Town Of Riverview Pilots Four-Day Work Week
MONCTON–A pilot program at the Town of Riverview will see employees switch to a four-day work week. The program will run from June 6 to September 6.
Tyla Finlay, the director of human resources for the town of Riverview, explains that teams at the town will work the same number of hours as they were under a traditional five-day work week. However, their hours will be “restructured to accommodate an extra day off.”
To ensure the town’s services remain consistent, the town will split its workforce into groups that will work staggered schedules.
Finlay says the scheme will actually mean many town offices will open earlier and close later than usual.
“The Covid-19 pandemic has made us look at many things differently, how we work being a big one,” explained the town’s CAO, Colin Smith. “An operational change that allows us to potentially increase the engagement and wellbeing of employees without impacting services to residents is easy to support. Pilot programs allow us to test this out to see if it works for our team, as it has for others, before making any definitive changes.”
A recent study by Henley Business School found 78 percent of staff were happier with a four-day work week, 70 percent were less stressed, and 62 percent took fewer days off for illness.
Riverview isn’t the only New Brunswick town experimenting with the four-day work week; the town of Quispamsis is in the middle of its own pilot program testing a four-day work week.
RELATED: Quispamsis Pilots Four-Day Work Week
Quispamsis’ 24-week pilot has staff working from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. four days per week. One team works Monday to Thursday, the other Tuesday to Friday, rotating shifts every four weeks.
Similar to Riverview, the arrangement means town offices are open extended for hours. Quispamsis’ pilot wraps up in mid-October.
Prior to Quispamsis starting the pilot program, Mayor Libby O’Hara said there is value in giving the idea a try, even if it may not work out at the end of the day.
“I feel that, in this day and age, we have to do things differently. Simply because we have worked five days a week since eternity, it does not mean that that is the best way of doing things,” said O’Hara.
Tara Clow is the news director with 91.9 The Bend in Moncton, a Huddle content partner.
With files from Brad Perry.