6.1
The question of working time—its security, predictability, length, flexibility, intensity and fit with care—emerged as amongst the most pressing and most frequently mentioned matters before the committee.
6.2
This chapter considers these issues, beginning with the priority issue of roster justice and the need for predicable, secure working hours—and thus pay.
6.3
It became evident to the committee that conditions for many Australian workers could be improved. Workers lack knowledge of what hours and pay they have tomorrow or next week. This affects their pay and conditions and, more than almost every other aspect of the work and care 'system', constrains and diminishes the ability of workers to combine work and care.
6.4
The breadth and impact of this issue was a surprise to the committee and it demands a response. The committee welcomes the Australian Government's action in amending the Fair Work Act 2009 (Fair Work Act) through the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Secure Jobs, Better Pay) Act 2022 to improve the right of Australian workers in relation to flexibility. Specifically, the two National Employment Standards (NES) entitlements without enforcement, the right to request flexibility and the right to request an extension of unpaid parental leave, now join all other NES standards in having some capacity for enforcement.
6.5
These are welcome actions as recommended in the committee's Interim Report. We recommend further actions given the importance of employee-access to flexibility at work and the benefits it brings to employees and to enlarge labour supply.
6.6
This chapter considers the critical issues of hours of work through six dimensions:
(a)
roster predictability and justice;
(b)
long working hours and their impact on the gendering of unpaid care and paid work;
(c)
the right to disconnect;
(f)
a shorter working week.
6.7
It is clear to the committee that Australia has taken a unique road to date in relation to the reconciliation of work and care. The greater entry of women—who make up the majority of carers—has been accommodated especially through the growth of part-time work. Unfortunately, the growth in part-time work (now including gig, 'self-employment', labour hire and a range of employment forms), which ironically especially proliferate in the care sector, has occurred on degraded terms in many places.
6.8
Many part-time jobs are casual, insecure, without predicable hours, days and rosters, and lack key conditions (like paid leave). Many of these attributes are especially important to workers with care responsibilities but it is in their jobs that they are too often lacking.
6.9
Evidence received in relation to these matters, leads the committee to make detailed recommendations on these issues, given their widespread existence and importance.
6.10
The extent of part-time work and its conditions in many workplaces make Australia something of an outlier in international comparison in terms of work-care adaptation and arrangements.
6.11
Australia might arguably be seen as having been an international leader in terms of the adaption and articulation of decent work standards at the turn of the 19th Century. With its adoption of a minimum, liveable wage, working hours that were shortened as productivity rose and its benefits were shared. It cannot be seen now, however, as an international leader in terms of work care regimes, requiring a great deal of adaption by carers and parents with jobs and their disproportionate concentration in part-time work with loss of job security, leave, careers paths, and decent pay.
6.12
While Australians might be said to have a right—indeed, an obligation—to work, they lack a right to work and care, and lack a work-care system that genuinely and practically supports their work and their households.
6.13
The consequences of this were made especially clear by evidence from many witnesses. The research undertaken by Professor Lyndall Strazdins, for example, revealed the ways in which higher paid and sometimes higher status jobs require longer hours of work, making them more accessible to men than women, thereby given women's higher care loads. This only reinforces gender inequality in the workplace, lower pay and wellbeing levels for women, and a reduced ability for men to take up caring roles in their families.
Rostering predictability and justice
6.14
As discussed in the committee's Interim Report, the lack of 'roster justice'—meaning the use of unpredictable, short hours rosters—has real and adverse consequences for working carers, especially if their engagement with paid employment is already tenuous.
6.15
For working carers employed on a casual, on-demand or shift basis, rostering practices present a related but separate challenge when considering flexibility and insecure work. Aside from the need to secure sufficient paid work hours, working carers require a consistent and predictable employment schedule, and genuine consultation on when and how they work, along with the ability to turn down extra hours without negative consequences (such as loss of future hours or shifts).
6.16
In some instances, the insecurity of a job can be obscured by a seemingly more stable arrangement. Evidence to this inquiry was particularly critical of the use of part-time contracts with artificially low hours that do not reflect the true number of hours worked. As Ms Erin Keogh of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) explained:
In part-time work, for example, you will find arrangements where a person has a minimum hours guarantee, but it's incredibly low—let's say, four hours a week—and that provides a large amount of space for the employer to add additional hours, as suits the employer, without having to pay a casualised loading to that employee.
6.17
Mr Gerard Dwyer from the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees' Association acknowledged that the practice of minimum hours contracts caused the association the most concern, saying:
I get hired on six, seven or eight hours and then I'm in a bidding war for the rest of the week. I've got to show my flexibility to get those extra hours. It becomes a war zone as opposed to what it should be, and that is stable, predictable rosters that work for the individual and the business to provide the service. That is a problem where, at store level, we seem to have too many situations where you get the bare minimum and then it's Hunger Games for the rest.
6.18
Some evidence presented to the committee suggested that rostering could be used positively to enhance workers' ability to manage work and care—for example, working a split shift either side of a care responsibility. In addition, some sectors may be more responsive than others. Mrs Claire Bailey of the Aged and Community Care Providers Association, for example, reported that the aged care sector has a 'very strong driver of availability of rosters built around when the individuals can work and what they can offer the organisation'.
