GO, YOU GOOD THING
When I first heard about the trial Perpetual Guardian planned to undertake to offer its employees the opportunity to work for four days a week while being paid for five, I was hugely interested and excited at such a bold move. Finally, I thought, the New World Order is coming and wondered, if other companies followed suit, could it mean that New Zealand Inc could again lead the world in a social experiment? Couldn’t we become a leader in offering workers a much greater work-life balance?
I was probably a bit naïve, nothing is ever as simple as it seems, and while Andrew Barnes and his team at Perpetual are certainly giving their bold trial a good go (and I do hope they succeed), it is likely to be some time before we see widespread adoption of such a brave move.
And it is brave. It will, I am sure, change the lives of the company’s staff in so many ways and, should it continue, it will certainly put the company at the very top of most job seekers preferred places to work. In our story on page 6 we look at how the trial is panning out so far, the type of productivity gains the business is hoping to make and how such a radical move needs to be sustainable both for the business itself and for the workers.
This issue we also look into ways organisations and leaders could better support their increasingly mobile international workforce and their families (page 4) and how new privacy legislation in Australia may impact on businesses here with information on Australian customers (page 14). Our publisher Cathy Parker also gives a run down on a course she undertook for new or aspiring directors on page 10.
Now, back to working out how I can take my work week from five days to four. How can I be more productive?
(No more taking a break to play Code Cracker might help.)
Have a good month.
– Annie Gray, EDITOR
