A four-day work week trial run by Unilever over the past 18 months has been highly successful and will be expanded to Australia, the company says.
The company’s New Zealand employers were allowed to spend 20 percent less time at work while continuing on full wages.
The company says that it saw a growth in revenue, absenteeism dropped by 34 percent, and stress dropped by a third, as a result of the shortened work week.
“We’re excited to see the trial extend to Australia, and know the toolkit and learnings we realised in Aotearoa will translate well to our peers in Australia,” managing director of Unilever New Zealand Cameron Heath told RNZ News.
Heath said that workers were shocked when managers first offered the shorter week, believing it to be “too good to be true”.
It was not compulsory but the majority of workers signed up.
“We have seen incredible results … we’re really happy with the results of the trial.
“What we challenge people to do is really think through the way they operate.”
Several other New Zealand-based companies have also moved to four-day work weeks, including software company Conqa and estate-planning company Perpetual Guardian, who first trialled the shorter work week in 2018.
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