6.19
A survey conducted by the Social Policy Research Centre (SPRC) showed that rostering has the largest positive benefits where employers recognise and respond to individual needs.
6.20
Conversely, the SPRC noted rosters can be set with minimal input from workers, who may have little or no contact with the person responsible for determining when and for how long they will work. In some cases, rostering is fully automated; the SPRC said that users found these systems difficult to navigate and suggested they provided poor notification of updates and changes.
6.21
How much—or rather, how little—notice is given of changes is a particular concern for working carers. For example, Ms Abbey Kendall from the Working Women's Centre South Australia (SA) gave the example of a worker who was told in the evening that her regular 8.00 am shift had been moved to 6.00 am, at a different location, effective from the very next day.
6.22
At the other end of the spectrum, representatives from the Queensland Nurses and Midwives' Union observed that unnecessarily fixed rostering may preclude the ability of working carers to adjust their schedules in response to changing care responsibilities. The Working Women's Centre SA was also of the view that needless inflexibility in part-time, casual and shift work replicates the downside of traditionally secure work in what should be a more flexible type of employment.
6.23
Besides the direct impact on workers' schedules, rostering practices can entrench the existing power imbalance between employee and employer. Ms Kendall observed that employees reliant on rostered work may find it difficult to raise disputes or access their existing workplace entitlements, notably where the allocation or distribution of work relies on a 'friendly relationship' with their employer.
6.24
It was further suggested to the committee that workers who require additional flexibility to provide care may be viewed as less reliable than other workers, and consequently offered fewer hours or less desirable shifts. Some evidence put to the committee indicated that in some circumstances, informal carers may be subject to deliberately 'punitive rostering'.
Rostering at major retailers
6.25
Rostering practices were the subject of extensive discussion at public hearings attended by major Australian retailers including Woolworths, Aldi, Bunnings and McDonalds. Retailers spoke of their commitment to developing rosters that were responsive to the needs of their staff, and provided some evidence of this to the committee.
6.26
For example, while availability and other requirements are generally managed through centralised and automated systems, the committee heard that rosters in some companies are not finalised without the oversight and input of local managers.
6.27
Retailers also advised that they provide rosters with more notice than is required under enterprise bargaining agreements. However, the committee was told that processes to change or vary rosters are informal and often entirely verbal, with few standard procedures and limited record-keeping. Most retailers were unable to provide basic data in relation to rostering and flexibility.
6.28
The committee has elsewhere outlined extensive evidence of the disruptive impact of a lack of 'roster justice', particularly variable hours and unexpected schedule changes. The committee's Interim Report called for improved rostering rights for employees, including predictable, fixed-shift scheduling—especially for working carers—and for a requirement for employers to engage genuinely with employees about roster change proposals. Evidence received by the committee since its Interim Report has reinforced this call.
6.29
The committee was told of the impact of poor rostering practices including a lack of control over when people work. Witnesses described the creation of 'awkward work environments' and disputes with employers, resulting from poor rostering practice.
6.30
Ms Biddlestone from the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees' Association told the committee about the experiences of one of its members:
I made sure my hours would fit with my family by being completely transparent and up-front about my needs. It was perfect up until recent new management. I'm constantly having to dispute my roster, and my hours are getting cut because they can no longer work with my schedule. I feel like a burden, and I come home stressed out and exhausted.
6.31
Furthermore, the power imbalance between workers and employers in terms of rosters, coupled with the lack of protections for workers to reject roster changes, puts 'incredible stress' on workers and their families, in some cases leaving no option for women but to leave work because they are unable to balance work with caring obligations.
6.32
In describing the impact of poor rostering practices on working carers, the Working Women's Centre SA told the committee about the experiences of 'Julie':
Julie is a casual cleaner, who has been working for her employer for two years. She is a single mother who lives alone with her two-year-old daughter … Julie receives an out-of-the-blue phone call where her employer advises that they have decided to roster her to another site, commencing at 6 am the following day … After her first shift at the new site, Julie telephoned her employer to let them know about her care responsibilities and the difficulties with the childcare opening times. The employer, despite employing hundreds of cleaners over a number of sites with hundreds of different types of shifts, told Julie that they could not accommodate her request and gave no reason for the sudden change in roster.
6.33
The Centre advised the committee that recent changes to the Fair Work Act will assist workers to dispute their rosters. However, it called for additional reform, including an obligation on employers to provide roster changes within regulated periods of notice and to deliver training focused on proactively implementing flexible working arrangements.
Long working hours
6.34
The impact of working long hours on workplace health and wellbeing has been well documented in Australia and internationally. The impact of long working hours on the mental and physical health of the individual as well as associated health costs to the economy are known. According to the World Health Organisation, working 55 or more hours a week raises the risk of stroke by 35 per cent and ischemic heart disease by 17 per cent, when compared to working shorter hours.
