The Australian Council for Trade Unions (ACTU) is joining the call for a four-day work week to become standard across Australia, but the prime minister and treasurer have said there are no plans for such a move.The peak body for trade unions says that reducing working hours is key to boosting productivity while lifting living standards. It says that alternatives can be offered where a four-day work week is not possible, such as adding more rostered days off, increasing available annual leave, and redesigning rosters.

It expects a four-day work week model to maintain the same level of pay through the protection of current pay and conditions.

ACTU president Michele O’Neil said the move would ensure that all Australians would benefit from increased productivity and “not just those with money and power”.”Shorter working hours are good for both workers and employers,” she said

Prime minister, treasurer say ‘no plans’ to adopt policy

Chalmers and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese both said on Wednesday the government wasn’t working on a policy for a four-day work week, in response to the ACTU’s call.

Albanese said there were “no plans” for the government to adopt the idea but that the union was “of course, entitled to put forward whatever ideas it would like”.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said there were “no plans” for the government to adopt a standardised four-day work week. Source: AAP / Mick Tsikas

Chalmers, during a press conference in Canberra, similarly said the government hadn’t been working up a policy for a four-day work week and that it “hasn’t been our focus”.”Our interest here is in making sure that people can balance their work and family responsibilities. That’s what motivates our position on work-from-home and some of these other contentious areas in recent times,” Chalmers said.

“Our focus in industrial relations has been abolishing non-compete clauses, protecting penalty rates, extending paid parental leave … That’s our industrial relations agenda, and what motivates our agenda.”

Australians are working longer hours

Since COVID-19, working hours in Australia have increased. A report from the Productivity Commission found that the record growth in hours did not result in increased output. Instead, productivity slumped overall.

The four-day work week is one proposed solution to this. A 2023 study from Swinburne University examined 10 Australian companies trialling a four-day work week. They found that 70 per cent of the companies reported higher productivity. The 30 per cent that reported no gains found that productivity remained equal to pre-trial levels.

Another peer-reviewed study found that a four-day work week can boost employee satisfaction as well as productivity. A survey of 2,896 employees working four-day weeks in organisations across Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom and Ireland found shorter working weeks resulted in higher performance, a reduction in burnout, and better employee health and retention.

‘Shaking the tree for ideas’

The ACTU joins the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union and the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation, who are also calling for a shorter work week ahead of the productivity roundtable next week.

But not all workplaces are wanting to move in the same direction. The Australian Financial Review reported that some major banks are shifting their approaches to work culture after Westpac chief executive Anthony Miller sent a memo in December last year outlining his expectation for staff to work “every day, including Christmas Day”.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers says next week’s economic reform roundtable aims to “shake the tree for ideas” when it comes to boosting productivity. Source: AAP / Mick Tsikas

Westpac is one of the corporate entities contributing to the economic reform roundtable next week.Chalmers told ABC Radio on Wednesday morning that the roundtable is about “shaking the tree for ideas”.”This economic reform roundtable is not to make decisions, it’s to inform the government’s decisions,” he said.”We have an ambitious agenda that we’re focused on delivering.”

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