Did you say a compressed work week schedule?

Just like dinosaurs became extinct, VHS, Walkmen, box televisions etc. (you get my drift), so will the traditional 9-to-5 work week schedule.

A survey conducted by Careerbuilder asked more than 1,000 people how they felt about the traditional 9-to-5 work week and 63% believed this is an outdated working concept.

The survey confirmed what most of us know already. Employees usually work outside their regular workweek timeframe. Half of the employees responded on the survey that they check or respond to their emails outside of the timeframe of work, and 2 out of 5 continue to work outside of their office hours.

The survey also revealed that 42% of workers wake up thinking about work and 20% are not able to enjoy time off due to lingering thoughts about work.

Let’s examine 5 alternative ways we can escape from the old traditional 9-to-5 workweek:

1. I can pick 4 days to work instead of 5.

The four day work week is not a new concept and most corporate employees compact their work into 4 days. Reusser Design, an Indiana web app development company has been operating on this 4 day work schedule for two years now. The CEO and Founder, Nate Reusser found that his employees are motivated to work faster and more focused when working four days instead of five.

A four day workweek is great for increasing productivity and who wouldn’t want a three day weekend every weekend. Is my hand raised high enough because I do!

2. I make my schedule – is that ok boss?

A Massachusetts marketing software platform company known as Hubspot does exactly this. Hubspot focuses on what gets accomplished rather than where and how. The company enables trust in their employees to make their own schedule as long as they complete their work.

In reality, not all employees work productively from 9-to-5. I know that I work best from 8pm to 12am. Some employees are morning people; others night owls. Knowing what works best for each employee makes differences in the quality of productivity.

3. Co-working

More and more companies are setting off a trend with shared office space such as AlleyNYC. AlleyNYC is a company that offers shared office spaces in New York to startups, entrepreneurs and big businesses. These office spaces are reserved for people working remotely or for those who need to get out of their house and work somewhere else.

So, you ask – how is this different from working in a coffee shop?

Tech startups and small companies are renting office spaces a couple times a week for their employees while other days they collaborate via online.

And of course, no more waiting for the end table near the window with the only outlet in the café.

According to Saltworks’ founder and CEO, Esther Brown, “Having spent years managing globally-distributed teams at Google, I’ve learned that you don’t always need to be in the same room to collaborate effectively: today’s technology affords us so many options, from video conferencing to Gchat to email and more.”

4. Sabbatical not Sabbath

Companies such as Adobe offer employees at their five year anniversary a full four weeks paid sabbatical. The length of sabbatical increases every five years for the first three sabbaticals. This is a great incentive and reward for retaining long term and loyal employees.

5. Vacation Stipends

Arthrex Inc. a manufacturing company that makes orthopedic surgical supplies originally founded in Munich, Germany offers “years of service trips,” almost like sabbaticals; however, employees are given a bonus on top of vacation time.

How awesome is that – vacation time plus a bonus! Sign me up.

Living in the 21st century and the boost of technology has allowed employees to have more and more options that are straying away from the traditional 9-to-5 cubical office space.