6.35
Work is good for our mental health but only up to a point, with evidence to the committee suggesting that this point is a limit of 39 hours a week. However, the work-hour-mental health threshold varies for women and men, given the additional care and domestic responsibilities undertaken by women. Research indicates therefore, that a healthy work limit of 34 hours a week is optimal for women, when informal care and domestic responsibilities are considered. Professor Strazdins explained:
There is a large gender difference in the point at which work hours harm health: for women the tipping point is 34 hours per week, but on average men could work up to 47 hours a week before they showed detriment to their mental health. The reason an Australian man can on average work 13 hours longer each week than a woman before he starts to experience harms to his mental health, is because relatively little of his time is devoted to unpaid care.
6.36
The committee heard that 40 per cent of the Australian labour market 'routinely' works more than 38 hours, with around one fifth working more than 50 hours—most of them men.
6.37
Professor Strazdins noted that if workers are incentivised to work longer hours and promotions are based on a capacity to work those hours, rather than merit, a system is created which disadvantages women.
6.38
As well as addressing the structural issues which incentivise longer hours, it was suggested to the committee that better regulation of the NES with regard to the maximum weekly hours of work, could help to address the balance of work and care.
6.39
Professor Strazdins noted that in countries with better regulations around maximum working weeks, fewer women work in part-time jobs and fewer men are in long-hour jobs. She explained that in countries where there was closer regulation of long-hour jobs, it is far more common for couples to work hours approximate to each other. She concluded that the divergence happens in countries with very weak upper limits. In relation to Australia, where the maximum weekly national standard for hours of work is 38 hours per week, Professor Strazdins concluded that:
What we have is a limit but what we don’t have, it appears, is any routine respect of that particular limit in the Australian labour market.
The right to disconnect
6.40
In its Interim Report, the committee described what it termed 'availability creep', a trend where employees are increasingly expected to engage with and complete work outside of work hours.
6.41
In some cases, such a trend is associated with long hours of work which the previous section has discussed, outlining the costs of long hours to work-life balance, health, wellbeing and productivity.
6.42
Professor Sara Charlesworth from the Work + Family Policy Roundtable told the committee that for some workers, availability creep was a direct consequence of job insecurity and rostering practices, whereby workers are expected to remain on call and available for extended periods of time in order to secure sufficient paid work.
6.43
For many other workers, availability creep has been caused by changes in technology that make it possible for them to undertake work tasks outside of the workplace, at any time. As the committee noted in its Interim Report, this has been further exacerbated by the pandemic. This again blurs the line between flexibility and unreasonable expectations between employers and employees.
6.44
Availability creep has negative consequences for the productivity and wellbeing of all workers, but it is especially burdensome for working carers who already juggle competing demands on their time. Being expected to work outside core or rostered hours interrupts their availability to provide informal care and reduces their already limited opportunities to participate in other activities such as study, leisure or rest.
6.45
As continuous connection to the workplace becomes more normalised, those who are unwilling or unable to engage, including because they balance work with unpaid care, will find themselves at an increasing disadvantage.
6.46
As the committee highlighted in its Interim Report, a formal right to disconnect from work already exists in various parts of Australia and the world. Evidence to this inquiry was broadly supportive of the development of something similar in Australia, whether in the form of an enforceable legal entitlement or by some other mechanism.
6.47
Ms Helen Dalley-Fisher from the Equality Rights Alliance suggested that there may well be a need to regulate the right to disconnect, but submitted that as the scope of the problem is not yet sufficiently known, further data is needed to understand the problem before determining what a solution might look like.
6.48
Professor Strazdins also spoke of the importance of normalising the right to disconnect as a way of recognising that 'people do have a life and we want them to have a life'. She noted that this would require changes in the expectations of employers as well as significant workplace cultural change.
6.49
In Belgium, prior to the introduction of a November 2022 labour law providing for a four-day working week for private sector workers, a survey of employees revealed that the ability to disconnect from work was seen as the biggest expected benefit. Respondents indicated that they expected the greatest benefits of a four-day week to include the ability to relax at home (43 per cent), to obtain a better work-life balance (40.8 per cent) as well as to give more space for personal relationships.
6.50
Some witnesses expressed reservations about the right to disconnect, noting, for example, that its operation would likely be dependent on the ability of individual employees to negotiate and enforce disconnection from their employer, and that some workers may welcome additional connection if it facilitates additional flexibility.
Right to disconnect in aged and disability care
6.51
The right to disconnect from work is especially important for those in the care sector who are already expected to engage with employers with short or no notice, and perform additional unpaid labour outside of work hours.
6.52
Professor Ian Hickie AM also noted the unique circumstances of those providing formal care, as the intimate nature of care work further complicates the ability of workers to disconnect. For example, workers in educational roles are frequently expected to perform unpaid emotional and pastoral care. Many workers develop close relationships with individual clients and their families, which may lead to an inadvertent expectation that workers will continue to volunteer their time outside of paid shifts.
6.53
The right to disconnect links to the issue of unpaid working time and the question of wage theft. The effect of changing technologies, the 'untethering' of work from a workplace for many, the drift to long hours of work, the creation of new norms of 'care-unfriendly' connectivity, expectations and the legacy of new post-pandemic work-from-home habits, make workers' capacities to disconnect from work and its technologies of increasing importance.
