A top Edinburgh restaurant will trial a four-day working week to boost productivity and protect the mental wellbeing of its staff.
From October, chef and restauranteur Dean Banks will only open the esteemed Pompadour on Princes Street for lunch at the weekends, and will completely close on Wednesdays.
Despite the reduction in hours, staff will remain on full time salaries, reports The Scotsman.
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Dean says he hopes to avoid staff burning out and reduce the stress of his workers, particularly following the coronavirus pandemic.
He is convinced a four-day week will increase productivity as well as the happiness of workers.
He said: “There has been a lot of bad press on the hospitality industry recently and we want to bring a positive light onto it and encourage people to work in hospitality. We also want to give back to people in the industry and entice young people on board to have a career in the industry.
“We may take a small hit on the business if we are open less, but we want to drive the business forward this way and also just lead the industry in the right direction, I think this could potentially be what could do that.
"This line of work is known for long hours and a lot of hard work, hot kitchens, etc. but we want to try and make this a better and fair work life balance.”
Banks, a 2018 MasterChef: The Professionals finalist, added: “Initially coming out of lockdown we had less table numbers and early finishes which were detrimental to the business especially when we had just opened, but now that we are relaxed it is a bit better, so hopefully it won’t change again as that is quite a worry.
“Basically, after lockdown the industry is definitely different, and I feel that the staff situation has changed as everyone is massively short on hospitality staff.
"We’ve been focusing on the wellbeing of staff since coming out of lockdown as a lot of people have been struggling all over the UK with mental health problems, I wish I could help everyone but we’re trying to help who we can through the business.”
