Government urged to use public sector workers for four-day week trials
THE Government should be trialling a four-day week among public servants, according to the head of a global campaign to change how people work.
Irishman Joe O’Connor, chief executive of 4 Day Week, says Ireland is in danger of being ‘left behind after the pandemic’ as other countries move to more flexible working conditions, to attract and keep employees.
He was speaking as the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications confirmed to the Irish Mail on Sunday that it is considering tenders for research into a four-day week across the civil and private sector.
And senator Emer Currie, Fine Gael’s spokeswoman on Employment Affairs and Work/Life Balance, said, ‘It’s important that the public sector should be seen to be leading the charge on this’.
New York-based Roscommon native Mr O’Connor is leading an international six-month pilot for a four-day week, which includes participating businesses and academic
‘The new frontier will be quality of life’
institutions from the United States, Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Ireland, among others.
And he said it’s not a question of if, but when companies start to offer a four-day week as an incentive to their employees. But he warned Ireland needs to keep pace with its competitors – and that the public sector could set an example.
Mr O’Connor told the MoS: ‘If you look at the global momentum around the four-day week and flexible working last June, Ireland was one of the European countries that was an early mover on this. I’m not so sure that’s the case anymore.
‘I think if we want to be a leader in business, the new frontier for competition is not going to be taxation, it’s going to be quality of life. If we want to make sure our economy is competitive, post Covid, which involves attracting a highly skilled workforce, we need to do more and the Government should lead the way on this. ‘If the Government was to pilot it in the public service, it would be an excellent example to other companies how this can work.
The company, 4 Day Week Global is a notfor-profit initiative which was started in New Zealand in 2018 by Andre Barnes and Charlotte Lockhart, a cancer survivor, and, she says, an advocate for making work a better experience.
Mr O’Connor stressed a four-day week will not work for every employee, but the model should be examined to create more innovative working practices that benefit businesses and employees.
‘No one is saying that a four-day, nine-to-five structure will work for every company, every sector and every employee,’ he added.
‘The four-day week challenges the current model of work and helps companies move away from simply measuring how long people are “at work”, to a sharper focus on the output being produced.
‘It should act as an entry point to a focused, empowered business conversation about how to work smarter and more efficiently.’
Eighteen Irish companies are currently undertaking a six-month trial of a four-day week, overseen by Dr Orla Kelly from the School of Social Policy at UCD.
Senator Currie told the MoS: ‘I think it’s really important that the public sector should lead the way.’
She said the proposed Right to Request Remote Work legislation being worked on, is crucial.
‘Employers will need to be more flexible overall,’ she continued.
‘That’s why the forthcoming legislation is important as it can unlock the potential of working anywhere.
‘Employers also have to be supported in that transition – a transition from where the office was the epicentre of a business based on presenteeism, to technology bringing a business together through a digital-first culture that supports remote-only or hybrid.’
Meanwhile, many companies are declaring themselves ‘fully remote’, in a bid for a competitive edge over those requiring attendance in the
‘Unlock the potential of working anywhere’
office,accordingtoTracyKeogh.
Ms Keogh, the co-founder of ‘GrowRemote’–aGovernment-fundedinitiativethatpromotes‘location-less’jobopportunities in Ireland – said remoteworkingislessaboutworkingfromhome,andmoreabouthaving‘locationless’companies.
‘Canyouimagineallthejobsmarketsthatthisopensuptopeopleinurbancentresaswellasremoteregions?Youcanworkforacompanyanywherein
the world. That’s remote working.Workingfromhomeiswhatwecallflexibleworking,’shesaid.
TheMcKinseyGlobalInstitute,theworld’slargestresearcherofbusinessand economics, estimates up to aquarter of workers in advancedeconomies will work permanentlyonahybridbasis.
Theysaidemployeeswantmoreflexibility,theabilitytoworkremotelyandeventheabilitytochoosetheirworkinghours–allwithoutapaycut.
Their research tallies with newstatisticsreleasedbytheCentralStatisticsOffice(CSO)thisweek,whichfoundthatpeoplewhoworkedfromhomeinthelast12monthsreportedbeingmore‘satisfied’withtheirjobandtheirlife.
However,theconceptofthefour-dayworkingweekhasnotbeenmetwith
‘It’s pie-in-the-sky to think we can turn back the clock’
enthusiasm from all .
Employers ’ group IBEC told an Oireachtascommittee in October that research has show na four-day week is too costly to introduce.
It declined to give further commentwhencontacted by the MoS this week.
But despite employers’ mis givings,MrO’Connor insists a four-day week-willeventually become the norm.
He told the MoS:‘ Five years a go peoplemight have thought it was pie-in-the-sky.
‘I actually thinkpie-in-the-sky to think we can turn the clock to how thingswere pre-pandemic. Ithink those companies that aren’tflexible will lose out when it comes toemploying the best people.’