Major four-day work week push unveiled to overturn 'archaic' laws: 'Society is changing'
The Greens have unveiled a policy to reduce the working week to four days as they believe "society is changing". Companies as big as Medibank and Bunnings have rolled out the new-age change with varying degrees of success.
Jordan Maitland, chief customer officer of fundraising platform Raisely, told Yahoo Finance it had been a game-changer for her company as staff weren't suffering as much burnout. The Greens want to get the ball rolling to see whether other entities can jump on the bandwagon.
'Ordinary Australians have been working hard for decades and not seeing a fair share of the results,' Greens senator Barbara Pocock said.
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Under the party's policy, $10 million would be spent per year to set up a National Institute for the Four Day Work Week.
This would create a four-day work week trial that would be used as a benchmark to track how the new-age approach operated.
The Greens also want to create a national test case through the Fair Work Commission.If a four-day work week was implemented across the board, the party believed it could address some of society's big issues.
'Productivity gains over the past two decades have fed into higher profits while real wages have stagnated," Pocock said.
'A shorter working week alleviates the burden of stress and burnout. International trials have repeatedly shown productivity increases and a healthier happier workforce result from shorter working hours.
'Our society is changing, more women and carers are at work, yet we are constrained by archaic labour laws that see the fruits of our efforts swallowed up in profits for bosses and shareholders.
'This is about justice for working people. We work to live, not live to work.'
The Greens' policy comes as the Coalition is keen on forcing tens of thousands of public servants back to the office if it wins the election.
Maitland pitched the idea for a four-day work week just for her to her boss as she was preparing to welcome her second child.
Her boss not only welcomed the concept but decided to give everyone else at Raisely the opportunity.
The platform already allowed fully remote working and the 40 employees were permitted to drop down to four days to see how it would affect productivity.
Maitland told Yahoo Finance that during the three-month trial, the team had less time for learning and development and took on fewer extra projects.
'When you have less time, you really focus on what's important,' she said.
'People naturally started prioritising what was most important and stopped doing things that were just distracting to their work. It really happened naturally, which I was surprised about."
Instead, workers focused on their 'core' jobs for the majority of the time.
The trial found there was a 10.1 per cent improvement in productivity.
Staff also reported their work-life balance improved by nearly 18 per cent, along with increased energy levels.
'You come back feeling refreshed and creative and energised and that really shines through in the work people are able to produce," Maitland added.Sign in to access your portfolio
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