Job security
6.54
The evidence to this inquiry suggests that job insecurity for working carers creates significant challenges to combining work and care.
6.55
Insecure work is work that 'provides workers with little social and economic security, and little control over their work'. Some types of work, such as casual, seasonal and fixed-term employment, are more likely to be insecure. However, any type of work may be insecure if does not provide the worker a reasonable level of certainty over basic employment parameters such as when, how much and how often they will work.
6.56
Ms Louise de Plater from the Health Services Union elaborated the circumstances of many of its workers:
For our members, in particular, industrial arrangements in a relevant award covering the caring sectors mean there's a prevalence of low-hour or zero-hour part-time contracts, effectively allowing employers to treat workers like casuals. Our members lack job security and certainty of hours and complain that these arrangements play havoc with their lives, from balancing the family budget to juggling hours of care, and force many of them to work multiple jobs just to get enough hours to get by.
6.57
It was suggested that employers may deliberately utilise insecure arrangements to minimise their legal and financial obligations to workers. For example, companies may require workers who would otherwise be employees to engage as independent contractors or offer permanent part-time employment on a nominally 'casual' basis.
6.58
In some instances, the insecurity of a job can be obscured by a seemingly more stable arrangement. Evidence to his inquiry was particularly critical of the use of part-time contracts with artificially low hours that do not reflect the true number of hours worked. As Ms Erin Keogh of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) explained, low minimum hours contracts can be significantly boosted by employers without the requirement for casual loading.
Interaction with workplace flexibility
6.59
Workplace flexibility and job security are closely related. It was put to the committee that for many working carers, the two are mutually reinforcing: a lack of flexibility drives them into insecure forms of work, while job insecurity limits their ability to access flexible arrangements.
6.60
This correlation means genuine workplace flexibility—the ability to adjust when, where and how work is performed through arrangements such as modified hours, working from home, or job sharing—often results in insecure work. Additionally, there were suggestions that some employers misuse the term 'flexible' to describe insecure, unpredictable and ad hoc employment arrangements that provide them with financial and logistical advantages of little benefit to employees.
6.61
However, flexible work need not be insecure. During this inquiry, the committee heard directly from large and small employers about the ways in which they offer flexibility alongside secure, ongoing work.
6.62
The committee heard that Aldi, for example, does not utilise casual labour—all workers are offered ongoing, part-time employment with minimum guaranteed hours. Hours can, however, be flexed upwards without any penalty payable.
6.63
The Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) also drew the committee's attention to the achievements of 'leading practice organisations' in the private sector, who seek a citation as an 'Employer of Choice for Gender Equality'. WGEA explained that to earn this citation, employers had to have:
… a formal policy and strategy supporting those with family or caring responsibilities which covers return to work from parental leave; parents at all stages of children's lives; employees with eldercare responsibilities; and employees with caring responsibilities for people with disability. In addition, the citation requires organisations to have no eligibility period for access to employer-funded parental leave. It also expects organisations to actively encourage men to take parental leave and, if applicable, set targets for men's engagement in flexible working arrangements.
Leading practice organisations in the private sector aim to address barriers to carers' engagement in the workforce through robust flexible work arrangements and policies, carers leave, parental leave and childcare supports. In addition, leading practice organisations encourage women and men to utilise flexible work arrangements and parental leave and have moved toward gender neutral language in policies and strategies. When workplaces support both women and men in their roles as workers and carers, they disrupt gender norms and assumptions about the division of work and care.
6.64
The distinction between flexibility and security must be front of mind when assessing the impact of insecure work. The negative consequences outlined below arise not because certain types of work are more flexible, but because they are less secure.
Carers are more likely to be in insecure work
6.65
As noted above, it is often a lack of workplace flexibility that drives working carers into insecure work. Carers NSW made the point that '[m]any carers are engaged in casual or contract employment as this is the only way that they can access adequate flexibility to balance work with their caring role'.
6.66
For some working careers, insecurity begets more insecurity: the insufficiency and uncertainty of their primary work forces carers to seek out second and third jobs, which are also overwhelmingly insecure. Professor Alison Preston confirmed it is largely demand-side factors—that is, the hours and conditions offered by employers—that drive an increase in multiple job holding.
6.67
Professor Preston told the committee that once carers have moved into less secure work, even temporarily, it can prove difficult for them to return to secure, ongoing work, saying:
Fast forward now 30 years and this huge change we've have in women's education and women's participation in employment, women's patterns of employment over their life course hasn't changed very much at all. So women continue to basically drop down to part-time employment when they are in their 30s, and that really doesn't recover. The fact that there's not much change in those curves for women over those 30 years I find quite remarkable.
6.68
The committee heard that this creates a cycle where workers, and specifically women, become 'locked out' of secure employment from the moment they become carers.
The negative consequences of insecure work
6.69
Workers in insecure work may have no guarantee of future employment or income, meaning they are unable to make medium- and long-term plans and have little control over their future. They struggle to borrow money and often lack access to paid leave, training, promotion and benefits available to more secure workers. Insecurity fundamentally shifts the power balance in favour of employers.
