You read it right – a Kiwi has moved from Australia back to New Zealand for better work conditions.

The four-day work week is gaining momentum across the globe and here in New Zealand – in September the Council of Trade Unions called for a “mass pilot” of the strategy.

The scheme was a significant factor in returning home to Northland for OOH Ice Cream NZ category and market development manager Zane Tito.

Tito was working for Unilever in Melbourne, Australia when he heard about the introduction of the four-day work week at Unilever NZ.

“I thought, how do I get a ticket over there?” Tito said.

Tito recently moved back to Whangārei after living abroad for 10 years with his wife and two children, Olive aged 2, and newborn Maeve who’s just 5 weeks old.

“I feel having the four-day work week lowers the overall stress in the household with two kids under 2, and saves money on daycare.

“Fridays we do not put our 2-year-old in daycare, Olive and I have a swimming lesson at 10am every Friday which has been awesome.

“One absolute perk is keeping on top of that life admin. Getting a haircut on Fridays is much easier than a Saturday!”

Tito doesn’t take on extra hours during his work days to make up for the added day off, he said he’s able to fine-tune his productivity with the help of online systems.

“Personally speaking for me, you have to have the right IT setups and really lean into Microsoft Suite.”

Tito said he had to become much more ruthless with his time when he switched to a four-day work week and prioritise his team’s tasks.

“Also avoiding those long-winded phone calls you sometimes find yourself in during work hours.”

Tito and his team of four all work Monday to Thursday, but he said some teams in the company elect to take different days off.

Unilever announced this month it will continue with its four-day working week for all New Zealand staff after encouraging results from its 18-month-long trial.

The trial, which ran between December 1, 2020 and June 30, 2022, involved all 80 staff and showed strong results against business targets, including revenue growth and most staff reported feeling engaged, Unilever NZ revealed today.

Individual wellbeing improved, with stress dropping 33 per cent. Feelings of strength and vigour at work increased 15 per cent, while work/life conflict fell 67 per cent.

Absenteeism also dropped 34 per cent.

Kevin Hurley, owner of Tony Gordon Panel Beaters & Autopainters in Whangārei, trialled a four-day work week in late 2018 and has continued with it since after a positive staff response.

The Council of Trade Unions recently suggested a comprehensive pilot of a four-day working week as part of its Building a Better Future plan for New Zealand workers and businesses.

New Zealand-based businessman Andrew Barnes, who attracted global headlines in 2018 for his four-day week trial at financial trust Perpetual Guardian, told NZME the scheme is quickly gaining traction across Europe.

More than 3300 workers at 70 companies in the UK are at the beginning of a four-day working week trial that will run for six months, the Herald reported in June.

The progress of the trial will be observed by researchers at Cambridge University, Oxford University and Boston College – and the results could serve as a template for the four-day week to be adopted more broadly.

“The four-day week has absolutely exploded in Europe,” says Barnes, who is currently in the UK working on the trial.