One of the RAIC’s goals is to be innovative in our own operations as well as in how we serve our members and the architectural community. The RAIC aims to be a leading employer in the not-for-profit sector in Canada while maintaining the highest standard of performance as an organization, and we engage in ongoing assessment and improvement to that end.
As another step towards that goal, we are happy to announce that the RAIC will be piloting a 4-day work week from January 3 - August 31, 2023. During this eight-month period, the office will be open Monday-Thursday from 9am-5:30pm and closed on Fridays.
Why is the RAIC making this change? Work cultures and practices are always evolving in response to other changes around us, and it’s important for organizations to reassess, adjust and adapt over time. Evidence from research on a 4-day work week points to increased productivity as well as improved work-life balance and employee satisfaction. Creating a better workplace - and more effective ways of working - is not only good for RAIC employees, it also helps us to better help our members, and the broader publics we serve, when we can recruit and retain top talent, and our team can bring their best to work each day.
We are treating this trial period as a study, and success will be measured by all team members using predetermined criteria such as productivity, health and wellness, absenteeism, turnover and other organizational performance indicators. When the trial period is complete, we’ll be reporting the results back to the RAIC’s larger membership community.
We look forward to sharing more information with you in the coming year!