Advanced RV
By: Barbara Abadi
Introduction
For the outside world there is no difference, but for the inside world there's a big difference. The client still gets a high-quality product with high-touch client attention. The benefits of the 4-day week to the Advanced RV team include more quality time to enjoy life, raises, and profit sharing.
Advanced RV (ARV) builds custom Mercedes Benz Sprinter motor homes in Willoughby, Ohio. The ARV team partners with each client to build the motorhome of their dreams, one that is elegant and practical for off-the-grid comfort and convenience.
Founded in 2012, ARV has a professional team of 50, including engineers, designers, craftspeople, and support staff. CEO & Owner, Mike Neundorfer, shares with us ARV’s 4-day week experience since April 2022.
Advanced RV’s 4-Day Work Week Journey
Prior to joining the 4-Day Week Global pilot in 2022, I read the literature and determined that although probability of success might be low, benefits could be high if we could meet 3 metrics of success:
• maintain 100% compensation for 100% productivity in 32 hours.
• maintain the same or higher quality of output.
• deliver the same or improved client attention.
Next, I shared the possibility of a 4-day week (4DW) pilot program with the team, and surprisingly, there were a few skeptics! The skeptics did not think it was possible to deliver the same or improved high-touch client attention.
I knew the ultimate success of a pilot required buy-in from everyone and top-quality execution. So, I called another meeting and said, “Look, I will support improvements in process and improvements in equipment, but this has to be an effort by all of us.”
Once the team strategized a 5-day client coverage schedule with two 4-day shifts (Monday-Thursday and Tuesday-Friday), the team was on board.
What Works Well
We had a head start in piloting the 4DW because we always worked hard to maintain a culture of good values, clear roles and responsibilities, protocols of communication, structured meetings, and accountability.
Precision upgrades for communication and meetings were relatively easy enhancements to make. For example, a production chat, “Can you come and take a look at this in the next 15 minutes?” is a timebound request for help.
We had meeting protocols in place that use neuroscience-based SCARF® to make sure that there is contribution from everyone, and polarity thinking to determine if we face a problem to solve or a polarity to manage. Each meeting includes feedback, a process to decide a path forward, and agreement on what actions to take, by when, and who owns it. We incorporate role negotiation into everything we do. Here's what I need from you in order to do my job well, here's what I assume you need from me. Is my assumption correct? And how can we work together to do this?
So, how did the ARV team “find” 20% more productivity? In one word – incrementally. A little bit here, a little bit there. Refine each process by a few minutes, improve documentation, more precise and timely communication, actionable meetings, and improved metrics.
For the client in the outside world, there has been no difference. They still get a high quality product with high-touch client attention.
For the inside world, there has been a big difference. During the initial trial, Four Day Week Global surveyed our staff to understand how they were spending the extra time. Many of our people are highly skilled, experienced craftspeople with outside projects.
It's interesting to me that survey results and anecdotal evidence indicate they spend more quality-of-life time dedicated to family, wellness, leisure, and volunteering.
Challenges
Our biggest challenge was establishing a new system of measurement to score our quality. We had quality metrics set up before implementing the 4DW, but we really had to think more deeply to improve them. Since every one of the motor homes that we build is unique to one client’s design, it has taken more time and requires a lot of different measures to score our quality level.
Advice to Potential 4-Day Work Week Adopters
It is difficult to provide advice since every organization differs in culture, goals, and structure. In our case, we started with a literature review of the 4DW followed by stakeholder feedback. We established our production, quality, and client attention goals; we continuously improved our metrics over the last 18 months; and we engaged everyone in our organization in supporting the changes required for 4DW success.
