Emily Olle | Will 2024 be the year of the four-day work week? Research suggests yes

We’ve only just closed the book on 2023 — but New Year’s optimism (and hard facts) tell us there could be a big shift coming in the way we work, writes Emily Olle.

Happy 2024, dear readers! As we come to you from January 1, I’m choosing to begin the year with an optimistic prediction for the months ahead: this might be the year of the four-day work week.

Maybe it’s the post-December 31 optimism at play, when “new year, new me” feels like an achievable statement and not a road to disappointment, but the resounding success of four-day trials across the country in 2023 could mean big changes for the way we work.

While 2023 was a year of positives for many, crippling cost of living rises, rent hikes, mortgages surging and the cautious steps out of the Covid pandemic took their toll on the vast majority of the Australian populous.

Most people I’ve spoken to about the roaring 2020s have described the past triad of 12-month blocks with one key word: burnout.

There’s a reason many employers spent large portions of 2023 desperately attempting to lure workers back into the office post-Covid lockdowns.

Employees have started taking stock of their lives — and for many, that means reassessing work-life balance.

The most common version of the four-day work week, known as the 100:80:100 model, allows employees to keep 100 per cent of their pay while working 80 per cent of the hours — as long as they maintain 100 per cent of their productivity.

Sound too good to be true? Not according to researchers.

Not-for-profit 4 Day Week Global, which has conducted six-month pilot programs of four-day working weeks across the world, found the 100:80:100 model had not seen a reduction in productivity across participating organisations — quite the opposite.

Over 10 months, nearly 1000 employees at 33 different companies took part in the trial.

Their hours were cut down by an average of six hours and they worked one less day a week, while still receiving their regular full-time salary.

The report found that revenue rose eight per cent during the trial, but it was up a whopping 38 per cent from the same period a year earlier.

Employee absenteeism also dropped and 67 per cent of employees said they were less burnt out.

The concept is slowly creeping its way into SA. Last year, the state’s biggest company Santos quietly trialled a nine-day fortnight to better cater to the needs of its staff and improve retention.

In his own words, Santos Managing Director Kevin Gallagher admitted he wouldn’t take up the concept unless he was convinced of its success for the productivity of the company — and for all intents and purposes, it sounds like it’s worked.

Santos CEO Kevin Gallagher, who backed a nine-day fortnight for employees in 2023. Supplied

On December 20, the ACT government announced it would set up a working group to examine the potential for a four-day work week trial, following in the footsteps of organisations like Medibank, Oxfam Australia and Bunnings.

Last year, Australian Services Union South Australia and Northern Territory secretary Abbie Spencer said the union had been proposing a four-day work week in some of its current negotiations with South Australian employers.

SA Unions secretary Dale Beasley said ASU’s victory was crucial, for not just improving work-life balance but challenging the misconception that “being present somehow equals productivity.”

Just over one-third of Australian companies expect to transition to a four-day week within the next five years, with research suggesting seven in 10 Australian employers would support the arrangement.

Even Bill Gates — one of the world’s richest men — backed a shortened work week, saying he believed the “purpose of life was not just to do jobs”.

In 2024, perhaps it’s time employers stopped looking at how they can force workers back into the office and start looking at how they can entice them to.

A four day week sounds like a pretty good start — I’ll cheers to the new year for that.

Originally published as Emily Olle | Will 2024 be the year of the four-day work week? Research suggests yes