The Ontario Liberal Party announced plans for a four-day work week pilot (if elected), and it seems like more and more Toronto companies are getting on board with the concept.

Ontario Liberal Party leader Steven Del Duca announced that, should he be elected as Premier in 2022, his party would launch a pilot project to understand if a four-day-long work week "has merit here."

The Liberal plan came not long after a Toronto company, The Leadership Agency, lauded the results of their four-day-work week initiative, saying it actually increased productivity and that they've expanded their business in the wake of the change.

Toronto company implements a four day work week with surprising results https://t.co/zJQUqeQmqw #Toronto

— blogTO (@blogTO) October 14, 2021

Juno College of Technology, a Toronto-based, post-graduate coding school, announced this week that they are also moving to a four-day work week, with Fridays off, starting in January 0f 2022.

The change comes in response to the demands of modern life, said the college's CEO Heather Payne in a press release. Payne had a 10-year target of  $100-million in revenues by 2030, which she said led to unnecessary stress on the team.

Moving forward, the company will target a healthy, paced growth rate and focus on the student experience.

ICYMI... we unveiled our vision for 2022, and beyond:

🌱 4-day workweek
🌱 12-week OSAP-eligible Bootcamps
🌱 Summer shutdown
🌱 100% employee-owned

We're so excited to keep growing alongside our community! https://t.co/jxshNZHFkr

— Juno College of Technology (@junocollege) October 19, 2021

"Juno's new vision comes from facing the facts about running a student-centred education business and some deep thinking and work I've been doing personally over the last year about what really matters," Payne said.

"I used to think that our impact would come from creating the largest educational institution out there, but now I see clearly that there are many ways to have an impact. For example, we can choose to focus not on growing the fastest, but on being the best and most enduring."

The plan has been in the works for several months, Jacqueline Leung, Juno's director of brand and content tells blogTO.

"Work is changing and we're not quite sure how yet but all we know is that we need more flexibility in our lives, and this is the right thing to do," Leung says.

The past 19 months have changed the way we think about work. A four-day work-week has been examined in other parts of the world, and the @OntLiberal Party would run a pilot project right here in Ontario. #onpolihttps://t.co/jrTNcQbTOA

— Steven Del Duca (@StevenDelDuca) October 18, 2021

So far, the response from Juno's staff of about 36 people has been great.

"Everyone's really excited," Leung says.

But there were concerns about salary decreasing (it won't) and company growth. Employees won't work more hours, but be more focused during the four days at work.

Another Ontario company, software developer, Tulip, has also adopted a flexible work week. Currently in the pilot stage, Tulip lets employees work a four or four-and-half-day week.

"What we're trying to do is find ways for all of us to work more efficiently," Marco Osso, vice-president of employee success at Tulip says. 

"We made it clear we don't want productivity to decrease with less hours, so what we've done is given employees tools to manage their days effectively so they can do more in less time."