Buzz around four-day work week building to a roar

Monday, 10 May 2021

The New Zealand businessman who pioneered the four-day work week says the movement has reached a global tipping point

Andrew Barnes, head of trust company Perpetual Guardian, made the shorter week a permanent fixture for his 240 staff in 2018, following a successful trial.

Barnes said productivity had increased by 20 per cent during the trial, and staff were more engaged and enthusiastic.

His experience caused a global buzz which has grown in the three years since.

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Interest in a shorter working week is growing worldwide, and many New Zealanders would also like to see their employers examine the possibility.

* Perpetual Guardian makes four-day week permanent

More than 20,000 people took part in Stuff's NowNext survey. Here's what we learned.

But in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, the buzz is building to a roar, with international campaigns for change gaining political, corporate and public support.

While Four Day Week Ireland is advocating for a transition to a shorter working week for all workers, Microsoft Japan has reported a 39 per cent increase in productivity from a four-day week trial.

Spanish left-wing political party Mas Pais is in talks with central government to finalise details of a pilot programme giving workers an extra day off, and the Indian Government is considering policy changes to allow more flexibility for companies looking to implement a four-day week.

While the pandemic itself hadn’t caused the tipping point, it had played a part, Barnes said.

“The social and economic trend was already moving in favour of the four-day week, but the drastic effects of the pandemic mean we are now seeing in real time the importance of government and business collaborating to protect worker pay, while opening us up to the benefits of a productivity-focused, reduced-hour model.

“It would be ironic if India was able to push through national policy to support the introduction of a four-day week to improve employee wellbeing before New Zealand, where the concept was introduced and first proven,” Barnes said.

Andrew Barnes says the four-day week as a model of work is becoming more central to society, culture and the global economy. (File photo)

But research shows New Zealand workers are keen to get on board.

Stuff’s NowNext survey, which ran for three weeks from the end of March, found 37 per cent of respondents believed their workplace would perform better if staff worked a four-day week.

Businesses, too, are testing the waters.

Late last year, Unilever announced a 12-month trial of the four-day week across its New Zealand operation.

If successful, the multinational consumer goods company, which produces brands including Dove, Lynx, and Persil, could roll the model out to 165,000 workers globally.

For trans-Tasman company Mana Communications, a hit to its business in the early stages of the alert level 4 lockdown triggered its initial switch to a four-day week, dropping its staff down to 80 per cent salaries across its offices in Wellington and Sydney.

Managing director Caleb Hulme-Moir said the business had heavy exposure to the tourism and travel sectors, which saw it lose 45 per cent of its revenue over a one-week period.

“I was determined to avoid layoffs if I possibly could, so the first immediate step was to drop down to a four-day working week,” he said.

Caleb Hulme-Moir, managing director of Mana Communication, says Covid-19 forced the business to change. (File photo)

Through a collective “hustle”, Mana drummed up enough work to move back to a five-day week within a month.

But the experience had given Hulme-Moir plenty to think about.

“Covid-19 forced us to change and it seemed like a great opportunity to make this permanent and to take something positive from Covid.”

For the last 10 months Mana has operated on a nine-day fortnight model, with the Wellington and Sydney offices alternating and taking every second Monday off.

The system means one side of the Tasman is always on call and available for client work.

“The team has responded really well to the new working model, clients have also responded favourably, and it just feels like the right decision for us,” Hulme-Moir said.

“We have seen no reduction of service to our clients and [they] have been universally supportive of the transition.”

Hulme-Moir said New Zealand had a well-earned reputation for innovation but could do better when it came to the culture of work hours.

“We need forward-thinking businesses to set the tone within New Zealand and show how outdated a stiff 40-hour, nine-to-five week really is.”

Barnes said in the short term, adapting work systems was a smart response to the economic effects of the pandemic and a sweetener to businesses to maintain employment.

“But the four-day week as a model of work is becoming more central to society, culture and the global economy as we move into the mass-vaccination phase of the pandemic.

“The comments by a key party leader in Spain, that the eight-hour day was unrealistic a century ago, go to the heart of the four-day week movement – that the way we work changes by necessity over time, and we are now in a phase of economic development, human health, and climate crisis that requires as drastic a change as the eight-hour day was when it was legislated.”