The "gift of fifth"

The “gift of the fifth”

The 4 day working week is what Unilever Australia announced on Friday

How can people deliver the same outcomes - but in 4 days. Not working 5 days crammed into 4. But by being more effective. Productive. Reducing non value added work.

The corporate world has shown in other ways when you make significant changes, then people will find the creativity to deliver. This has been the truth behind down sizing and restructures.

There is less resource, and it forces people to redesign their way of working. It puts stress in the system which ultimately creates the change.

We all thought WFH at scale would never work. But it did. It does. It had to.

So it’s really refreshing to see the same approach - but this time rewarding people.

Everyone has skin in the game - to make this work.

I remember after having my first baby I worked 4 days a week instead of 5 for 2 years. The challenge with this was everyone else was 5 days. So in reality you did 5 days in 4 (even though you got paid for 4) because no one else changed their way of working.

So this is a game changer.

Everyone is incentivised. Everyone is rewarded.

If you had the choice of working 4 days instead of 5 - for the same salary - for a great company - wouldn’t you be knocking on their door?

Like all changes - there will be forced tension in the system. But this is positive tension.

With a life benefit.

It will be exciting to see how this unfolds - and how the rest of the corporate world responds.

The gift of the 5th has my vote.

What would you do with your “gift if the fifth?”