‘Outdated’: Calls grow for four-day work week in Aussie state

Moving to less days at work could reduce youth crime and improve parenting – so says a campaign to change Aussie weeks.

Calls are growing for the four-day work week to become standard in an Australian state, with a campaign saying the shift could improve parenting and reduce youth crime.

Queensland man Daniel Brooke has lodged a petition with the state government for a four-day week to become standard for permanent full-time employment.

The petition, which has gained more than 1400 signatures, calls for recognition that “the lifestyles and responsibilities of Queensland residents have changed over time”.

It argues parents and couples were now working “considerably longer periods”, and have “increased responsibilities and financial burdens that reduce the quality of time spent raising children, caring for older parents, and maintaining households”.

“The traditional period of full-time employment is outdated and inhibits a work life balance, placing greater demands on residents and families in areas of mental health, familial relationships and physical health.

“Adolescent crime would be significantly reduced with greater time for parents to raise children and establish values, modelling and oversight to their children that full-time work presently inhibits.”

Queensland Premier David Crisafulli – his government is being lobbied to introduce four-day work weeks. Picture: Liam Kidston

The move comes after 200 companies in the UK announced they would be moving to four-day weeks, while the Tokyo government is also rolling out a similar model.

Associate Professor John Hopkins from Swinburne University of Technology said 2026 marked 100 years since Henry Ford created the five-day, 40-hour work week, back when the average lifespan of an American worker was 51.

“We really have moved on a lot since then, we have a lot of new technologies that can help us save time and should be saving time in our working day,” he said in an interview with the ABC last week.

“But the reality of it is what these new technologies have done is they’ve actually made our working days and working weeks longer.

“We’re working around five hours a week extra on top of our standard paid hours – that works out to around 280 hours a year.”

Australians are working more than their standard hours most weeks. Picture: NewsWire/ Gaye Gerard

Mr Hopkins said Swinburne had been interviewing Australian firms that have moved to a four-day week since 2023, and businesses had reported “a lot of pros for it”.

He said most of the businesses had adopted the 100:80:100 model, in which staff keep 100 per cent of their pay but have their work hours reduced to 80 per cent.

“It’s definitely growing,” Mr Hopkins said.

“We’ve interviewed 20 companies already and the number are growing each year.

“I wouldn’t say we’ve had this big insurgence (as in the UK) but the more companies do it and the more we talk about it, the more it’s on the radar of other companies.”

In the UK 200 companies, comprising more than 5000 employees, changed policies to allow four-day weeks for the same pay and no requirement for longer hours.

The milestone was recently announced by the 4 Day Week Foundation, which campaigns cross the UK for a four-day, 32 hour working week with no loss of pay for workers.

How to staff retail and hospitality stores remains a question for businesses. Picture: Josie Hayden

Campaign Director of the 4 Day Week Foundation, Joe Ryle, praised the companies and workers who have joined the campaign.

“As hundreds of British companies and one local council have already shown, a four-day week with no loss of pay can be a win-win for both workers and employers,” he said.

“The 9-5, five-day working week was invented 100 years ago and is no longer fit for purpose. We are long overdue an update.”

In Australia companies such as Medibank and Bunnings trialling the new working model.

Research from recruiter Robert Half revealed that just over a third of Australian companies surveyed expected their organisation to transition to a four-day work week within five years.

Mr Hopkins told the ABC some industries like retail and security services did not fit the model as well as others.

He said scepticism over workload and what do with public holidays and part-time workers were among the biggest concerns for companies considering the change.

“A lot of people said they couldn’t see how they could do five days worth of work in four days,” he said.

“So overcoming that scepticism is a big challenge.”