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The jobs offering four-day work weeks

Aussie companies are increasingly offering four-day work weeks.

People walking to work in the city. Person working from home on laptop. Four-day work week concept.
There are more and more jobs offering four-day work weeks. (Source: Getty)

The four-day work week is gaining traction with Aussie employees and bosses. So, which jobs are actually offering it?

Hiring platform Indeed found the number of job ads mentioning a four-day work week were up almost 50 per cent in February, compared to the longer-term average between January 2018 and June 2021.

But Indeed APAC economist Callam Pickering said any widespread shift to a four-day work week was still in its infancy.

“In February, just 0.5 per cent of Australian job postings explicitly referenced a four-day work week in their job descriptions and less than one-hundredth of 1 per cent of all job searches in 2022 explicitly sought a four-day week,” Pickering said.

The jobs were largely located in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland, Indeed found, with the populous states driving the four-day work week growth in recent years.

Last year, the number of jobs mentioning four-day work weeks was up 50 per cent in Queensland, 40 per cent in New South Wales and 36 per cent in Victoria, compared to three years ago.

Indeed four-day work week graph
Indeed four-day work week graph

Mentions of a four-day work week were highest among lower-paid jobs, which had more part-time and casual work. But it was growing the fastest in higher-income roles.

“The increase observed for higher-paying roles does point towards a shift in the hiring philosophy of businesses operating in these sectors and a greater awareness of work-life balance and staff burnout,” Pickering said.

Veterinary, dental and legal jobs were the most likely to offer four-day work weeks. In 2022, 2.4 per cent of veterinary job postings mentioned the term, ahead of 2.1 per cent for dental and 1.7 per cent legal jobs.

In comparison, just 0.4 per cent of hospitality and tourism and 0.2 per cent of retail job ads mentioned the four-day work week, industries where part-time or casual hours may be more common.

Legal, media and communications, and manufacturing and production jobs had the biggest increase in four-day work weeks being mentioned.

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