Murrumbidgee Council in south-west New South Wales has voted to run a four-day week from January, the first Australian local government to do so. The hours are not cut: the 38-hour week stays and is compressed into four days for staff at the depot, the office, the library and the work crews in Darlington Point, Coleambally and Jerilderie. Most services close on Fridays; the childcare centre and the caravan park stay open, and on-call essential workers are still rostered.
General manager John Scarce puts the reason plainly — in rural Australia it is hard to attract staff, so you need an edge. The agreement runs 15 months with a review at 12. His own arithmetic is about road grading: a crew grades six kilometres in a week now, and he expects six and a half in four days, because the lost travel time becomes work time. Consultation showed 75 per cent of staff in favour and just under 40 per cent of community submissions against.
So…:
What are you paying for in travel and set-up that a shorter week would give back?
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Murrumbidgee Council (press)