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Ahead of the 2025 federal election, the Greens have unveiled a four-day work week policy, which the party says will help improve our workplaces and support healthier lives. As one senator has noted, “We work to live, not live to work.”
The policy unveiled by the nation’s third-largest political party would initiate a series of national trials in different industries, whereby workers work 80 per cent of their normal hours while maintaining 100 per cent of pay.
The Greens will support a four-day work week test case through the Fair Work Commission, aiming to reduce working hours with no loss of pay.
Speaking about the new policy, Greens Senator for South Australia Barbara Pocock called it a “win-win for everybody”.
The senator said: “Ordinary Australians have been working hard for decades and not seeing a fair share of the results. A four-day week will share more fairly the products of their labour.”
“Productivity gains over the past two decades have fed into higher profits while real wages have stagnated. A shorter working week alleviates the burden of stress and burnout. International trials have repeatedly shown productivity increases and a healthier, happier workforce result from shorter working hours.”
The implementation of four-day working weeks has been a topic of hot debate, both domestically and internationally, for some time now. Depending on who you ask, such a policy can be a win for flexibility or an employer cheat code.
There are myriad lessons to be learnt from companies that have implemented four-day weeks, including whether to make such a policy conditional, why good communication is essential if the policy is to succeed, and how to maintain productivity once the policy is underway.
Elsewhere, some big-name companies, like Origin Energy, are instead leaning into return-to-work mandates, with the energy giant having recently decided to bring staff back into the office four days per week by early next year.
Senator Pocock said: “We led the world in the movement to shorter working hours going back to the Stonemasons strike in Melbourne in 1856 when they won the eight-hour day. Now, in the 21st century, we lag behind many other countries where four-day week trials are underway.”
The UK, Canada, Germany, and Spain are leading the way with large-scale trials involving thousands of workers, the senator posited.
“In the UK, 92 per cent of employers participating have reported they will continue the four-day week after the trial ends. It’s time for Australia to move its workplaces into the 21st century and create a pathway for shorter hours,” she said.
“Our society is changing; more women and carers are at work, yet we are constrained by archaic labour laws that see the fruits of our efforts swallowed up in profits for bosses and shareholders.
“This is about justice for working people. We work to live, not live to work.”
It has been more than 40 years, Senator Pocock went on, since the last reduction in working hours in 1983.
“The benefits in mental and physical health from shorter hours are well documented, and the impact on women’s workforce participation will be significant as shorter hours assist those with caring responsibility. If men work less hours, they are more likely to pick up their kids from school and pick up the vacuum cleaner at home,” she said.
“This is a policy that’s good for everyone. It can increase productivity, reduce absenteeism, improve recruitment and retention, and give employees more time to manage their home life.
“This change will allow workers to create a working week that works for them.”
