Seattle startup trying 4-day workweek in bid to enhance productivity, well-being, and culture
- ByStartupStory | December 22, 2021
Uplevel makes software tools to help engineering teams better measure how developers use their time and how they could best avoid burning out. Now the Seattle startup is taking a page from its own playbook and the products that it makes.
Uplevel is planning to implement a four-day workweek to enhance the productivity and happiness of its employees, part of a trend that’s gaining traction among various companies and even in Congress amid the pandemic.
The 27-person spinout of Madrona Venture Labs permanently abandoned a downtown Seattle office and went fully remote due to the pandemic. Like many companies, Uplevel has spent the last couple years trying to maintain a positive workplace culture while managing the demands of virtual collaboration.
“The thing that I kept being really nervous about is the mental health aspect of burnout and just working Zoom meeting to Zoom meeting all day long,” Uplevel CEO and co-founder Joe Levy said. “It’s one thing to say, ‘I got my stuff done.’ It’s another thing to say, ‘I did it and I’m not physically burnt out doing it.’”
Uplevel turned to virtual happy hours and other social gatherings that became popular for teams removed from day-to-day physical interaction. And it experimented with giving employees mental health days, or a full week off during the summer and again at Thanksgiving. Employees responded well to that. And after the holidays, to start the new year, Uplevel will be giving everyone Fridays off.
The company, founded by an organizational psychologist and technology executives with shared experience at Microsoft, arrived at the decision after examining research around the four-day workweek and surveying employees about their needs and wants.
Follow Startup Story
Related Posts
