A Finnish mobile game company has decided to offer a 6-hour working day with almost full pay

A Finnish mobile game company Fingersoft has decided to offer a 6-hour working day with almost full pay – ”A better alternative than a 4-day workweek”

Finnish mobile game studio Fingersoft announces that its employees can now work a six-hour day with a 90 percent of full salary. The company experimented with a six-hour workday and a four-day workweek and chose the six-hour workday as the best option.

Especially in the gaming and technology sector, there has recently been a discussion about a four-day workweek. Fingersoft wanted to experiment with future work models together with its employees, and from the two tested options, the 6-hour days showed more benefits for employees.

The new working model has now been adopted permanently in the company. From the beginning of this year, employees can work six-hour days instead of the regular 8 hours per day.

According to Fingersoft’s CEO Jaakko Kylmäoja, the changing working life needs bold moves and reforms. Fingersoft wants to lead the way for a more employee-friendly culture in the gaming industry as well as in other industries.

“Projects that improve the well-being of our employees have been a central part of our operations throughout our ten-year history. The two-part working time experiment we conducted in 2021–2022 proved that there are ways to significantly improve the well-being of employees while the level of productivity remains the same, or even increases,” says Kylmäoja.

“The now introduced permanent welfare benefit gives employees the means to better balance their work and free time. In terms of productivity, we have noticed that the better our employee’s well-being is, the more valuable his or her work contribution and impact on the atmosphere of our workplace is,” continues Kylmäoja.

Four-day work week and six-hour working days were tested in the experiment

Known for its Hill Climb Racing games, Fingersoft employs 110 people in Oulu and Helsinki, Finland. Approximately 50% of the employees took part in the experiment during 2021 and 2022. Employees could choose to work four eight-hour days a week or six-hour days for five days a week.

Fingersoft’s UI Artist Julianna Kähtävä is one of the employees who tested out six-hour work days. She works with user interface and graphic design. After the experiment ended, Kähtävä decided to continue working with the six-hour work time.

“Short working days suit me better than the four-day working week. Working days feel lighter and there is more time for hobbies and recovery every day. I also believe that even if I had an extra day off every week, I wouldn’t be able to activate myself in the same way. I like to stay involved with what goes on in our working community and be at the office every day,” says Kähtävä.

Six-hour days are more efficient and enabled taking up new hobbies

At Fingersoft, it had been noticed that in the employees’ changing life situations, balancing work and free time could occasionally create challenges.

“The significant decrease in salary, however, seemed to be too big of a deal breaker for many to start reducing their working hours, and therefore many might have just continued to struggle with their situation. This is why we decided to experiment with a working time model where our employees can work 80% of the time with 90% of the full salary,“ Kylmäoja explains.

The experiment was carefully analyzed, as Fingersoft is one of the first to offer a six-hour working day with higher pay. During the year, the participants’ experiences were measured with surveys conducted by a third party.

Based on the results, the six-hour working day was considered to be a more effective solution in the company. With the shorter six-hour working day, productivity remained almost the same, while with the four-day week it decreased in the same proportion as the working time. The advantage of the shorter working days was also that the interaction was maintained in the work community every day.

“The results showed that well-being and work/life balance in particular improved significantly for those who participated in the experiment. Our employees used the increased free time to, among other things, take up new hobbies and prepare healthier meals at home,” says Kylmäoja.

After a full year, the experiment ended in the fall of 2022, after which the employees’ well-being was once more surveyed. Based on all the results, a permanent new model of 80 percent working time was created, which became available at the beginning of this year. Now those who want to, can work six hours a day, five days a week, and the salary is paid at 90% of the full salary.

Fingersoft invests in the well-being of its employees in many other ways as well. The company provides comprehensive private health & dental care, as well as health, travel and leisure time insurance. The benefits also include an annual allowance for leisure time activities (sports and culture), and an education allowance. To support work/life balance, flexible working hours and hybrid work are available. The employees can also use the free company gym and sauna during working hours, or take part in various hobby groups and events.