British consumer goods company Unilever is set to trial a four-day working week in New Zealand to see its effects on productivity in a yearlong trial.
Photo: Unilever
Workers will be required to work four days per week while being paid for their regular 40 hours.
Unilever will be rolling out this test to its 81 staff in New Zealand to assess whether or not it should be applied to their workforce across the globe, which currently totals 155,000.
The move is an experiment to see how removing one day from the average workweek will bring any changes to the way the employees work.
Nick Bangs, chief executive of Unilever's New Zealand branch clarified "the whole premise is not to do 40 hours in four days."
Bangs admitted the company will not be shutting down on the fifth day with workers being staggered the chance to take one or two days off per week.
He said: "From a practical standpoint it doesn't work literally turning the lights off for a particular day. So what we have got is very much a staggered approach.
"This is about the ultimate form of flexibility. We want to work through it with each individual and say, 'What is going to work best for you to enable you to be at your best?'"
Part-time workers will also be presented with an opportunity to work 80% of their normal hours for 100% of the pay.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Adern has previously made comments encouraging companies in the country to switch to a four-day workweek in order to increase employee productivity, juggle a better work-life balance and encourage international tourism following the pandemic.
Bangs said the upheaval caused by the pandemic has encouraged the company to try out the new measures and was inspired by the real estate firm Perpetual Guardian, who trialled a four-day workweek in 2018 and found a 20% increase in productivity.
Last year, Microsoft also tested a four-day workweek in Japan - a country that is famously overworked - and found that productivity increased by as much as 40%.
In the UK, John McDonnell, the former shadow chancellor, proposed a 4-day workweek last year as a part of then-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn's 10-year plan should be they have been elected.
Data collected by YouGov suggests that as much as 63% of respondents favoured a four-day working week and another study suggests that 60% of respondents work longer hours than they would ideally like.
The preferred option in the UK is the same as the model Unilever are opting for in New Zealand: a 32-hour working week with no pay reduction.
Critics of the four-day working week suggest it could make businesses less available to the public as they will be losing a full day of operation.
This is why Unilever is taking a staggered approach, to ensure they are available for the maximum amount of time.
The staggered approach could have a significant impact on manufacturing and industry, as allowing for maximised production while also taking steps to improve employee wellbeing could have significant effects on throughput and output.
Bangs admitted several reasons why people might want an extra day off work. For him, personally, it would allow him extra time to spend with his young family.
"I have got three young kids who would love to see a lot more of me. This is going to be fantastic for me to be able to on that day drop them at school, pick them up from school. I will be able to really put some energy and time into myself throughout the course of the day and just recharge."
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