Grant Thornton is trialling a nine-day fortnight for staff in New Zealand. Photo / 123rf
Accounting firm Grant Thornton is trialling a nine-day fortnight for staff in New Zealand.
The trial, which launched on January 1, will see staff working for nine days but paid for 10.
The nine-day fortnight will apply to all 300-plus New Zealand team members.
“This is the gift of time,” said Russell Moore, national managing partner at Grant Thornton New Zealand.
“Our people will benefit from the extra time to pursue hobbies, catch up on personal admin, or to simply decompress and recharge.
“It also aligns with our progressive family workplace policies including flexible working and our industry-leading parental leave policy.”
Moore said he expects the nine-day fortnight to refresh the firm’s people, improve their wellbeing, and attract and retain the best talent.
“With so many of the professional services’ workforce reporting burnout and its associated physical and mental health issues, it’s time for meaningful change within the industry,” Moore said.
“We want to deliver the best possible outcomes for our people and our clients; in today’s climate this requires listening to people’s needs and taking some bold steps.”
Moore said the move would not affect future pay rises.
“Our nine-day fortnight aims to enhance our people’s experience with Grant Thornton, so we will continue to pay market-based salaries to our employees,” Moore said. “Future pay rises will be based on the market and an individual’s performance in accordance with our current remuneration framework.”
Grant Thornton Australia launched the same trial in March last year, initially for six months. The nine-day fortnight remains in place today.
In 2018, New Zealand-based businessman and founder of Perpetual Guardian Andrew Barnes made headlines when he introduced a four-day work week at the trust company.
That experiment would later become company policy after a successful trial.
Barnes’ trial found the work-life balance among staff improved significantly with the reduced workweek, up to 78 per cent post-trial compared with 54 per cent pre-trial.
Stress levels also fell to 38 per cent post-trial compared with 45 per cent pre-trial.
Global consumer goods company Unilever opted to continue with its four-day working week for all New Zealand staff in 2022 after encouraging results from its 18-month-long trial.
However, Jarrod Haar, Professor of Management at Massey University, told the Herald he was seeing that New Zealand organisations were still resistant to changes such as a four-day work week.
“I do fear that the real reason is [lack of] trust,” Haar said.
“I’d almost suggest for those companies, don’t do the four-day week, but you need to do something about the way you or your leaders trust workers.”
Haar said it was about trying to motivate people with a focus on productivity.
“I did the data for that and that’s what the data showed. People were motivated to do their work in a shorter period of time because they got their own benefit out of it.
“That four-day work week … the good thing is it doesn’t really need to be everybody having Friday off, maybe it’s just an afternoon off.”
Cameron Smith is an Auckland-based journalist with the Herald business team. He joined the Herald in 2015 and has covered business and sports.
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