Frequently Asked Questions

What does Project 32 mean?

Giant Swarm will shift the mental model ‘A full-time job = 40 hrs/week’ to ‘a full-time job = 32 hrs/week” The result can be a 4-day work week, but doesn’t have to be. We did not count hours before P32 and we won’t do it after.

What does Project 32 NOT mean?

It is not planned to reduce the hours worked by 20% and create a 20% productivity loss that has to be re-hired. It is also not meant that no one will be able or motivated to do any additional work (which is not 100% daily business) anymore; Giant Swarm is not designed to be like that. It does also not mean that we are a 100% async company. We need to improve both async and synchronous communication to make this work. And it also does not mean that those who already work 32 hours, will reduce the hours they work again.

Why are we implementing Project 32?

We believe it is a major work trend and we also believe that being remote is already a productivity gain, which should not only be ‘a win’ for the employer. We think it is a great hiring argument and will support the company to be/remain an attractive workspace. It contributes to the fact that mental-health-awareness raises and people are closer to burnout than 2 years ago due to the global situation. We assume that people currently have different mental models of what a full-time job is. (This does not need to change in general, but having 1 model explicitly in place might help in terms of fairness.) We believe that a 32hrs work model will reduce the amount of short term afk’s in terms of people not feeling well and needing time to recharge or handle private matters during business ours.

What might be the downsides of Project 32?

There will be a lot of friction in the beginning and relief might not immediately take place. It is a company and an individual investment. It will be a negotiation process and meetings will be shifted around which causes stress. Maybe Meeting-free Wednesday will die or time-zone people will still have to make compromises. This entire thing is about discipline and this might not feel sexy. The workload needs to be designed differently, it does not just go away. We want P32 to be understood as a double-sided (company and individuals) investment.