The Greens have announced a plan to introduce a four-day work week, arguing productivity gains have mainly benefited employers through higher profit margins, while Australians have seen little wage growth and maintained long hours.
Unveiling their latest election policy on Monday, the Greens explained it would initiate a series of national trials in different industries. This would be coordinated by a new National Institute for the Four Day Work Week, funded at $10 million per year.
These trials, according to the party, would explore the viability of employees working 80 per cent of their normal hours while maintaining 100 per cent of day in a move to “improve our workplaces and support healthier lives”.
“Ordinary Australians have been working hard for decades and not seeing a fair share of the results. A four-day week will share more fairly the products of their labour,” explained Senator Barbara Pocock in a statement.
Pocock observed a shorter working week “alleviates the burden of stress and burn-out”. She pointed to numerous international trials in the UK, Canada, and Spain that have seen productivity increases and greater employee satisfaction from shorter working hours.
“We led the world in the movement to shorter working hours going back to the Stonemasons strike in Melbourne in 1856 when they won the eight-hour day. Now, in the 21st century we lag behind many other countries where four-day week trials are underway,” Pocock said.
“It’s time for Australia to move its workplaces into the 21st century and create a pathway for shorter hours.”
In 2023, a Senate Committee on Work and Care — chaired by Pocock — recommended Australia should trial a four-day work week at full pay. It suggested the government partner with a university to measure the impact “on productivity, health and wellbeing, workplace cultural change, gender equality in the workplace as well as the impact on the distribution of unpaid care across genders”.
According to Pocock, the Greens will support this national test case through the Fair Work Commission, adding this is about “justice for working people” as society evolves.
It would particularly help women and families in the workforce, she pointed out.
“It’s more than 40 years since the last reduction in working hours in 1983. The benefits in mental and physical health from shorter hours are well documented and the impact on women’s workforce participation will be significant as shorter hours assist those with caring responsibility. If men work less hours, they are more likely to pick up their kids from school and pick up the vacuum cleaner at home,” Pocock said.
The move would help women and families, according to the party. (Source: iStock Images)
A four-day work week can increase productivity, recruitment, and employee retention while reducing absenteeism and this change “will allow workers to create a working week that works for them,” she said.
Last year, a survey of 1,500 people by recruitment company Robert Half found some 65 per cent of Australians would back their workplaces implementing such a policy. Notably, all generations in the workforce supported a four-day work week, led by Gen Z and Gen X (69 per cent) closely followed by millennials (63 per cent) and Baby Boomers (57 per cent).
Nicole Gorton, director at Robert Half, said the appeal of this is “undeniable”. But, she observed, implementing it continues to be a challenge for most companies due to logistics, the nature of operations, and the potential to generate less output.
Lead image: iStock
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