To: Anthony Albanese
Evidence-led reform for a healthier, more productive Australia.
Australia’s five-day working week was designed for an industrial economy that no longer reflects how most people work today.
Modern work is increasingly cognitive, emotionally demanding, and affected by chronic fatigue — yet our workplace structures have not kept pace with what science now tells us about human limits, productivity, and recovery.
Fatigue research shows that longer working weeks do not reliably produce better outcomes. Instead, cumulative fatigue reduces decision-making quality, increases errors, drives burnout, and contributes to rising rates of psychological injury and workforce attrition.
Australia already accepts this reality in safety-critical sectors. Emergency services, healthcare, and transport rely on compressed or rotating rosters to manage fatigue while maintaining full service delivery. These models demonstrate that effective coverage depends on roster design, not the number of calendar workdays.
International trials in comparable countries — including the UK, Ireland, New Zealand, and Iceland — have shown that four-day work week models can maintain or improve productivity while significantly improving worker wellbeing and retention. Early Australian pilots suggest similar outcomes.
We are not calling for an immediate nationwide mandate
We are calling on the Australian Government to take a responsible, evidence-based approach by funding and coordinating national trials of a four-day work week, with no loss of pay, across selected public and private sector workplaces.
These trials should:
Be voluntary and sector-appropriate
Be designed with employers, unions, and researchers
Measure productivity, fatigue, wellbeing, retention, and economic impact
Australia already accepts this reality in safety-critical sectors. Emergency services, healthcare, and transport rely on compressed or rotating rosters to manage fatigue while maintaining full service delivery. These models demonstrate that effective coverage depends on roster design, not the number of calendar workdays.
International trials in comparable countries — including the UK, Ireland, New Zealand, and Iceland — have shown that four-day work week models can maintain or improve productivity while significantly improving worker wellbeing and retention. Early Australian pilots suggest similar outcomes.
We are not calling for an immediate nationwide mandate
We are calling on the Australian Government to take a responsible, evidence-based approach by funding and coordinating national trials of a four-day work week, with no loss of pay, across selected public and private sector workplaces.
These trials should:
Be voluntary and sector-appropriate
Be designed with employers, unions, and researchers
Measure productivity, fatigue, wellbeing, retention, and economic impact
Why is this important?
Inform future workplace reform based on evidence, not ideology
Addressing fatigue is not about working less — it is about working smarter, safer, and more sustainably.
A modern economy depends on a healthy, capable workforce. Australia can lead by testing what the evidence already suggests: that well-rested workers are more productive, resilient, and engaged.
Addressing fatigue is not about working less — it is about working smarter, safer, and more sustainably.
A modern economy depends on a healthy, capable workforce. Australia can lead by testing what the evidence already suggests: that well-rested workers are more productive, resilient, and engaged.