, you can work from anywhere,” Mr Honey said.

Earlier this month an Australian Bureau of Statistics study showed bigger companies usually offer better flexibility for their staff than smaller firms.

With only five full-time employees, Icelab is certainly bucking this trend.

Mr Honey said they were a "21st century business".

“We’re one of those sort of places - we’re not a coffee shop, we’re not a dry-cleaning business, we’re a bunch of guys with laptops that can work anywhere on earth at any time,” he said.

But Mr Honey said flexible work conditions require the right staff.

“Not everyone is cut out to handle the four day week thing, or the responsibly to be able to make the decision about when they work and where they work,” he said.

“Not everyone can work in a location by themselves and not everyone has the motivation to learn and to think about what they're doing. The guys here are awesome guys.”