Australia sees new push for National Employment Standards to implement shortened work weeks
The chief executive of a business network in Australia has described the four-day work week as "completely unrealistic" amid a renewed push from legislators over the policy, according to reports.
Andrew McKellar, chief executive of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI), spoke at the National Press Club on Wednesday where he expressed his stance over four-day work weeks.
"We are not in a position where we can agree to National Employment Standards for five (extra) days annual leave per year or a four-day working week," McKellar said as quoted by news.com.au.
"When you think about that, the impact that would have across the effectiveness for small and medium-sized businesses across Australia, it is completely unrealistic."
His remarks come in the wake of the Australian Greens' recent election policy announcement to introduce a four-day work week through nationwide trials across a range of industries.
Senator Barbara Pocock said the trials will see workers work 80% of their normal hours while maintaining 100% of pay.
"This is a policy that's good for everyone," Pocock said in a statement. "It can increase productivity, reduce absenteeism, improve recruitment and retention, and give employees more time to manage their home life. This change will allow workers to create a working week that works for them."
The push for the four-day work week comes amid strong demand from employees, according to a report from Robert Half last year.
It revealed that 65% of employees want to work the same number of hours in four days instead of five days with retention of their salary.
Another 63% said they were open to working shorter days and fewer hours per week with the retention of salary.
Various employers across Australia have begun introducing four-day work week benefits to employees over the past few years.
Our Community, a North Melbourne-based social enterprise, trialled in 2022 a four-day work week policy that it made permanent five months after, following a high satisfaction rate among employees.
Also in 2022, several Australian companies kicked off a four-day work week trial that saw working hours reduced without cutting pay.
McKellar also noted at the National Press Club that some employers are already shortening their work weeks stealthily.
"You take me back for a moment to my time as a student … I noticed, after a little while, that strangely there were no lectures on Monday, and there were no tutorials on Friday," he said as quoted by news.com.au.
According to the ACCI chief executive, four-day work weeks should not be legislated, and should instead be based on the decision of employers.
"What are the standard working hours, what delivers the best outcomes for those individual enterprises, that should be with the enterprise, and we do not seek to tell individual businesses what they should do to run their own business," he said.
Pocock said the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, and Spain are leading the way with large-scale trials involving four-day work weeks.
According to the World Economic Forum, Spain's trial of a four-day work policy showed the following benefits among employees:
The trial also saw a drop in commuting, which led to a reduction in nitrogen dioxide emissions and improved air quality.
In the United Kingdom, the WEF said the trial there saw similar results, with the four-day work week delivering gains for employers and employees.
Source: Robert Half
According to Pocock, it's time for Australia to move its workplaces into the 21st century and create a pathway for shorter 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," she said.
"This is about justice for working people. We work to live not live to work."