6.70
It was argued that those in insecure work have fewer rights and protections in areas such as taxation, superannuation, workers' compensation and workplace health and safety. Further, they may not even be aware that this is the case.
6.71
The committee also heard that insecure work can impede the ability of workers to earn money and accrue wealth. Ad hoc and short-term work tends to result in lower pay compared to secure employment, while variable work hours cause income fluctuations that workers 'cannot predict and financially cannot rely upon'.
6.72
Further, workers in insecure employment are less likely to have access to paid leave, less likely to receive superannuation and many are not paid a casual loading to compensate for work that is genuinely irregular or intermittent.
6.73
For example, Ms Caitlin Feehan, a lawyer with the Working Women's Centre SA, told the committee that:
Insecure work is unreliable not only in terms of hours but also in terms of pay. This has serious consequences for workers, predominantly women, attempting to manage their care responsibilities. It serves to exacerbate inequality for all of those already experiencing discrimination in the workforce. Our submission outlines that, in practice, only half or fewer of casual workers are actually paid their full casual loading, which reflects the lack of information among employers and the equal lack of enforcement of loading requirements among employers.
6.74
Over time, insecure work has detrimental effects on the physical health, mental wellbeing, relationships, and social inclusion of workers. For example, Professor Patrick McGorry AO identified insecure work as a substantial cause of worsening mental health among young Australians.
Insecure work makes it harder to arrange and provide care
6.75
Eligibility to request flexible working arrangements under the Fair Work Act does not extend to independent contractors, short-term employees, or casual employees who cannot demonstrate ongoing work on a 'regular and systematic basis'. Carers in insecure work are excluded as a direct result of that insecurity.
6.76
The inability to plan ahead is especially problematic for working carers. Irregular work patterns make it difficult to arrange care, while a variable income makes it difficult to afford. Carers Australia submitted that this was the case even when care requirements themselves are steady, and is magnified for workers whose caring responsibilities are intermittent, episodic or unexpected.
6.77
The committee heard that many workers—particularly those in insecure work in feminised industries—were significantly impacted in the initial stages of the pandemic. Ms Jennifer Wettinger from the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations advised that casual workers 'were disproportionately impacted by COVID. Noting that more than 50 per cent of casual employees are women, Ms Wettinger noted that there was a decline of almost 5 00 000 female workers during the first few months of the pandemic'.
6.78
Many of these workers were also impacted by staff shortages, double shifts, and low pay, in conjunction with bearing much of the unpaid care load at home. This experience left workers feeling burnt out, and for many, particularly in care industries, wanting to leave work.
6.79
Professor Hickie noted that the pandemic resulted in a greater emphasis on 'informality and flexibility' in workplaces, with potential upsides for work and care. However, he also noted there are also potential difficulties relating to employer expectation and the possibility of increased unpredictability, and increased casualisation.
6.80
As was also highlighted during pandemic lockdowns, workers without access to paid leave—predominantly casual workers—face an immediate financial penalty every time they forego income, in order to provide care. Again, this is exacerbated in unplanned and emergency situations where workers cannot or have no opportunity to make alternative arrangements.
6.81
Ms Kendall posited that the ease and speed with which insecure employment can be reduced or ceased disempowers workers and means it can be used 'as a direct tool by employers to threaten workers', especially in response to requests for flexibility to undertake unpaid care.
6.82
Ms Eloise Dalton of Basic Rights Queensland was supportive of flexibility being better provided for in legislation, as it would 'create a safety net' for those who 'fear speaking out or asking for flexibility'. Ms Dalton explained what might occur when an employee in insecure work asks for flexibility:
… we know that, too often, they just won't get any shifts for the next month if they speak up. … For example, one worker asked her employer to leave early to collect her children, and they made comments along the lines of 'If you're not here, tomorrow don't expect a job'.
Flexibility
6.83
The varied benefits of carer-friendly workplaces include the ability to retain staff with skills and experience, higher returns on training investment, and improved productivity and performance. Furthermore, international studies are increasingly demonstrating that employers who have policies in place to support carers experience 'improved service delivery, cost savings and increased productivity'.
6.84
At the same time, flexible workplace arrangements, whereby workers have control over when and where they work are increasingly demanded by workers, especially younger generations of Australian workers.
6.85
However, an Australian Human Rights Commission study found that unless flexible workplace arrangements are established in a gender equitable way and made accessible to all employees, such policies can inadvertently reinforce gender gaps in the access, reward and accumulation of skills, opportunities and experience. It found that 27 per cent of fathers and partners reported experiencing discrimination for taking parental leave at their workplace. Ms Shelby Schofield from the Office for Women explained:
Men are much more likely to have their request for flexibility denied than women. Seventeen per cent of requests by men, compared to 9.8 per cent of requests by women, are denied. There is evidence that people who use flexible working arrangements are penalised and offered fewer opportunities for advancement, training or professional development.
6.86
Evidence to the committee highlighted that while flexible working arrangements are critical to supporting carers in the workplace, they are not enough on their own to create carer-friendly workplaces. Professor Alan Duncan of the Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre explained research demonstrating that the key ingredients to achieving strong organisational outcomes and a positive working environment include flexibility alongside consistency, and accountability on its efficacy and outcomes through reporting to leadership.
