about.

Four day work week

There are many conversations occuring in New Zealand and globally about the future of work.

The nature of work is changing rapidly in the face of exponential shifts in technology and different expectations held by our future workforce.

In addition to this we work in an industry that regularly experiences skills shortages, so attracting and retaining great people is a competitive process that requires us to be an employer of choice.

The pace of change feels faster than ever, however, changes to the work week are certainly not new.

In the late 1800s, employers had to be convinced about scaling back from the backbreaking 100 hours a week standard in manufacturing. The introduction of the 8 hour a day 5 day work week led by Henry Ford around the 1920s was considered ground-breaking at the time.

ahead of the pack

Perpetual guardian.

Perpetual Guardian is an NZ business that has gained global interest for their recent move to a four day reduced hours work week.

Their research shows it has resulted in broader productivity and employee wellbeing benefits

A new approach.

Push boundaries & figure out new approaches

Perpetual Guardian is a salaried office environment which runs very differently to our trade workshop environment but we want to push boundaries and figure out new approaches that will allow us to evolve with our changing workforce. 

3-day weekends.

After consulting with our team, running a 7 month trial, and getting over 85% support for the concept, we  introduced a permanent 4 day Monday – Thursday work week running with 4 x 10 hour days. This enables our trade workshops to operate productively and still provide 3-day weekends. 

Improvements all round

While this hasn’t reduced the standard hours per week, it has introduced a 3 day weekend for our team which has resulted in an improvement in quality family and leisure time. After consulting with our team, running a 7 month trial, and getting over 85% support for the concept we have now introduced a permanent 4 day Monday – Thursday work week running with 4 x 10 hour days. If overtime is required this is now worked on a Friday instead of a Saturday.

three

day

weekend

We’re excited about modernising our operations & challenging the status quo