# [ScaleX Bite-Size] Dean Carter: Employee Experience Design & The Four-Day Workweek That Changed Everything

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/scalex-insider-podcast-5948037/scalex-bite-size-dean-carter-employee-experience-design-the-four-day-workweek-that-changed-everything
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/scalex-insider-podcast-5948037/scalex-bite-size-dean-carter-employee-experience-design-the-four-day-workweek-that-changed-everything.md
Podcast: [ScaleX™ Insider Podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/scalex-insider-podcast-5948037)
Published: 2026-05-22T13:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://simplescaling.com/podcast
Audio file: https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/scalexinsiderpodcast/SX2003-bitesize-four-day-work-week.mp3?dest-id=2822267
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Duration seconds: 58

## Resource

Employee experience design is often assumed to be about perks, policies, or expensive culture initiatives — but in this episode clip, Dean Carter reveals how the most powerful transformation he ever led cost the company nothing. It started with a radical experiment in employee experience design at a time when the idea of a four-day workweek barely existed in mainstream business thinking. Instead of reducing output, the team re-engineered how work was structured — condensing schedules into longer days and closing the office every other Friday. Internally, this became known as the "980 model": nine-hour days across a two-week cycle, creating consistent extended weekends without reducing overall output. What made this shift powerful wasn't just the schedule change — it was what it unlocked in employee experience design. The employee experience design experiment behind the four-day model Rather than guessing what employees needed, the team co-designed the change with them. They didn't ask: 👉 "What benefits do you want?" They asked: 👉 "What's getting in the way of you doing your best work — and living your life?" This reframed employee experience design away from perks… and toward real life outcomes. Measuring employee experience design beyond productivity Most organisations measure output. This experiment measured something deeper. Working with a university, they tracked how employee experience design impacted real human outcomes: Relationships at home Time with family Health behaviours (doctor visits, nutrition, self-care) Time outdoors and recovery Overall productivity and energy The results were clear: 90%+ reported improved relationships 87% reported better family time 74% reported more time for meaningful life activities Employee experience design wasn't just improvin…

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