Commercial resilience
Build commercial resilience now, not when you need to call on it.
In early 2026, as fuel prices rose and energy security dominated headlines, we’re started to see flow‑on effects in the workplace: renewed conversations about commuting costs to unions pushing to include four‑day weeks in new Enterprise Agreements, particularly across councils and the public sector.
Whenever the conversation turns to a four‑day week, it’s easy to switch off. But that reaction misses the real opportunity. It is this: how do you build commercial resilience into your organisation today, so that you can react flexibly and positively to challenges tomorrow.
Doing the work now to reclaim time to invest in future success builds that resilience: strategic thinking, capability building, deep focus on complex challenges, and strengthening how teams work together.
And doing it in a way which involves your people in this design of how work happens triples the commercial resiliance impact of this work: you create psychosocial safety AND you can harness the brilliant brains of everyone around you who will be 'all in' to deliver commercial success.
That’s what Productivity Bargain is really about: not prescribing one policy, but building the flexibility and productivity muscle so your organisation can respond to whatever comes next.
Around 90% of the organisations I work with never actually implement a formal four‑day week.
What they do is to redesign work so they free up the equivalent of a day a week from business‑as‑usual. I often say, it's not about the Friday.
The life changing bit is actually getting control of the chaos and constant 'busy' of business-as-usual.
Whether it’s a request for a four‑day week, pressure to do more with less, or simply the need for space to think clearly about the big issues we’re all facing, doing the work now to raise productivity and create time is an investment in your future resilience.
One Council leader said to me recently, "I wish we had this converastion six months ago."
Don't find yourself wishing that in the coming months. This moment is an opportunity to redesign work, not just push harder.
Get in touch now for a chat about how you can build commercial resilience today
Productivity Tip of the Day
Audit one week of 'business-as-usual busy
Ask which activities would we stop doing first if we were forced to free up a day a week.
Cancel, shorter, or redesign just one low-value ritual.
