Fewer hours and higher pay the focus of HR news this week

It seems that both higher pay and working less hours are hot HR topics. From a four-day work week to wage increases, HR Leader dives into what’s making headlines.

Four-day work week

The four-day work week has been making headlines around the world. It now appears that some employers are taking steps towards introducing this idea.

4 Day Week Global is a community pushing for this to become the norm. Recently they’ve begun a survey in the UK to prove that a four-day work week can be achieved without a loss in productivity.

The six-month trial involving over 70 companies has reached its halfway mark. So far, the findings have been overwhelmingly positive, with 88 per cent of respondents saying the change is going well for their company. 46 per cent said their productivity has remained the same, with 34 per cent saying it increased slightly and 15 per cent saying it increased significantly. 86 per cent have noted that they would likely keep four days as the norm after the trial test.

One of the companies participating is Trio Media.

Claire Daniels, CEO at Trio Media said: "The four-day week trial so far has been extremely successful for us. Productivity has remained high, with an increase in wellness for the team, along with our business performing 44 per cent better financially."

With Australian companies beginning to trial this working arrangement, we could see a change to our work week in the future.

As Karin Sanders said to HR Leader on 7 September: “If we were to work for four days, we could get more from workers and have less turnaround in people leaving workplaces due to burnout.”

Wage increases

With the consumer price index (CPI) soaring in 2022, groceries, fuel and rent prices are continually getting more expensive. Many wonder when wages will increase to keep up with inflation.

Although the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) celebrated a win when securing a 5.2 per cent increase for minimum wage workers back in July, there are still concerns for the three quarters of workers who do not benefit from this scheme.

September 1-2 was the Jobs and Skills Summit in Canberra. This event saw the government announce what they’re doing to help strengthen the economy and support workers across the country. While they announced amendments to workplace relation laws to allow for more accessible bargaining for workers and businesses, the eight key outcomes made no reference to wage increases.

The unemployment rate in Australia has fallen significantly, with unemployment 231,700 lower than March 2020. Showing we have the workers, but that wages are still an issue. Tony Burke, minister for employment and workplace relations said in a recent media release: “More Australians are in jobs and getting the work hours they want – but they’re still not getting the wage increases they need.”