Tech specialist PR and communications agency Comit is to adopt a four-day week from May 1, becoming the first PR agency in Ireland to move away from the traditional five-day week to this new way of working.
The four-day week initiative will initially be trialled for six months and will see staff remain on their existing salaries.
Comit said its new four-day week is the first element in a significant innovation programme being rolled out by the PR agency and will lead to the creation of 15 new jobs in PR, digital content and communications consulting.
The company will also invest €200,000 in digital transformation, training and new service development.
Comit said its employees, clients and other key stakeholders have been consulted about the four-day week to ensure a smooth transition to the new way of working.
"This decision has come about as part of a well-thought-out innovation process whereby we reviewed and reimagined our working model," said Allan Chapman, managing director at Comit.
"As well as maximising flexibility for our team and prioritising wellbeing, we wanted to identify new ways to enhance the value we deliver for clients and how we deliver our service," Mr Chapman said.
He said it was important to stress that this is not a compressed approach to the 4-day week, whereby team members will be asked to squeeze 40 hours into four days.
"Our aim is to empower and support people by giving them more time that they can use to do the things that they enjoy," he added.
Mr Chapman said the company carried out a very detailed planning and research process, which included speaking to international PR agencies who have already implemented a four-day week, as well as its own employees and clients.
"The clear message from this was that happy, energised employees are more focused, more productive and achieve better results. The four-day week will also enable us to attract and retain the very best PR, digital and communications professionals as we grow our team and roll out innovative new services," he added.
