Huddle (August 5, 2022)
Rocket may have only started running on a four-day work week, but CEO Scott Williams says he can already see the productivity going up within the printing company.
In fact, he thinks the 60 employees spread out over Nova Scotia and New Brunswick got a lift weeks ago when the company made the announcement.
“We don’t have all the logistics figured out but it was hard to suppress the smiles and enthusiasm when we made the announcement to our teams in Fredericton and Halifax,” said Williams. “It seems to have been a rallying cry for our entire team.”
“We feel there’s been an increase in productivity already. We only announced this in-house a couple of weeks ago to our team and we’ve seen a renewed energy that we haven’t seen [in a while].”
Rocket, a printing company based in Fredericton and Halifax, started its shortened work week on August 1. It expects the trial period to last two months. That means its main offices will be closed on Fridays, but Williams said it won’t affect the company’s ability to produce materials.
Sales staff will still respond to emails and phone calls on Fridays as well.
This may be a big change for a company to go through but Rocket has been forced to deal with change over the past two years.
Sales staff will still respond to emails and phone calls on Fridays as well.
This may be a big change for a company to go through but Rocket has been forced to deal with change over the past two years.
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It was late in 2019 when the company purchased Bounty Print in Halifax, adding its second Maritime location. A few short months later, Covid brought business to a halt.
“I was actually in Halifax on Friday, March 13. At the time, it was something we thought was going to last a couple of weeks and the next thing you know, the world’s shut down. Over the next 72 hours, we lost over a million dollars worth of business because things weren’t happening.”
Rocket quickly switched to producing PPE, including face shields. This kept the company going financially for a while.
“We were able to dig our feet in and that kept everybody working. But that stuff dried up about eight to ten months later, once everyone had all the stuff they needed,” said Williams
The Rocket CEO also saw how the pandemic affected his workers’ mental health, which increased his interest in a potential four-day work week. If Rocket’s two-month trial is successful, Williams hopes it will lead to more Atlantic Canadian companies following suit.
“I was born and raised in Fredericton; never left. I always say that Atlantic Canada, we seem to be late adapters,” he said.
“As a company, we always tried to be leading edge, not bleeding edge. I hope that it sets a tone, not just for our industry but for other companies to say ‘if these guys can do it, we should be able to do it.’”
Williams also understands how hard it has become to attract and retain employees during “the great resignation.” He is hopeful the shortened week will be seen as an attractive option for future recruits.
“Labour is difficult to get right now and, from the research I’ve done, productivity goes up in a four-day work week,” he said.
Derek Montague is a Huddle reporter in Halifax.
