Leighton Scott, centre, introduced a four-day working week for his staff at Leighton Electrical and Smart CCTV including Martin Posel, left, and Emily Scott. Photo / Jenny Ling
Leighton Scott, centre, introduced a four-day working week for his staff at Leighton Electrical and Smart CCTV including Martin Posel, left, and Emily Scott. Photo / Jenny Ling
More Northland businesses are embracing a four-day working week as they strive for better work-life balance and see “astronomical” benefits to their staff and their companies.
Companies approached by the Northern Advocate couldn’t speak highly enough about the benefits of working fewer days on the sameor similar pay, which include having staff arriving to work on Monday “supercharged”, improvements to their mental health, more productivity and reduced sickness.
Leighton Scott, who owns Leighton Electrical and Smart CCTV in Kerikeri, has been offering the four-day week “with a twist” for three months.
The idea came about at the Mastercraft Electrical Conference in Wellington in July, just before the Matariki long weekend, where he talked to a business owner who had been doing the four-day week for a year with success.
While Scott thought 10-hour days were too long, he and his wife Emily came up with a plan of offering 9.5-hour days, to a total of 38 hours a week with the business topping up staff pay to 40 hours.
“People are going surfing, dropping their kids off to school, going out on the farm and getting their vehicles fixed. Now they can go to places where things are open.
“They’re just basically having more time off, getting paid the same, and having more mental recovery which is important.”
Scott said out of their 12 staff, 90 per cent were now working four days.
Two of the staff that decided not to, are doing the callouts on Fridays ensuring there was always someone working that day.
While Scott was struggling to find staff beforehand, by offering the four-day week he has recruited three new staff in three weeks.
Shane Shaw, owner of R&S Auto Services in Haruru, introduced a four-day week for his staff on November 3.
“They come to work supercharged on Monday and it’s not a drag.
“The efficiency of their work has also increased, they smash the work out Monday to Thursday and go home.”
The benefits to the company are “massive”, he said. There are less sick days, and several vehicles are off the road on Friday which means less fuel and wear and tear.
Overall, the guys were “more productive and happier”.
“It got so difficult that we had to do something to change.
“I was working 60 to 80-hour weeks.
“Now I’ve changed the way I work, I work 35 to 40-hour weeks, I’m more productive, staff are happier, the structure is better and it works really well.”
Shane Shaw and Robyn Davidson, who own R&S Auto Services in Haruru, introduced the four-day week on October 30.
November 3 was the first Friday they, and their senior mechanic and apprentice would have off.
“It’s the first short week for the boys and there’s big smiles on everyone’s faces,” Shaw said.
Shaw said his staff work an extra hour per day, which means they’re paid four hours less per week, “but they’re happy to trade off that bit of time in their pay to have quality of life”.
“There are so many things I can’t do because I’m always here at the business.
“There’s the GR8X [annual fishing competition] coming up soon and this year I can go.”
While it’s a “toe in the water exercise” to see how it goes, and while he’ll always be available for an emergency, Shaw said he’s pretty sure they’ll be able to remain closed on Fridays.
“It’s all about trying to keep fresh and keep the body functional and having some quality time with the family.
“It’s something more and more people are looking at. Everyone’s mental health is important.
“There is more to life.”
Northland Chamber of Commerce president Tim Robinson said four-day weeks wouldn’t work for all businesses including retail. Photo / Michael Cunningham
The four-day working week is gaining traction elsewhere in Aotearoa.
Global company Unilever said it would continue with its four-day working week for all New Zealand staff after positive results from an 18-month-long trial.
Involving all 80 staff, it showed that individual wellbeing improved, with stress dropping 33 per cent, work/life conflict falling 67 per cent and absenteeism dropping 34 per cent.
Feelings of strength and vigour at work increased 15 per cent.
However, a failed trial by the UK web-hosting company Krystal highlighted the difficulties for customer-facing businesses.
It was difficult for them to maintain weekly opening times without recruiting extra staff, so they ended the experiment prematurely after finding that response times suffered.
Northland Chamber of Commerce president Tim Robinson agreed that four-day weeks wouldn’t work for everyone.
Robinson, who owns Bernina Northland, said retail and hospitality businesses had to be open six or seven days a week.
“A four-day week doesn’t work for us.
“Anyone in a direct customer-facing business, it’s hard to have your doors closed multiple days a week.
“People want to come into the shop to touch and feel and have a conversation with us about the products.
“If we’re not open, we can’t function, and those customers may choose to go somewhere else.”
Jenny Ling is a news reporter and features writer for the Northern Advocate. She has a special interest in covering health, food, lifestyle, business and animal welfare issues.
