Millions of Australians are about to enjoy consecutive four-day working weeks thanks to the Easter long weekend, but a council in regional NSW wants to make that a permanent arrangement.
The Murrumbidgee Council in the state’s south-west is consulting ratepayers about implementing a Monday-to-Thursday work week for its depot, office and library staff, many of whom already work a nine-day fortnight.
The council says the average daily travel time for its road crews was 160 kilometres, so its compressed working model would yield substantial productivity gains. (Supplied: Murrumbidgee Council )
General manager John Scarce said staff would still work their standard 38 or 35-hour week, but those hours would be compressed into four days.
He said productivity and fuel savings, specifically for the work crews which maintain the council’s vast local road network, would be in the magnitude of around $1 million.
“The average distance they travel a day is about 160 kilometres,” Mr Scarce said.
“So when you look at a saving of two hours in travel time and put that into the extra longer days, it just increases productivity and hasn’t cost a cent to the ratepayers.”
Mr Scarce said the proposal would be implemented at council offices in Darlington Point, Coleambally and Jerilderie as well as local libraries and depots.
He said it would not apply to him, the council-run childcare centre and caravan park, and essential service workers would be on call.
“We have water, sewerage and animal control, and we have emergencies we have to respond to Saturday and Sunday,” Mr Scarce said.
“Friday isn’t going to be any different, we’ll still be responding to those and have staff rostered on.”
John Scarce says implementing a four-day work week could help his organisation attract and retain much needed staff. (Supplied: Murrumbidgee Council )
The modern workplace
Wesa Chau, executive director of independent think-tank Per Capita, said the 38-hour work week was introduced in Australia more than 40 years ago.
“Work has changed,” she said.
“The labour market has changed, participation rates of women have also increased since that time.
“There’s a lot more mental health issues and also with automation and technology advances, [it] means a lot of tasks take a shorter time as well.”
Wesa Chau says while data shows there are many benefits of a four-day week, there were challenges to the model. (Supplied: Wesa Chau )
In 2023 Per Capita — which is focused on addressing inequality — released research on a trial of a four-day work week at an Australian organisation.
“Ninety-two per cent of men and 60.7 per cent of women reported positive impacts on their overall health,” Ms Chau said.
The trial was part of a global pilot program involving 70 organisations.
Ms Chau said more than 90 per cent of those involved stuck with the four-day week after the trial concluded, and 96 per cent of employers reported a positive impact and satisfaction around staff performance and output.
She said there were challenges organisations needed to consider though, particularly for those with customer-facing functions.
“One of the key things is ensuring that employers don’t see this as a flexible model to erode pay,” Ms Chau said.
“It does potentially reduce opportunity for team work.
“There’s less time for people to collaborate or knowledge transfer between more senior staff and junior staff.”
Potential recruitment tool
In February, Launceston City Council abandoned plans to become the nation’s first government organisation to implement a four-day week, citing a backlash from ratepayers and stakeholders.
Mr Scarce is hopeful Murrumbidgee Council will pioneer the movement.
“The council is backing us, the staff are backing us,” he said.
“We need to be judged not on the fact that we’re only going to be working Monday to Thursday, we need to be judged on our outcome.”
The Murrumbidgee Council has offices in the Riverina towns of Darlington Point, Coleambally and Jerilderie. (Supplied: Murrumbidgee Council )
Mr Scarce said the move could provide a competitive edge for smaller, rural councils in terms of service delivery and staff recruitment.
“We currently collect our general waste once a fortnight,” Mr Scarce said.
“We’ve had calls from the community wanting to have [that] collected once a week, so by extending hours I believe we would be able to accommodate that.
“‘We also find it very, very difficult to employ staff, so it could be a way of helping our recruiting as well.”
The council is expected to make a decision about the proposal in the coming months.