Remote work and the 4 day week are winning in the fight to hire and retain talent

Do you know the highest-ranked keyword search on SEEK over the past seven months?

After the lockdowns finished in Australia in the second half of 2021 what do you think happened to the proportion of jobs that included “work from home”, within the job ad?

They continued to climb to now where there are around fifty per cent more jobs pitched at jobseekers wanting to work remotely compared to late 2021 when lockdowns ended in Australia (see graph, below).

The UK results of a six-month pilot  of 61 businesses trialling the four-day work week were released by 4 Day Week Global and Autonomy Research two months ago are in, and the results were emphatic:

A six-month trial in the UK undertaken by 61 businesses who had either already been working a four-day work week, or were undergoing and testing the switch, was conducted.

Phil McParlane, the founder of 4 Day Week, an online job board for jobs with shorter working weeks, posted the results of the UK trial:

• 92% of companies will continue with the 32-hour week
• 35% increase of revenue (over previous year)
• A 57% decrease in staff leaving jobs
• 37% increase in mental health
• Burnout reduced by 71%
• Stress reduced by 39%
• Other benefits included a decrease in absenteeism and easier hiring.

In a recent study, economists Jose Maria Barrero, Nicholas Bloom, Steven J. Davis, Brent H. Meyer, and Emil Mihaylov surveyed more than 500 American companies, asking them how they are using remote work. They find that many companies are capitalising on remote work by using it as a substitute for giving workers raises, so much so that it’s helping to moderate inflation.

The research found that 38 per cent of all the companies they surveyed said they expanded opportunities for remote work over 2020 and 2021 “to keep employees happy and to moderate wage-growth pressures.” A similar percentage of companies say they anticipate doing the same over the following year (2023).

There’s no doubt that a significant competitive advantage in the ongoing fight to hire and retain the most effective workers is being won by those employers who are prepared to completely re-examine the traditional paradigms of how, and where, work outcomes are best accomplished.

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The permanent long weekend (on full pay): February 2020 update