Medibank makes big four-day work week announcement

A major Australian company will be expanding its four-day work week “experiment” after a six-month trial found employees had become happier, healthier and more efficient.

Medibank has decided to move another 250 employees to a four-day week, bringing the total number of participants in the trial to 500.

Before starting the initial trial, the private health insurer said its goal was to challenge the “long-entrenched traditional ways of working”.

The change is based on the 100:80:100 model, in which staff keep 100 per cent of their pay but have their work hours reduced to 80 per cent. However, they must maintain 100 per cent of their productivity in order for the change to work.

The trial was designed with 4 Day Week Global, a leader in this space, and the outcomes have been and will continue to be monitored and measured by Macquarie University’s Health and Wellbeing Research Unit.

This experiment is one of the biggest in Australia of its kind, with Medibank’s Head of People, Spaces and Sustainability Kylie Bishop saying the trial has delivered positive results across multiple areas.

“We’ve seen significant and sustained improvements in employee engagement, job satisfaction and the health and wellbeing of participants, while maintaining business performance and customer outcomes,” Ms Bishop said.

Key outcomes from the initial six-month trial showed productivity remained consistent and there was an improvement of perceptions and performance.

Participants reported feeling 4.5 per cent more satisfied and 6.7 per cent more engaged with their work.

Leaders reported enhancements in the performance of participants and an increased willingness to go above and beyond.

As a result of the reduced work hours, less time was spent on unproductive and “low value work”, such as unnecessary meetings and double handling or duplication of reporting.

Instead, staff invested in more efficient processes, such as asynchronous work and communications, templates and purposeful workflows.

These were just some of the ways staff were able to fit their work into a four-day week and maintain performance outcomes.

Ms Bishop said the four-day work week trial was just one of the ways Medibank was pushing to drive greater autonomy in the workplace.

“Australia is undergoing a health transition and Medibank has an enormous role to play. Our health system needs innovation, and we all need to move faster to respond,” she said.

“The key to this is transforming how we work.”

Throughout the six-month trial period, participants also reported an improvement in psychological wellbeing and work-life balance.

There was a 10.4 per cent increase in people feeling like they could switch off from work outside working hours. There was also a significant decrease in work-to-family conflict, with a 31.4 per cent drop in tensions or pressures associated with juggling family and work responsibilities.

There was also sustained positive shifts towards healthier lifestyles, with staff reporting a 17.5 per cent decrease in unhealthy eating, an almost 30 per cent decrease in sleep disturbances and a 16.3 per cent increase to overall health.

Medibank also revealed staff reported increased feelings of confidence to “challenge entrenched processes and behaviours”, with team members being prepared to take on the responsibility of highlighting and challenging process gaps.

With more employees being added to the experiment, work us currently underway to determine which teams will make up the 250 staff that will join the next phase of the trial.

Medibank said there is a “robust process” in place to identify the next participants, with the company working together with 4 Day Week Global and Macquarie University to determine the “ideal characteristics” needed for the trial.