Guardians of the Galaxy dev Eidos pivoting to four-day work week

Guardians of the Galaxy and Deus Ex developer Eidos is pivoting to a four-day work week to create a more "sustainable" environment for employees. Moving forward, both Eidos-Montreal and Eidos-Sherbrooke will switch to a 32-hour week, spread across four days.

Despite ditching 40-hour, five-day weeks, the Square Enix subsidiary said it won't be trying to squeeze those hours into four days, and instead plans to "review our ways of doing things and our quality time invested, with the aim of working better."

"Above all, we want to increase the productivity and well-being of our employees. Concretely, we want to reduce the time at work, but increase the quality of this time invested, whether it's on a team-basis or for the studio as a whole. A promising right balance for everything," reads an Eidos blog post.

"We want a real collaborative aspect so that the teams contribute to the transition, each one working to define the parameters and criteria for success for the organization of work and deadlines. We hope that this will eliminate unnecessary time and build on efficiency, for example by reducing internal meetings from one hour to 30 minutes."

The company explained that a number of pilot projects, such as one hosted by the Icelandic civil service, left it convinced that a condensed work week would actually boost productivity. It also noted the transition had already begun due to the pandemic and the implementation of more flexible remote working tools.

"We are convinced that this renewed management of working time will help cultivate the creativity and motivation of the teams, and become a real driver of innovation and performance," added the studio. "This initiative is another step towards the embodiment of the studio’s values, building a healthy, creative, and sustainable work environment for our employees."