Comit, the tech specialist PR and communications agency, today announces that it will adopt a four-day week from 1st May. It is the first PR agency in Ireland to announce a move away from the traditional five-day week to this new way of working, which aims to boost employee wellbeing as well as productivity.
Comit’s new four-day week is the first element in a significant innovation programme being rolled out by the PR agency. It 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. The digital transformation investment will fund the introduction of a suite of productivity, automation and other digital tools, which will enable team members to be more productive. The funding will also enable the PR agency to invest in new digital and data analytics services for clients.
Founded in 1997, the Dublin-based PR and communications agency is on a strong growth path and has built up a significant customer base including technology and tech-oriented organisations spanning areas including cybersecurity, managed services, FinTech, data centres, consultancy, software development, communications, location intelligence, sustainability and Ireland’s start-up ecosystem.
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. Comit’s four-day week initiative will initially be trialled for six months and will see staff remain on their existing salaries.
Allan Chapman, managing director, Comit, commented: “This decision has come about as part of a well-thought-out innovation process whereby we reviewed and reimagined our working model. 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.
“It is 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.
“We 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 our 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.
“We are very excited to reveal this four-day week initiative and announce the investment in our growing team as we approach the milestone of 25 years in business this year. We see this move and expansion as being great for the business, great for the team and great for our clients.”