The weekend is something most of us take for granted. But the five-day working week was achieved 75 years ago through a combination of workplace struggles and decisions of governments and industrial tribunals.

Further reductions in working hours and increases in annual leave followed. But the current standard full-time arrangement of a 38-hour week and four weeks annual leave hasn’t changed in 40 years, despite huge advances in technology.

The COVID-19 pandemic made us aware that working arrangements can be changed radically if necessary and that the established pattern doesn’t suit everyone. One response has been an upsurge in interest in the idea of a four-day working week.

A variety of models are now being tested in an international trial organised by 4 Day Week Global. An associated research effort is being overseen by leading US researcher Professor Juliet Schor, supported by an international team including Professor John Quiggin (The University of Queensland) and Professor John Buchanan (The University of Sydney).

00:22 Acknowledgement of Country
01:04 Introduction of Panellists
02:51 Professor John Quiggin, The University of Queensland School of Economics
06:42 Charlotte Lockhart, 4 Day Week Global
18:13 Professor John Buchanan, The University of Sydney Business School
27:16 Emma Dawson, Per Capita
37:42 Q&A

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