Chick-Fil-A exterior.
Businesses around the world have played with the idea of switching up work weeks by shaving off a day and adding more hours to others, and now a Chick-fil-A in Florida has also started the test.
The fast food location is based in Miami and, according to Justin Lindsey, owner and operator of the restaurant, the purpose is to improve a work/life balance.
"Work is very important, but it should not consume your life. For so long the restaurant industry has made it the norm to work 50+ hours a week & grind it out for minimum wage & poor benefits. I want to do my part to change that narrative," Lindsey wrote in a LinkedIn post a year ago.
The program actually started last year, but since buzz got around, the results have been impressive!
The workweek entails three shifts a week and pays above minimum wage at $17/hour. The regular minimum wage in Florida was raised to $11/hour in September, and is currently $7.98/hour for tipped employees, according to the Florida Restaurant & Lodging Association.
Lindsey told QSR Magazine that the workweeks ended up coming out to 13-14 hour shifts (despite what the graphic above states) and his employees are broken up into "pods" to condense their schedules into three blocks. It ends up equaling 39-42 hours a week, which is considered full-time.
The owner of the branch told the Magazine that he had seen a 100% retention rate in management and an outpour of applications recently, which comes out to an interest of around 420 people in a single week.
"A full-time position I recently posted with a three-day work week received more than 400 applicants in one week. More than 40 of my restaurant’s leaders and Team Members have moved to the three-day workweek so far," Sarah Lively with Chick-fil-A Public Affairs emailed Narcity
The feedback online was just as positive.
"For people that go to school or have multiple jobs, This is a great idea. there aren't that many places that will work with your school schedule so something like this could help a lot of people," one user tweeted.
Others people mentioned how the principle wouldn't translate well into every industry, and the responses pointed out how perfect it was for the hospitality industry.
While there was some backlash from readers believing those days were too long, it others pointed out that the employees get more days off than they do on schedule.
About a year ago people commented on Lindsey's LinkedIn with curiosity about how it would work and at the time it was too early to tell. He now knows the power of giving his employees time off.
This article's cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.