6.87
The WGEA argued that organisational culture and manager discretion to approve flexible work are key drivers to the uptake of flexible working arrangements. Conversely, when not supported, these two dynamics can also serve as significant obstacles to maximising flexible working outcomes.
6.88
The committee was informed that one of the primary determinants of whether flexible workplace policies—including reduced hours—are likely to be successfully utilised, is whether they are management-led. Evidence indicates that when management lead by example and apply the same flexible work standards themselves and make use of them, such initiatives are more likely to become both permanent policy and accepted workplace practice.
6.89
As a case in point, evidence available to the committee indicated that when senior executives institute a four-day week in their workplace and work a four-day week themselves along with their employees, the initiative is more likely to become a workplace norm.
6.90
It was highlighted to the committee in this regard that the Gender Equity Insights report of 2019 indicated that the number of women in part-time management roles in companies almost doubled when flexible work policies were normalised. This evidence is important given that women currently comprise just 19.4 per cent of chief executive officers and take up 32.5 per cent of key management positions in Australia.
6.91
Amendments to the Fair Work Act in late 2022 have been designed to promote flexible work arrangements, with expanded enforceable rights to request flexible working arrangements for parents and carers, new requirements for employers to try to reach agreement on flexible hours and new dispute resolution processes and penalties.
6.92
Professor Strazdins highlighted that long-hour jobs are not sustainable for individuals, families, or employers and highlighted the need for more genuinely flexible workplace practices which reduce stress on workers. She argued that employers have a legal work, health and safety obligation to ensure that workers are treated fairly in a way that works for employers and employees. Dr Donnell Davis likewise spoke to the importance of workplace flexibility and duty of care of employers.
A shorter working week
6.93
Globally, many companies as well as governments have initiated a range of schemes to reduce the working week. According to the 4 Day Week Global, reducing the working week provides greater scope for workers to fulfil family responsibilities and personal administration outside of work, thereby reducing the scope for work-life conflict.
6.94
As noted in Chapter 2, a shorter working week may also significantly improve women's workforce participation. In this regard, Professor Strazdins indicated to the committee that countries with shorter full-time-hours as the norm tend to show greater gender equality in employment participation.
6.95
A shorter working week offers the possibility that caring responsibilities can be shared more easily between working partners, thereby increasing employment opportunities for women and positively impacting their pay, work benefits, and pensions. Furthermore:
Moving towards a shorter working week as the 'norm' would help change attitudes about gender roles, promote more equal shares of paid and unpaid work, and help revalue jobs traditionally associated with women's work. It would provide men with more time outside paid employment to be active parents and carers; it would also change expectations as 'part‑time' becomes the new 'full-time', enabling more women to take up secure and well-paid employment.
Iceland
6.96
A shorter working week trial whereby workers moved from a 40–hour working week to 35 or 36 hours—without reduced pay—took place in Iceland at the Reykjavik City Council (from 2014 to 2019) and the national government (from 2017 to 2021).
6.97
The trial involved more than 2500 workers (or approximately one per cent of Iceland's working population) across 66 workplaces including preschools, offices, social service providers, and hospitals. By 2021, 85 per cent of Iceland's working population was either working shorter hours for the same pay or had secured the right to do so.
6.98
Analysis of the Iceland trials revealed that workers experienced a significant increase in wellbeing and greater work-life balance, as well as a decline in perceived work-life conflict. At the same time, existing levels of service provision and productivity were at the very least maintained, and in some instances improved.
6.99
Workers who participated in the original trial in Iceland recorded a range of benefits from working reduced hours in a week. Benefits included an increase in time and energy for family and activities including exercise and hobbies, which had a positive effect on work.
6.100
During the pilot, men in heterosexual partnerships were reported to have taken on greater domestic responsibilities, sharing out the division of labour more equitably.
6.101
Studies of the pilot also revealed that workers experienced a change in workplace culture, including increased support from colleagues, greater encouragement and just management, as well as less confusion regarding roles in the workplace, greater independence, and more control over the pace of work.
Belgium
6.102
In Belgium, public and private sector workers are entitled to a four-day working week under a regulation which came into effect on 21 November 2022. Under the arrangement, which will be in place for six months, workers have a choice between working 9.5 hours a day for four days or eight hours a day for five days, rather than being paid the same amount for fewer hours.
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The Belgium four-day week initiative does not entail a reduction in working hours, therefore, but rather allows workers to adapt their working hours, with employees unable to perform overtime under the arrangement.
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A study conducted prior to the introduction of the regulation indicated that 37 per cent of full-time employees would be likely to work a four-day week while 24 per cent of part-time employers were considering the option of working full-time because of it. Amongst part-time workers aged 45 years and below, this figure rose to 35 per cent.
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The regulation was part of a reform package which included the right to disconnect. The legislation came into effect on 1 February 2022 to protect the country's 65 000 public-sector workers from exposure to being permanently on-call. From 1 January 2023, the measure was extended to apply to employers with 20 or more employees. The measure provides that employees have the right to remain disconnected when not at work without fear of reprisals.
