Bunnings, Australia’s largest hardware retailer, just made a groundbreaking agreement with the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association (SDA). The agreement allows thousands of its full-time workers to trial a four-day work week, starting soon.
The new four-day work week, which was announced on Friday evening, will be the first of its kind for an Australian retailer. Bunnings will be the first to trial this new way of working, and it’s a move that will benefit the company’s employees and customers alike.
The Australian Financial Review reported delegates agreed to Bunnings’ proposal to deliver a 10.5% pay rise to 40,000 staff over three years, with 4.5% of that increase taking effect this year, as well as an annual leave increase to five weeks per year. The deal also provides full-time workers with the option to request to work 38 hours over four days.
Gerard Dwyer, the national secretary of the SDA, revealed to the AFR that the union had been striving for a four-day working week in the retail sector for an extended period of time. He proclaimed that the Bunnings agreement was a major breakthrough in relation to the work-life balance of retail personnel, and could be a model for the industry.
“The SDA’s pursuit of these advances in future negotiations with other major retailers will be beneficial for both workers and this specific major retailer, establishing Bunnings as an attractive employer in a competitive retail environment,” Mr Dwyer said.
