Sending off inquiries and interview requests for this story on a Thursday afternoon amounted to poor timing on this reporter’s half, as a number of recipients had been already wrapping up their week.
Nevertheless Friday out-of-office replies are more and more uncommon as adopters of a brief week return to the five-day grind.
The idea of a four-day working week has been round for the reason that Nineties, most just lately coming again into the highlight within the wake of Covid-19 lockdowns and the rise of versatile working.
In 2020 former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern urged employers take into account a four-day week as a method to enhance work-life steadiness and enhance tourism; an iteration of the coverage was launched by a variety of companies round this time.
5 years on and within the midst of an financial downturn, nationwide dialog a few shorter working week has floor to a halt.
Phil McParlane of 4dayweek, a worldwide jobs board selling alternatives with corporations that provide such flexibility, says a number of NZ corporations have retreated to a five-day week over the course of 2025.
He says one instance is Runn, a Wellington-based useful resource planning software program firm. Runn didn’t reply to Newsroom’s request for remark.
Company belt-tightening
“In my opinion that’s extra about boards changing into cautious within the present financial local weather than something to do with the four-day week itself,” McParlane tells Newsroom.
“Many corporations are tightening their belts, chopping prices and lowering workers – and when this occurs, the four-day week turns into a straightforward goal.
“For instance, one NZ firm I spoke to just lately fell barely brief on a income goal and the board instantly blamed the four-day week – I can sympathize to an extent however it’s a knee-jerk response.”
McParlane says each main pilot has proven productiveness goes up, recruitment and retention enhance, persons are happier and income stays steady.
Earlier this yr, researchers from Boston School within the US performed a six-month trial of four-day weeks, involving 2896 workers throughout 141 organisations in international locations together with Canada and New Zealand. Outcomes included fewer studies of burnout and higher job satisfaction.
Reasonably than the four-day week being a passing fad, McParlane believes it’s “experiencing some turbulence in a turbulent market”.
There is no such thing as a official database recording which corporations supply a brief working week with no change to workers’ pay. McParlane believes the quantity sits round 12, Newsroom has counted a number of extra.
‘Conservatism’ holding NZ again
One such office is MSH Consulting, the place managing director Brian Yee says it’s been successful. The small firm trialled it for 9 months earlier than formally introducing it in January 2024. The preliminary trial took place within the wake of the pandemic amid difficulties attracting expertise.
“It’s an 80/100 mannequin, which signifies that we pay the identical quantity of {dollars} as if we had been working with a five-day week. So the entire foundation of our mannequin has been working extra productively, extra effectively and having folks extra rested and energized, in order that they will truly be extra productive.
“Once we designed the four-day week, there have been a number of elementary areas that we redesigned in our enterprise that allowed us to function and maintain it.”
“It does require a elementary change in mindset, as a result of you’ll be able to’t come and simply cruise and chat across the water cooler and take lengthy lunches… however the profit is that you just focus, you go for it, you get your work carried out and you’ve got your reward with the additional day without work.”
Whereas workers usually get their day without work on Friday, they’re anticipated to be versatile if one thing crops up like a workshop, or shopper assembly. In these circumstances they don’t lose their day without work, however slightly transfer issues round and take a distinct day.
Yee believes extra corporations ought to discover how versatile working methods might work for his or her groups.
“I feel there’s some form of reluctance, or conservativism, or the concept ‘we’ll simply wait to see what occurs… wait and see till it’s actually embedded abroad earlier than we take the soar’.”
Rewarding proficiency
Brevity is an Auckland-based interiors engineering agency that has been trialling completely different iterations of a four-day work week for the previous 4 years. Initially the trial merely gave the corporate’s 20-odd workers extra leisure time; this succeeded with out lack of productiveness however didn’t enhance output.
Subsequent trials centered on bettering administration and efficiencies to hurry up work. The corporate now operates a reward-based mannequin of a four-day week, the place groups are given one among 5 weekdays as day off – with the expectation they may decide up the cellphone to pressing calls – in the event that they hit their productiveness targets the week prior.
Managing director Matt Bishop says: “We’ve form of flipped it from implementing the four-day work week first and seeing the advantages afterwards, to it now being a goal if we hit sure team-based targets. So it’s not a lot in regards to the idea of the four-day work week being more healthy or having the ability to make folks extra centered. It’s extra as a reward for proficiency.”
Receiving a full-time wage for a brief working week might sound enticing in principle, however day-to-day flexibility is probably going the extra virtually fascinating possibility for many employees – notably these with households.
David Lacire, director of finance, tech and transformation at recruitment agency Robert Walters, says workers are more and more looking for and anticipating flexibility round working hours and places.
“They’d slightly are available every single day at 9 after they dropped the children, and possibly round thrice every week, end at 2.30pm and go and decide up the children after which do business from home after.”
Lacire believes there are 15-20 corporations presently working a four-day work week. He is aware of of no less than one firm that has reverted again to a full working week – a consulting firm he doesn’t wish to identify.
Financial headwinds and inflated enterprise prices are making it tougher for companies to show a revenue, which results in elevated strain to carry out and employees placing their heads down.
“I don’t know in the event that they’re anticipated to work greater than 40 hours, however they’re positively anticipated to work greater than 32 hours. The best way [bosses] see it’s a little bit like: ‘Hey, if I can get one hundred pc of the result inside 32 hours, I might most likely get 120 p.c with one hundred pc of your time’.
“There are companies which may nonetheless promote for the four-day week, as a result of it’s good for them to say it. However the actuality is that persons are nonetheless working 5 days.”
