Reason Party leader Fiona Patten calls for trial of four-day working week

Workers could switch to a four-day working week under a radical proposal which would start with Victorian public servants.

Successful trials in other countries have shown the scheme has boosted morale and saved money.

A four-day working week could one day be on the cards for Victorians, with one MP renewing a push for the radical change to be rolled out across the state.

Reason Party leader Fiona Patten has called for a trial within the public sector with a view to expanding it across the economy.

Ms Patten said the test would examine if it increases productivity and worker satisfaction, and if successful, could potentially be rolled out across the private sector.

If implemented, the trial would not affect salaries.

“We’ve certainly seen these trials in other jurisdictions and we’ve seen private companies do it,” Ms Patten told 3AW.

Reason Party MP Fiona Patten is pushing for the trial of a four-day working week. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Paul Jeffers

“Iceland, Spain, New Zealand, those countries are now looking at implementing it across the board.

“We’re suggesting let’s trial it in one department and see what the impact is.”

Governments and businesses globally have trialled the four-day working week to great success.

The proposed trial would be rolled out in the public sector initially.

Companies in Iceland, Spain and New Zealand have successfully trialled the scheme, finding it boosted productivity and profits, saved non-wage costs and reduced absenteeism caused by physical and mental ill-health.

Recently in Victoria the Parliamentary Budget Office examined t the costs involved in a four-day working week.

The analysis found it would save the Department of Treasury more than $4 million without reducing salaries.