Retail workers take up a four -day work week, but union officials say the new extended proposal is not a correct business

Compressing a four -day full -time work week was a disappointment for Ruth Tan’s retailer.

The three -year -old mother from Perth is not foreign to the early beginnings, so starting work at 5 in the morning to check the Ikea Warehouse stock has not worried.

She said that spending several days at home was a game exchanger.

“It is wonderful – it allows me to plan” my time “and many activities outside work”, “

she said.

The 47-year-old works on a 10-hour day, including breaks, four days a week and receives an additional charge for longer hours in those days.

IKEA is one of a handful of important traders who already offer four working days for work week.

Now, the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) has requested the fair work commission to include the option of a four -day work week for all retailers.

But their proposal is not as favorable to employees as IKEA, because they would not pay overtime for longer changes.

The business officer of the ARA industry, Fleur Brown, said his proposal will allow a more flexible approach to work 38 hours a week.

“We would like to see that the retail prize allows that flexible way of working that is a lot of the future,” she said.

Some work experts warn that the proposal is a wrong presentation of what is commonly known as “four -day work weeks”, which involves less hours every week and could erode the conditions of workers such as additional charges.

Great retailers who move first

Woolworths and Big W have recently signed enterprise agreements that include four weeks for full -time employees.

IKEA has formalized its four-day work week in its business agreement with workers.

Now, 30 % of the IKEA staff have taken it.

The people and the culture of Ike Perth, Laila Colaco said it was a real point of difference.

An IKEA employee is inside a showroom that displays household items — The people and the culture of Ike Perth, Laila Colaco, says that a week of compressed work gives employers a competitive advantage. (ABC News)

“It is a competitive advantage that we are able to offer colleagues the opportunity to really choose the hours and days that work for them,” she said.

Giant Bunnings hardware tested a four -day compressed work week before making an item in 2024. His agreement maintains all additional overtime allowances.

Fiona Coleman, who works in the Stafford store in the northern suburbs of Brisbane, said it was a victory for her.

“The four-day work week works better for me because I feel that I can achieve much more on a slightly longer day compared to what I would normally do on a shorter day.”

she said.

“There is more satisfaction at work.”

A previous start and late end also meant that it had avoided the peak shuttle.

Lauren Beaton, the manager of the Stafford Al Bunnings store, said that the employees of different ages have taken the option, but did not work for everyone.

A rabbit shop manager is bearing a red t-shop among the hardware shelves — Bunning’s manager Lauren Beaton said that a condensed work week added the team flexibility. (ABC News: Mark Leonardi)

She said that a worker tried the shorter week, but gave up because she thought the days were just too long.

A bunnings spokesman said that the number of team members in these flexible working arrangements has fluctuated, about 14 % of the full -time team members currently take over the option.

This is equivalent to about 1,650 staff working shorter weeks.

For those who work in a compressed work week, 55 % were women, 40 % were over 50 and 30 percent were under the age of 30.

A bunnings employee uses a mace to seal a paint box — Fiona Coleman said she started early and finished late meant that she was beating traffic

(ABC News: Mark Leonardi)

What is a condensed work week?

Experts at work have pain to emphasize that the retail version of the four -day week is substantially different from the one offered in jobs with white collar.

A condensed week of work, which is offered in retail, is essentially a standard 38 -hour week, compressed in at least four days of nine hours.

While in the service sector, most companies use what is called the model “100: 80: 100”.

This model tries to make workers work more efficiently in less hours, by the fact that employees and bosses agree with 100 % of previous wages, for 80 % of work, with a 100 % productivity commitment.

Chris Wright is sitting at a bench outside, holding his phone. — Chris Wright at the Sydney University Business School said that the retail sector is an industry characterized by relatively small work and uncertain work. (ABC News: Chris Taylor)

A major benefit for employers in the proposal ARA is that they do not have to pay overtime for those who work longer days.

The question for employees is whether the extra free day is sufficient to compensate for this.

Chris Wright, from the Sydney University’s business school, said the retail sector is an industry characterized by relatively small work and uncertain work and a largely feminine workforce.

He said that the working week condensed without paying penalties – as the retail lobby group proposed – it was an erosion of the employees’ conditions.

Member of a bunling is seen helping a customer in the distant part of a trolley bank — The fair work commission was requested to consider offering all the retail workers to work a condensed week.

“This is a four -day wrong weekly presentation,” he said.

“If workers have to work nine or 10 hours a day in change, employers should not pay overtime, then this is a potentially significant change for these employees.”

While the proposal of ARA before fair work does not include additional penalties for longer changes when employees opt for a week of four days, enterprise agreements already used by IKEA and bunings allow additional payment for early early beginnings and finishes.

Carol Kulik from the Center for Excellence at work at the University of South Australia, said the compressed work week was “absolute” not for all.

“Not everyone will thrive in this type of environment in which you have to work longer to get the benefit of that day off,” she said.

Professor Kulik is in front of a big book shelf — Professor Carol Kulik would like to see the workers, given the choice to work a compressed week if they fit them. (ABC News: Stephen Opie )

“But I think what is truly important is that, in any of these types of work models, if we can offer the employees the choice, the employees who take it will be the ones for whom they work.”

Professor Kulik said that the historian, the compressed working weeks were for the benefit of the employers and were not seen as a “flexible” working option.

“In the manufacture, for example, it was much more efficient for employers to drive cars longer and then close everything to do the maintenance,” she said.

Professor Kulik said recent research has done a business that applied condensed weeks, showed that women did not like men.

“In general, women believe it is more difficult to handle a weekly work week with the other responsibilities they have at home.

“Compressed work weeks are not very flexible, so if you have a sick child or if you need to manage aged parents, you will not be able to juggle these responsibilities along with the long hours you put in four days of work week.”

Gerard Dwyer, National Secretary SDA, representing the retail workers and the warehouse said that the ARA proposal is about the bosses who want the workforce to work more and be paid less.

“This is not an authentic offer for a week of 38 hours of four days-which can be made now in the retail prize-rather it is an offer to allow an employer to dictate several long days without overtime,” he said.