The work week is not set in stone like it used to be.

Ongoing labour market pressures and a shortage of skilled workers in the electrical contracting industry has meant more and more employers are considering other ways of attracting or retaining staff.

This has led to more and more conversations on alternative working week or fortnight options to provide additional time off without changing the employment type of full-time.

While these arrangements are becoming popular; there are additional considerations and costs attached to these types of arrangements that employers need to be aware of before making the change.

How a four-day working week works

It is possible to arrange the working week across four days. The ordinary working week being 38 hours, this is four days of 9.5 hours. With a 30-minute unpaid lunch break, they are physically on site for 10 hours but working 9.5 hours of that time.

There is no overtime in this situation; unless they exceed the 9.5 hours, work outside 6am to 6pm or works on the rostered day off.

How to set these arrangements up

On new engagement of new employees, the employer can inform them that this is what their working hours will be.

For existing employees, it is not necessary for this to form part of a contract of employment. The employer may also need to ensure that when introducing such a change there has been consultation with the workers about a change to ordinary hours of work under clause 28 of the Electrical, Electronic and Communications Contracting Award 2020.

This consultation would outline the operational aspects, how it will be applied, and if there are any workers who may have a valid reason for not being able to participate in such a change. These would include reasons such as family caring responsibilities.

There are no additional breaks required under this arrangement of hours. The standard break entitlements of a 10-minute paid rest pause between the usual start time and the unpaid 30-minute lunch break in the case of day workers applies.

What else to consider in a four-day cycle?

A working week where the worker completes their 38 hours in less than 5 days will result in a rostered day off. Rostered days off are treated differently under the award and the Fair Work Act. Particularly when it comes to their interaction with public holidays.

Where public holidays fall on the rostered day off the workers will still be entitled to payment. For example, if a worker was doing four days from Monday to Thursday any Friday public holidays would still be payable at 7.6 hours.

This is due to the National Employment Standard entitlement for workers to be entitled to payment when absent from work on a public holiday. Coupled with the award entitlement that a worker cannot be on a rostered day off on a public holiday. Nor could the employer introduce a system of hours of work that would seek to avoid paying public holidays.

Operationally, where an employer wants to offer a four-day week, and maintain coverage across Monday to Friday, they will need to separate crews. One operating Monday to Thursday; another operating Tuesday to Friday.

On average, six out of the possible 11 public holidays fall on day between Monday to Friday. It isn’t likely workers will want to opt for a work-cycle that leaves them worse off in relation to the other crew who would receive additional public holiday entitlements.

There are a couple of options to deal with this issue:

1. Alternate workers between Monday to Thursday and then Tuesday to Friday rosters. Effectively giving workers a four-day weekend once a fortnight and almost identical access to public holidays off;

2. If fixed rosters are kept, eg only Monday to Thursday, the crew that misses out on the public holiday, as paid time off, could instead be given additional time off as part of annual leave.

The additional time could also just be paid to the worker as a public holiday payment of 7.6 hours. This payment should not be put into the payroll system as ‘ordinary hours’ or it will force those other days into overtime payments.

It is MEA’s view that alternating the roster pattern is the simplest to implement from its impact on hours of work and public holiday entitlements.

Download an example of how two crews could work across a year

What does four-day week mean for leave?

Annual leave and sick leave will still accrue in the normal way based on the arrangement of hours. When taking periods of leave, or single days of leave, the daily amount of leave deducted is 9.5 hours.

What about a nine-day fortnight?

It is also possible to arrange the work cycle across nine days. The ordinary hours for the fortnight are 76 hours, this makes 4 x 8.444 hour working days (if split evenly). With a 30-minute unpaid lunch break.

As 8.444 hours is a strange workday, employers often opt four 8 x 8.5-hour days and a the last day of the work cycle an eight hour work day.

Week 1

Week 2

There is no overtime in this situation; unless they exceed the set ordinary working hours each day, work outside 6am to 6pm or works on the tenth day.

What else to consider in a nine-day fortnight

Some businesses operating a nine-day fortnight, don’t opt to cover the tenth day of the work cycle for the purpose of on site works outside of emergency call outs and planned overtime. In which case, they have their entire field staff under the one roster pattern.

But if a business wants to maintain coverage across all 10 days, there are considerations about the implementation of alternative roster patterns.

Public holidays – where public holidays fall on the rostered day off the workers will still be entitled to payment. As in the previous example, public holidays would still be payable at 7.6 hours if it falls on their rostered day off.

In a typical working year under a nine-day fortnight, with alternating rosters, there will be approximately 15.2 (7.6 x 2) hours difference in entitlements, this can be balanced in similar ways to the four-day week.

What does the nine-day fortnight mean for leave?

Annual leave and sick leave will still accrue in the normal way based on the arrangement of hours. When taking periods of leave, or single days of leave, the usual daily hours will be deducted in leave hours.

Fortnightly pay cycles vs Pay averaging arrangements

As this work cycle is spread over a fortnight employer and employees can opt for a fortnightly pay cycle. This is the simplest method for implementing a nine-day fortnight arrangement.

Under a weekly pay cycle, there will be a difference between the pay on the five-day week versus the four-day week. This can be left as is and the workers can simply manage the fluctuating pays themselves.

However, often arrangements are put in place to average the ordinary wages for each pay cycle and pay 38 hours each week. This is called ‘pay averaging’ and is simply about the payment of wages. It has no bearing on the hours of work as they are set separately.

If you are considering alternative work cycles the MEA Employer Advice Hotline can help you understand what they mean for your employees. Phone 1300 889 198 today.

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