Who is the Bunnings 4-day week really a win for?

While the Bunnings four-day week sounds like a win for retail staff, it might not be as good as it’s cracked up to be.

Last month, Bunnings announced a landmark agreement to introduce a four-day week for thousands of its full-time workers. Apparently, it’s a first for the retail industry.

Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association national secretary Gerard Dwyer told the AFR the union had been seeking a four-day week for years and the Bunnings deal could set a precedent. “This is a significant breakthrough for work/life balance for workers in the retail sector,” he said.

But is it, though?

On the face of it, it’s a radical move for a business like Wesfarmers and one that has grabbed no shortage of headlines. And it’s happening against the backdrop of sliding retail sales figures, with everyone, including seemingly recession-proof JB Hi-Fi, seeing a slowing at the cash register.

Given the current climate, it seems unlikely Bunnings would be paying people to work less. And if you dig a little deeper, it turns out they aren’t.

Bunnings will trial different models of either a four-day week or a nine-day fortnight. Full-time employees can spread their rostered hours over four days or an 18- or 16-day four-week roster cycle. As long as they agree to work some weekend shifts.

It’s no secret Bunnings does a cracking weekend trade as all of us DIYers flood the aisles and pose stupid questions to the staff on the floor – if you can find them, that is. The business needs its staff most on those days. But under this new agreement, are staff going to be paid penalty rates to work those weekend shifts, or is it just part and parcel of getting that extra day off? I suspect the latter.

A cynical onlooker might see this whole thing as a publicity stunt, with Bunnings looking to tap into positive public sentiment around four-day weeks. Businesses in a range of sectors have been having a crack, and according to academics, the four-day week has been labelled a “resounding success”.

Unilever announced it was extending its “successful” New Zealand trial to Australia late last year with its version of a four-day week seeing workers clocking on for a 32-hour four-day week and getting the same pay as working five days while committing to producing the same result as a 40-hour week. The idea is that when people are required to work for fewer days, those days will be more productive. That extra day off will see them come back refreshed and firing on all cylinders.

But Bunnings isn’t exactly reducing the number of hours its staff are working. They might be giving them an extra day off, but they are required to make up those hours on other days, which doesn’t look great, especially if they aren’t getting a pay bump for spending their weekends in-store – unconfirmed, I admit.

To Bunnings’ credit, the business is increasing base rates by 4.5 per cent this year, 3 per cent next year, and 3 per cent in 2025. That’s after Bunnings’ staff got a 5 per cent increase last year. Not bad, considering Australians experienced their largest real wage decline on record in 2022, with nominal wages growing by 3.3 per cent in 2022, failing to keep pace with inflation.

So who is benefiting most from the so-called Bunnings four-day work week? I reckon Bunnings. It’s a smart move to boost weekend staffing levels and by making the announcement, the business is tapping into a sentiment shared by its customers that work/life balance is important. After all, you need those days off to get stuck into your home improvement projects.

But I’d be keen to hear how the staff are really feeling about this and whether the change makes a significant difference to them and their relationship with their employer.

Craig Flanders is the chief executive of Melbourne advertising agency Spinach.