Matariki concerns a tunnel-visioned productivity trap

Monday, 8 March 2021

Matariki has become a widely accepted festival across the country. (First published, September 25, 2020.)

OPINION: So New Zealand is getting a new public holiday to celebrate Matariki, and of course there are the inevitable howls of indignation from some quarters of the business community about the cost to the economy, estimated to be $448 million.

Sure, the holiday will cost a few bob but at a human level can’t we all get on board with the opportunity to spend more time with family and friends, to chill out or enjoy our hobbies, especially after the year that’s been?

Covid-19 is profoundly impacting how we live and work. Some of this change is positive and long overdue. Unfettered globalisation and the neo-liberal agenda of rampant profiteering at all costs, including the very real cost to the wellbeing of workers, is seriously being questioned, and not before time. In this light, a new public holiday which celebrates and acknowledges an important time for Māori seems on point.

As the founder of a small trans-Tasman communications consultancy, I can say with some certainty that another public holiday will have negligible negative impact on our business while providing a significant upside for the whole team.

* Aotearoa's first Matariki public holiday to fall on June 24, 2022 - get ready to wrap up work on a Thursday

Matariki, the Maori New Year is upon us. At Blenheim's Marlborough Centre this evening Maori will celebrate Matariki in style at the inaugural Matariki Ball. With it brings a chance to gather and celebrate with friends and whanau, to look back over the year that has past and to look forward to new beginnings.SUPPLIED 06/07/2004

While Covid-19 has been challenging, one of the great benefits of the pandemic for me and my business has been to take the opportunity to start to redefine the employee-employer relationship.

In the early stages of the national lockdown, we lost 45 per cent of our revenue in a matter of days and went into crisis mode. We adopted a four-day working week and dropped staff salaries to 80 per cent of pay as a way to avoid lay-offs. We then hustled, got work in, and within one month we were ready to move back to full-time hours.

Caleb Hulme-Moir: ‘’Once business leaders get out of the habit of measuring productivity by hours in the office, the benefits to true productivity, performance, team culture and staff retention are quite remarkable.’’

At this point we had collectively learnt an important lesson: we’d seen we could work effectively, and service clients well, over a shorter week. I’d always had in mind to bring in a shorter working week, but I was thinking three to five years down the line, and weighing on me were concerns about lost productivity and the damage it might cause to the business.

Covid forced me to challenge this perception and it seemed like a great opportunity to bring in some permanent, positive changes from a stressful experience.

For the last 10 months Mana has been operating a ‘’nine-day-fortnight’’ model, in which its Wellington and Sydney offices alternate and take every second Monday off. This means that one side of the trans-Tasman team is always on call and available for client work.

The reality is that when we were on a full five-day week, the team were probably averaging nine-hour days. We continue to do a nine-hour day, but that overtime is now given back to employees every second Monday. While the business has seen a reduction in overall hours dedicated to it, the way I see it, companies often demand a lot – maybe too much – of their employees so why not try to rebalance the books.

CoLiberate, the Wellington-based wellbeing social enterprise, is also using lessons from Covid to introduce more flexible working arrangements which prioritise staff prosperity over long work hours. With their kaupapa of wellbeing, empowerment, and equality, CoLiberate has ensured it practises what it preaches with employees – this has helped create a genuine, more meaningful experience when assisting clients.

Sadly, the examples of businesses exploring ways to work more flexibly, or on reduced hours, are few and far between, and it is my sincere hope that we see more companies go down this route. It takes a significant mindshift by business owners and managers, as well as a leap of faith into the unknown.

Once business leaders get out of the habit of measuring productivity by hours in the office, the benefits to true productivity, performance, team culture and staff retention are quite remarkable. I ought to know, I’ve had plenty of time to consider this on my Mondays off fishing.

He aha te mea nui o te ao? He tangata, he tangata, he tangata. [What is the most important thing in the world? It is the people, it is the people, it is the people.]

* Caleb Hulme-Moir is founder and managing director of trans-Tasman communications consultancy Mana Communications.