Brave Feminine Leadership

#223 Marilla Akkermans - Swim in the Doubt: The Trust Behind a Four-Day Work Week and 90% Retention


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What if the key to 90% staff retention was radical trust from day one?

Marilla Akkermans launched Equality Media and Marketing while raising her first child, after experiencing her own worth drop when she became a mother. She decided to build something different: a business with a four-day work week that actually works, 19 inclusive care policies, and trust given upfront, not earned.
In this conversation, Marilla shares how they ran a three-month trial of the four-day work week to prove it could work for everyone involved, why efficiency should be rewarded with time back (not more work), and why tracking mouse movements is lazy leadership. She gets real about the grit required, swimming in doubt, and her vision for true equality in an industry where women make up 51% of the workforce but only 30% of leadership.
This one's for anyone who's ever thought: there has to be a better way.

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