Unilever trying out a shorter working week in New Zealand for its eighty-one workers. The workers are to be paid for 5 days despite working 4 days only. The trial is proposed to last for twelve months and thereafter the output will be assessed to see if the method can be implemented in other branches.
A Four-day Working Week
It is a practice that does not compress, but decreases the amount of working hours for staff members of an organization, who however are still entitled to receive their usual wages.
The Corporation Unilever
Unilever is a corporation operating subsidiary entities in multiple countries which focuses on goods such as consumables, cosmetics, and surfactants. The corporation is made up of Unilever NV in Rotterdam and Unilever PLC in London. It possess over 400 brands which includes a brand worth 11 billion dollars and each brand having a yearly sales surpassing the expected with €1 billion. The corporation has over one hundred and fifty staff members across the globe and for over 100 years now, the corporation has existed in New Zealand.
Unilever Trying Out The Shorter Working Week
The corporation had engaged in the trial of a shorter week for its workers in New Zealand, with a plan for the trial to run for twelve months (December 2020 – December 2021) with all eighty-one workers in its offices in New Zealand being a part of the test. Although, the workers will be working one day short of every week, still they will receive the wages for a week. No production takes place in New Zealand, all they do is advertising, selling and shipping. The corporation’s managing director, Nick Bangs said the aim is not to compress employees’ time in the office into four days, but to have work done differently and interestingly. He said the aim is to rate accomplishments base on results not time.
If organizations still insist on employees working the usual amount of hours for 5 days in 4 days, then it will be an aberration of the concept of a shorter work week. They don’t want to stretch their employees for long hours rather, they expect new work dynamics for better results.
The intention is to ensure their employees enjoy a balanced working experience, which helps them maintain sanity and fittness physically while they do better at work. They hope to intimate other business corporation on the output of the test, trusting that they too will also adopt the method and make their workers better satisfied. After a period of twelve months, the results will be evaluated and if promising, it will be extended to all the workers in the corporation.
The discord for a shorter week for work has been on going, however, the record of increased efficiency of some of the companies which was sometime the top-billed attraction and the assertion of the Prime Minister, Jacinta Ardern encouraging organizations to consider a shorter working week so as their staff members can harmonise work and other personal things in this period of health crisis made a whole lot of positive impacts.
For the corporation, the trial became necessary as the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in restructuring and readjustments of occupational practices. It resulted in members of the staff working from home and this facilitated the decision of the corporation to engage in the shorter week trial. Sydney’s University of Technology (UTS) Business School researchers is to rate the output of the trial.
FAQS:
1. How does a four-day working week work?
A four-day working week does not compress but decreases the number of working hours of the staff of an organization. Although, these staff will still be paid as usual for five days.
2. What kind of corporation is Unilever?
Unilever is a corporation operating subsidiary entities in multiple countries which focuses on goods such as consumables, cosmetics, and surfactants.
3. What is the duration for the shorter working week trial?
The Unilever shorter working week trial will last for twelve months.
4. Who is qualified to participate in the trial?
Only the eighty-one members of its staff in New Zealand are to participate.
5. How will the success of the trial be measured?
Sydney’s University of Technology (UTS) Business School researchers are to rate the output of the trial.
