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(Journalist)
– It is not easy to spot the positive effects on jobs caused by the pandemic, but here is one. Partly to improve the mental and physical well-being of its workers in New Zealand, Unilever is reducing their workweek to four regular days. They will work 20% less but keep their full pay, reports Business Insider. The move to a four-day week, according to the company’s New Zealand chief executive, is “validation of the catalytic role COVID-19 has played in disrupting standard work practices.” Unilever will re-evaluate after a one-year trial and says it will provide the results to other companies interested in similar changes. Nick Bangs says that the results of the experiment among the 81 New Zealand employees will indicate whether the practice is spread to more than 150,000 employees of the consumer goods company worldwide.
“Our goal is to measure performance on production, not on time,” Bangs said, adding that the company expects productivity to increase. “We believe that the old ways of working are outdated and no longer suited to their goals.” Another New Zealand company reported higher productivity after making the switch in 2018. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern had suggested employers consider shorter weeks during the pandemic, according to Reuters. Tourism could also benefit, she said, from speeding up the country’s economic recovery, although the government has not made the change for its employees. “When the Prime Minister spoke about this in the context of what the future of work would look like, it was an encouragement to us,” Bangs said. (Read other articles on New Zealand).
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