United Kingdom
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In the United Kingdom (UK), 70 companies and over 3300 workers are taking part in a four-day week pilot run by 4 Day Week Global involving banks, marketing companies as well as companies involved in the hospitality and retail sectors. In terms of outcome, 86 per cent of employers stated that they were likely to continue with a four-day week once the trial comes to an end.
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One of the companies involved in the UK trial, Charity Bank, became the first bank in the UK to reduce its working week from 35 hours to 28 hours for the same pay and benefits, under the four-day week model. In a statement regarding the pilot, Charity Bank Chief Executive Officer, Ed Siegel highlighted the benefits of the initiative to workplace culture, cultural diversity and climate change:
By valuing productivity over time spent, we aim to bridge the gap often felt between full-time and part-time staff, removing any possible barriers to promotion and progression. We anticipate that the shorter working week will also help us attract a more diverse workforce and encourage people who would previously have been unable to commit to the standard five-day working week to join us. As well as benefitting colleagues, the shorter work week will help us to reduce our carbon footprint through a reduction in the frequency of commuting and by eliminating unnecessary meetings and travel.
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Alongside the health and wellbeing benefits of a four-day week, UK thinktank, Autonomy argued that the policy could alleviate costs of living challenges. It estimated that a worker in the UK with a child under two years of age would save £1440 in childcare and £340 from communing on average across a year if they didn't have to travel into work one day a week.
Other jurisdictions
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Several other countries are trialling a four-day working week or reduced working hours, including Scotland where the government has committed funding for companies to trial a series of four-day working week pilots across the country in 2023.
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Trials in Spain of a four-day working week of 32 hours, as well as in New Zealand and the United States, have also taken place, conducted by a range of national and international companies.
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In 2021, the Spanish Government committed 50 million euros to a three-year, four-day week trial. Approximately 200 companies involving up to 6000 employees were expected to participate in the initiative which reduced the working week to 32 hours, without a reduction in pay. Under the scheme, the government proposed to cover involved company costs by 100 per cent in the first year, 50 per cent in the second year and 33 per cent in the final year of the trial.
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In 2021, the Japanese Government promoted an optional four-day working week in its annual economic policy guidelines. Noting that nearly 29 per cent of Japan's population comprises persons 65 years or older, 4 Day Week Australia explained that part of the rationale on the part of the Japanese Government was that companies would be able to retain capable and experienced staff who 'might otherwise have to leave if they are trying to raise a family or take care of elderly relatives'.
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Throughout 2022, a growing number of companies in Japan offered their workers a four-day week for a range of reasons, including the prospect of attracting more talent and preventing employees from leaving.
Four-day working week trial in Australia
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4 Day Week Global is a movement founded in New Zealand in 2019 which utilises a 100–80–100 model, whereby employees receive 100 per cent pay, for 80 per cent of the time, in exchange for a commitment to deliver 100 per cent of output.
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In Australia, the first national trial of the four-day week is currently underway, involving 20 organisations across a range of industries in finance, fashion, healthcare, construction and retail sectors.
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One of the organisations participating in the trial which gave evidence to the committee was Momentum Mental Health. The Chief Executive Officer of Momentum Mental Health, Mrs Deborah Bailey, described the flexible working arrangements available to the 14 staff members at the community mental health service which include provision for:
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Mrs Bailey indicated that 12 staff members at Momentum Mental Health have been working a four-day week as part of a six-month trial which began on 1 August 2022. Under the arrangement, once staff have completed their work, they are entitled to have a 'gift day' as a full day or two half days off work. In instances where deadlines must be met or key tasks completed, staff accept the need to work a fifth day. However, working on a gift day is the exception rather than the rule.
The wide-ranging benefits of work time reduction policies
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Some of the reported benefits of work time reduction policies, including a four‑day week, include improved productivity, work-life balance, health and wellbeing, the normalisation of care as part of work, employer engagement and trust, as well as environmental and cost saving gains.
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The Japanese division of Microsoft ran a month-long trial in August 2019 called the Work-Life Choice Challenge Summer 2019. This involved its entire 2300 person workforce having every Friday off without a deduction in pay. During the trial, productivity was reported to have grown by 40 per cent.
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Research results from 33 companies and 903 employees in the United States, Ireland and other countries which undertook the four-day week trial revealed significant health and wellbeing improvements over the course of the trial with a reported decline in stress, burnout, fatigue, and work-family conflict. The study revealed positive changes at the interface of work and family life, with improvements in the ability to combine paid work with care responsibilities and a reduction in both work-to-family as well as family-to-work conflict.
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During the four-day week trial in Spain, absenteeism fell by 20 per cent in the first year—largely because workers didn't have to use company hours for personal administration. According to Software DELSOL, which participated in the trial, a commitment to the company and camaraderie improved with sales growing by 20 per cent during the trial period.
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A study by Henley Business School in the UK involving over 500 business leaders and 2000 employers engaged in a four-day week trial enjoyed a combined savings amounting to two per cent of total annual turnover or £92 billion a year. By the end of 2021, that figure rose to £104 billion, representing 2.2 per cent of UK's turnover. Almost two-thirds (63 per cent) of employers indicated that the initiative had helped them to attract and retain talent.
