An Australian boss is championing workplace flexibility by shutting down his company’s three offices every three months for a quarterly “recharge day”.

Hypetap, an influencer marketing agency with offices in Sydney, Melbourne and London, offers staff an extra, no-strings-attached day off every quarter.

“The best sports stars in the world don’t run 100 kilometres all day, every day and never rest,” Coombe said.

“We thought, how do we take that principle and that learning and apply it to our team? Because our team is also high-performing.”

The staff at Hypetap’s Melbourne and Sydney offices are offered the same day off four times per year, while those in London prefer different days due to the different seasons.

Coombes and the leadership team took a mathematical approach to when each quarter they should shut the offices down.

“We looked at the calendar and we calculated the biggest gaps and periods between public holidays,” he said.

“Particularly in the middle of the year, it’s very Melbourne-centric, but when it’s dark and cold and miserable, where the next public holiday is a long way away.”

Hyeptap also always makes the recharge day a Friday, giving staff an additional four three-day weekends every year.

It was a post-COVID idea the company introduced three years ago.

Coombe said the nearly 40 staff members in his growing team “love” the extra time off.

“All of our clients are aware of it and know so it doesn’t interrupt service in any way,” he added.

“You need good processes and systems to allow you to do this kind of recharge day activity.”

Associate professor at the ANU Research School of Management David Cheng has noticed Australian offices are rejecting rigid structure in ways that aren’t just working from home or four day weeks.

He said extra benefits like this need to be backed up by a strong culture to actually impact well-being.

“If you have a recharge day but then work extra hard, you may lose the benefit of having the recharge day in the first place,” Cheng explained.

He believes the same might be true for companies trialling the four-day week.

“Switching to four days a week, if you don’t have the right/management culture may not lead to the same benefits and could lead to more stress,” Cheng added.

“The research suggests that people who work four days can be as productive as five. 

“That said, it’s worth remembering that many of the companies that have done this so far, may have good managers who care about their workers and organisations with the right culture to try new things.”

Coombe said Hypetap’s leadership team aims to cultivate a positive work-life balance outside of recharge days too.

It’s not just about throwing in a free day off to avoid addressing core issues, he explained.

“Our team’s well-being, avoiding burnout and making sure that we’re delivering great results is really important to us,” he said.

“It’s a way of tangibly putting our money where our mouth is. It’s not just like, hey, get one day off for your birthday.

“These are four set days where we’re going to shut everything down, literally the building shuts down on those days. 

“It’s about exemplifying and being demonstrative about our beliefs.”