4-day week: Now, or never?

PM’s comments welcomed by tourism sector but others pan idea

The Prime Minister’s comments encouraging employers to explore a fourday working week are being met with a flurry of mixed reactions from the business and tourism sectors.

Jacinda Ardern floated the idea during a visit to Rotorua this week, as a way of encouraging people to holiday more and kick-start domestic travel.

The concept typically involves staff working 40 hours across four days, leaving them three-day weekends.

While some say it is out of the question, others say now is the time for considering ideas outside the box.

Tourism Industry Aotearoa chief executive Chris Roberts said this would help to feed operators while the international market remains closed.

“I think any idea is worth considering at the moment,” he said.

“A three-day weekend, we know, encourages people to travel and move around the country so that would be good for tourism. It’s obviously not going to work for every industry.”

But the idea has been quashed by Co-operative Business NZ which represents the likes of dairy giant Fonterra, Foodstuffs and Mitre 10.

Chief executive Roz Henry said its members support flexible working hours, but four days is not feasible for people in farming, for example.

“The majority of these organisations either supply or support the primary sector, and the cows and the sheep and the produce don’t wait.

“You can’t say, ‘we’re going to work four days, then have three days off’.”

Henry said the co-op’s members represent 16 per cent of GDP — mostly in the primary industries.

But an organisational psychologist said science tells us the idea can work well. Dr Dianne Gardner of Massey University said research from New Zealand and overseas supports having fewer days in a working week.

“It gives more leisure time, it can increase satisfaction with the job and it doesn’t necessarily mean people are less productive at work, but it has to be carefully planned.”

Important caveats include being clear about expectations and making sure the arrangement does not add to stress, she said.

The most well-known case here of the four-day week was with Perpetual Guardian in 2018. Employees retained full salary while doing fewer hours overall, and its founder, Andrew Barnes, reported happier staff who had more time for hobbies.

Gardner said this concept would not work in all industries and job titles. “So if you’ve got people who are already flat out and you try to reduce working hours, then you’re going to have people who are probably going to continue working from home, or continue working the same long hours.”