National four-day work week trial gains government support, with small business concerns “to be considered”

A national four-day workweek trial has earned bipartisan support, with a new Senate report calling for the federal government to test the progressive scheme across industries and locations throughout Australia.

The Senate Select Committee on Work and Care tabled its long-awaited final report on Thursday, issuing 23 recommendations which, if implemented, could reframe how employers and regulators approach child care, parental leave, superannuation entitlements, and even the shape of the gig economy.

Among the most attention-grabbing recommendations is the push for the federal government to establish a national four-day work week trial, to assess whether the so-called 100:80:100 model could benefit Australian workers, businesses, and the economy.

100:80:100 refers to 100% salary, 80% of a five-day workweek, and 100% productivity, a model which international advocates say is proven to deliver business performance on par with a five-day workweek while improving employee wellbeing.

The report says international experiments with the model elicited “improved productivity, work-life balance, health and wellbeing, the normalisation of care as part of work, employer engagement and trust, as well as environmental and cost-saving gains.”

The trial should involve academic support, the committee said, to help assess how an extra day of leave could make it easier for individuals to meet and distribute their unpaid caring duties.

“The Australian Government should partner with an Australian university throughout the trial to measure the impact of a four-day week 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,” it states.

Specifically, the report claims “a reduced working week may help to redistribute both paid and unpaid work between genders and assist to address these inequalities.”

Smaller experiments with a four-day work week have already taken place in Australia.

One six-month trial, launched by advocacy group 4 Day Week in August last year, recruited 20 businesses across Australia and New Zealand.

In a submission to the committee, Momentum Mental Health, one of the organisations tapped for the trial, said the introduction of a ‘gift day’ — an extra day of leave granted each week if workers complete their usual tasks within a four-day period — increased productivity in some areas.

Small business concerns “to be considered” in trial: Senator Barbara Pocock

Greens Senator Barbara Pocock, who serves as chair of the committee, welcomed Labor’s support for the pilot program.

“There’s very good evidence out there that productivity is preserved or increases when hours of work fall, and there are really significant benefits for workers, for collegial relationships in the workplace, and for people on the home front in workers’ families,” Pocock told SmartCompany.

“So lots of things there to investigate, but the shared support for a pilot, and proper evaluation through a university partnership is the recommendation… it’s a very welcome step forward.”

While acknowledging the promising results of prior trials, Pocock said any domestic trial led by the federal government would pay close attention to the ways a four-day workweek could affect small businesses.

Previous trials involving small businesses resulted in a productive reduction in meeting times and worker efficiency, Pocock said.

It is also worth investigating if a four-day work week trial would allow working women, who take up a disproportionate level of household labour, to pursue higher-paying roles, while allowing their male counterparts more time to take on caring duties, she added.

Nevertheless, the Senator for SA also recognised industry uncertainty over how a significantly reduced working week would operate in practice.

“I think those concerns need to be considered,” she said.

“And there is no suggestion here that overnight, there’d be a shift to a four-day week.

“What we’re talking about is a considered set of trials and cooperative efforts from employers and unions to see how this would work and what the benefits are.”

Notably, Coalition senators serving on the committee argued some of the report’s recommendations “will see further deterioration of the flexibility and consideration of what employers and employees are looking for when it comes to fulfilling work”.

However, they did not explicitly challenge the push for a four-day workweek trial.

With the federal government already pursuing an ambitious workplace relations agenda in 2023, Pocock said she was optimistic a national trial could take place in the reasonably near future.

“I recognise that Minister Tony Burke has got a full agenda and very clear commitments he’s made in the election environment around wage theft, around job security, and related issues,” she said.

“And we’re looking forward to working with the government to make progress on things on those things, which we also support, but I hope we can be a bit more ambitious than that.”