Best practices for a 4-day work week

In October, Medibank announced that it was trialling a four-day work week to offer more flexibility for its employees while reducing unproductive time.

“Our belief is essentially that by challenging low-value work that exists in the organisation that we can create greater flexibility for our people,” Kylie Bishop, Medibank group lead – people, spaces and sustainability told HRD Australia.

“And we know that when we give people greater flexibility, that they're more engaged and more productive and that ultimately has better outcomes for our customers.”

Medibank joins a number of other companies that have embarked on a four-day work week such as Unilever and Our Community.

But for employers still considering whether to implement this approach, what are some of the legal implications that could arise from having this system in place?

Implementing a four-day work week

Nick Ruskin, partner in the labour, employment, and workplace safety practice at law firm K&L Gates, suggested that organisations begin by trialling a four-day work week.

“[Companies] would need to ensure that if it's just covered by an award, as opposed to an enterprise agreement, or even both…that the award or agreement still is adhered to,” he told HRD Australia.

“Because the award or agreement will say, you will work a 38-hour week and you will work this sort of roster. If you're reducing the hours for the same pay, you just need to ensure that the roster arrangement under those award or agreement is still being adhered to.”

Ruskin emphasised that an employer needs to trial this system so that it doesn’t get caught out by putting it into an enterprise agreement, which can't be easily changed.

“You’ve just got to ensure that whatever you do, can be changed before you choose to introduce it,” he said.

Another key issue employers need to take into account is ensuring it is still sufficiently covered for the services it provides, Ruskin said.

“You don't want to compromise the service or cause any breach of [your] own commercial agreements with providers or suppliers or the like because there's a shorter working week,” he said.

The benefits of a four-day work week

Ruskin will be speaking at the upcoming Employment Law Masterclass in Melbourne on November 30. He will be discussing the topic, “The future of work – anticipating changes in the workplace,” which will include key workplace trends such as the potential implications of a four-day work week.

While Ruskin acknowledged that there are advantages of having a four-day work week, such as a reduction in absenteeism and turnover, these benefits could dissipate if many companies adopt the practice.

“If everybody moves to a four-day week over the next 50 years, let us say, then the advantages of it in terms of turnover may not be much different as they are now because everyone is doing a four-day week,” he said.

Nonetheless, for companies looking to implement a four-day work week, Ruskin described how an employee’s own feelings about the company they work for can come into play.

“The things which impact people and which causes so much difficulty in workers comp claims and the like are not necessarily about the hours you work but the work you do and people you work with,” he said. “So that whether you're working 38 hours or 30.4 hours, you can still be an unhappy camper.”

And one of the first things HR teams should consider when embarking on a four-day work week is psychosocial risk, said Ruskin.

“They're the issues that are the responsibility of HR, in terms of looking at various things to do with work; the training of managers, the training of supervisors, the learning to get on with other people, the work itself, the hierarchy and then the psychosocial risks of everyone's job,” he said. “To make the workplace a better workplace both in terms of productivity and safety in psychosocial safety.

“You can't make people love the workplace if they don't like it…but you certainly can see how it can be improved. And then part of that is, can we introduce a four-day work week? Are there benefits to us in doing so? And is it possible?”