Silk Road Partners (Pvt.) Limited, a corporate advisory and investment company with offices in Colombo and Galle has become Sri Lanka’s first company to launch a four-day work week for all employees.

This initiative will allow all staff to work four days of the week and then enjoy a three-day weekend.

Aaron Rusell-Davison, a banker with over 25 years of experience in international finance, is the Founder and Managing Director of Silk Road Partners. He said, “With the increasing demands of the modern world, a two-day weekend is insufficient for an individual to attend to their family’s needs, pursue further education, and to get much-needed rest. We want to work better and smarter rather than focusing on long hours. A number of countries and companies around the world have adopted this type of programme and seen considerable gains in productivity, along with an improved work-life balance for their employees.”

Improved mental and physical well being, a better work-life balance, and increased engagement are a few of the benefits from an employee’s point of view. The benefits don’t only apply to the employees; the programme offers several advantages to the firm, including a competitive advantage when hiring the best talent, increased employee commitment to the firm, and an enhanced corporate reputation for placing employee wellbeing at the core of its operation. “Employee engagement and innovation will be our primary focus and we are confident this will translate into greater productivity and efficiency across the firm” commented Lashane Fernando, the Business Manager.

Shehan Shamalka, the Human Resources and Administration Executive stated, “Implementing this programme is a big step for us and we are confident that we will see results. Our hope is that other firms, locally, would see the value of adopting a similar approach.” Shamalka confirmed that the firm will continue to operate as usual without a break in the workflow, instead, employees will be provided either a Monday or Friday off in any given week, based on a roster. “We don’t expect employees to work longer hours, instead we will work closely with each department to achieve our targets by collaborating more effectively”.