HMN 2025: How A four-day work week may assist Australia’s economic system

Productivity is high of thoughts for Australia’s Albanese authorities. Treasurer Jim Chalmers is convening a productiveness roundtable, bringing collectively union and enterprise teams, and seeking public submissions “to unlock new concepts and construct consensus round reforms.”

Concerns about productiveness are usually not new: Australia faces declining productivity growth, which dangers affecting our national prosperity—that’s, how well-off you and I are.

But the Productivity Commission says we now have a “productivity predicament“: productiveness development isn’t just slowing—in 2023 and 2024, it stopped.

In phrases of the massive image, which means incomes will likely be decrease and dealing time will likely be longer.

But here is an concept. Counterintuitive it could be, however slightly than demanding longer working hours from staff to realize the identical financial outputs, what if our employers and politicians began to understand that the four-day week could itself boost productivity?

The four-day week includes staff protecting the identical stage of pay, whereas working solely 4 days (or 30 to 32 hours) per week.

This can be thought-about full-time, as they’d nonetheless be doing the identical quantity of labor.

The non-profit 4 Day Week Global sees this as a 100-80-100 model—100% of the pay, 80% of the time, however 100% of the productiveness.

Trials of the four-day work week have up to now exhibits it really works. During testing in Australia, the U.Okay., Japan and Germany, each employees and managers discovered that at worst, productiveness was maintained, and in lots of instances, it really improved.

These trials appear to point that shorter working hours can really enhance productiveness.

So, what is going on on?

Short, targeted hours of labor will be higher for getting issues finished than working longer hours. Inadequate relaxation and never sufficient down-time away from work can lead to poor health and reduce our engagement with work.

Four-day work weeks additionally refocus our consideration on what it means to be “productive.” During the trials, workers reported being extra strategic and selective with their time administration.

Emails and conferences have been two issues that have been sometimes lowered and even eradicated.

Adopting a four-day work week means folks get extra finished in much less time and shift their work behaviors to turn out to be extra environment friendly and productive.

Those staff concerned within the trials additionally reported feeling much less stress, burnout and fatigue, and reported higher work-life stability, getting extra train and extra sleep.

So, what is the draw back?

Well, as a result of it includes finishing the identical quantity of labor in much less time, it would imply some work intensification. This may not be acceptable for folks with well being points or disabilities; in principle, different staff may additionally discover it extra traumatic.

But within the trials up to now, whereas some folks reported working tougher, this appeared to be offset by having an additional time without work work.

So, whereas we’d work tougher, we then have extra time to get better and do different issues.

We additionally can’t do our jobs precisely the identical means in a four-day week (which is why emails and conferences are on the chopping block).

Successfully adopting a four-day week requires staff and managers to have frank conversations about what duties are including worth and eliminate what are usually not.

Australian authorities inquiries have already advisable adopting or trialing a four-day work week. In 2023, this was included within the Australian Capital Territory and, on the federal stage, by the Senate Select Committee on Work and Care.

Australian firms like Unilever, Medibank and Oxfam are conducting—and sometimes extending—their very own trials of a four-day week.

In 2025, the Greens introduced a four-day work week election policy. The President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, Michele O’Neil, has additionally expressed support for the change.

So far, the proof in favor is powerful.

Trials throughout international locations and completely different industries have constantly reported advantages.

A four-day work week could enhance productiveness, encouraging staff and organizations to refocus their consideration on what it means to be productive, and turn out to be extra strategic and selective with their time administration.

The promise of lowered working time, with out a lower in pay, gives workers incentives to establish and act on productiveness positive factors past what is perhaps achieved in common working preparations.

It would additionally imply that the advantages of elevated productiveness are shared in a means that’s a lot fairer.

These will increase would permit staff to have extra day without work work, slightly than simply going into larger income for shareholders and pay for executives.

While particular person employers and workers can negotiate a lowered working week (as has been finished at Oxfam), there may be additionally a job for the federal government to rethink and amend most working hours in Australia.

So, assist save the Australian economic system and negotiate to take Friday off.