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Of the 12 staff members at Momentum Mental Health, 50 per cent have used their gift day to care for others and organise medical and other appointments. While noting that productivity had not only been maintained but increased in some areas, Ms Bailey explained the effects on Momentum Mental Health as an organisation:
We are working with more clients; our client numbers are up by eight per cent, so our outputs are up. Client satisfaction has increased, the number of hours of service delivery that we are delivering in that space of time has increased and our external stakeholder engagement has dramatically increased as well.
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According to 4 Day Week Australia, a four‑day working week has the potential to be a triple-dividend policy by simultaneously improving human, economic and ecological wellbeing. It argued:
Research shows that companies who operate under reduced-hour, productivity-focused working can not only maintain, or even improve output, but they also see benefits through lower turnover of staff and a higher quality applicant pool. While workers report significant improvements to their general health and happiness, as well as a better work/life balance. The four-day week can also be revolutionary in terms of addressing the climate crisis and realising gender equity.
Normalising care as part of the working life and sharing the care responsibility
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4 Day Week Australia sees the four-day working week as a structural solution to the challenges and inequalities of unpaid caring labour, largely undertaken by women. It argued that it achieves this by:
supporting greater sharing of care across genders and families by providing more opportunities for employees to undertake care duties given their reduced working hours, which in turn may provide time and opportunity for primary carers to enter the workforce or have respite;
making work more accessible to workers with caring responsibilities as jobs are more flexible and can fit around caring roles; and
shifting the expectations around work, thereby placing women on a more even footing with their male colleagues as they are not penalised by their caring responsibilities.
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Similarly, the Global Institute for Women's Leadership suggested that initiatives to condense the working week, including four‑day weeks and nine‑day fortnights, not only improve employee wellbeing and work-life balance, but can also 'support improved gender balance in paid and unpaid work'.
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The theory that underpins the reduced working week, based on studies on worker motivation and productivity, is that giving people more time to spend managing their personal responsibilities will energise them for their professional ones. Flexibility in the workplace provided through a mutually beneficial agreement such as the four-day week, are argued to have a range of benefits including:
improved mental and physical wellbeing—including reduced psychological stress as people with flexible working arrangements have more energy, time and psychological investment for relationships;
increased productivity and greater trust between employers and employees as well as within teams which is reflected in greater engagement, performance, and improved retention; and
attracting and retaining a wider and more diverse range of talent.
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Momentum Mental Health reported of the trial, which is subject to monitoring through approximately 20 productivity measures, that:
94 per cent of staff were using their gift day every week;
sick leave had declined from 17 days in pre-trial July to five days in September;
available hours for work versus hours worked rose from 58 per cent of available hours in pre-trial July to 97 per cent in September;
70 per cent of staff reported that they experienced regular eight hours of sleep compared to 56 per cent prior to the trial;
happiness had increased and stress had declined; and
staff felt rested and satisfaction amongst the team and clients was reported as exceptionally high.
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The Henley Business School study was also informed by 2019 research on attitudes to flexible work and revealed that the businesses involved in the trial identified a broad set of benefits derived from a four-day week including:
improved scope of businesses to attract and retain talent;
increased overall employee satisfaction;
lower employee sickness levels (and therefore absenteeism); and
increasing productivity with 64 per cent of employers reporting an increase in staff productivity as well as improvement in the quality of work being produced (63 per cent).
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One of the first jurisdictions to trial a four-day working week was New Zealand, where Perpetual Guardian piloted the initiative in 2018 which continues to this day. More recently, Unilever Australia and New Zealand conducted a trial involving 80 employees from December 2020 to June 2022. Based on strong results against business targets including revenue growth, the company announced that it would continue the experiment in New Zealand, noting the additional benefits to the company and its staff including:
a 34 per cent decline in absenteeism;
a reduction in stress by 33 per cent;
15 per cent rise in feelings of strength and vigour at work; and a
67 per cent reduction in work-life conflict.
Leveling the playing field?
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As workers split their time more evenly between home and the workplace, reducing working hours may trigger a redistribution of unpaid care work between partners. To this end, a reduced working week may help to redistribute both paid and unpaid work between genders and assist to address these inequalities.
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By changing the definition of 'full-time' work and encouraging a culture shift away from a focus on hours to that of productivity and work quality, the reduced hour model may lead to the removal of some of the barriers to women's professional advancement described in this report. It offers the prospect of creating more opportunities for women to take on senior leadership positions and to attracting a more diverse pool of staff who may be more easily retained.
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Autonomy made the point that a four-day week provides greater opportunity for working mothers and other working cares to have a part-time job that is better paid, 'because if your pro-rata salary is increased if you're doing a two‑day week, that's equivalent to half a full-time equivalent'.
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The shorter working work may also provide additional benefits in this regard. As Perpetual Guardian's founder, Mr Andrew Barnes observed, when senior executives work a four-day week, 'one facet of the glass ceiling holding women back is removed'.