AFR Success | Supporting parents to return to work and four-day work weeks ... work

Parental leave has been a hot topic this year.

The Albanese government announced last October that it would extend the taxpayer-funded parental leave scheme from 20 weeks to 26 weeks by 2026 as part of efforts to level the economic playing field for women.

At the same time, private-sector employers have been falling over themselves to expand their schemes and make changes that encourage more dads to take time off work.

Growing awareness of the obstacles women face in the workplace after taking time out to raise children is one of the key drivers of this societal shift. But it’s far from the only one. Another is the economic imperative of offering the most enticing benefits to snare the best candidates in a tight labour market.

These drivers are forcing companies not only to beef up their paid parental leave schemes but also to offer more support to new parents when they return to the workplace.

Temporary relief from billable hour targets is one example,?as our lead story this week reports . Others include access to free coaching sessions and paid “transition days”, which allow parents to return part-time for up to 12 months while receiving a full-time wage.

Such a proposition has evolved into a permanent set-up for a growing number of Australian workers recently – and not just for parents.

Our second story reveals how most companies that tried a four-day working week as part of an independently monitored six-month trial?stuck with the shorter week after the experiment ended .

Asked to rate their experience on a scale of 1 to 10, from very negative to very positive, the companies scored the trail at 8.2. And, perhaps unsurprisingly, employees were even more positive.

Workers reported benefits ranging from reduced stress and more regular exercise to a more equal distribution of housework between men and women at home.

Andrew Barnes, the leader of the global push for a four-day working week, reckons the evidence shows it has “broadly been proved” that giving workers an extra day off makes them healthier and happier without adversely affecting a company’s productivity.

Now, he wants his research outfit to focus more on exploring whether a shorter working week also leads to lower carbon emissions and less strained healthcare systems. He reckons it just might.

Elsewhere, we explore?why AI recruiters would probably hire more women ?than humans would, investigate the?10 occupations likely to be most affected by AI , and hear from the executive who?likes to hire people whose careers have taken a hit .

You're missing out!?These stories and more are available in full when you?sign up ?to our free?Work & Careers?newsletter: direct to your inbox, every Thursday.

Wealth Generation

How to save 47pc on your mortgage ?A $1m borrower with an offset account could be paying up to $1500 a month more for a feature designed to save money – but that could cost more over the long term,?Duncan Hughes ?reports.

Millions of HECS debts are about to soar, so should you pay yours off? Inflation-adjusted student and graduate debt indexation is set to jump to 7.1 per cent, meaning average annual increases of about $1800, the biggest in 33 years, writes Duncan Hughes.

Do this after June 30 and you could boost your super by $110,000 ?Getting the timing right on contributions is just one of a host of things self-managed super fund members need to do before the end of the tax year, writes contributor?Peter Burgess .

For more stories like these,?sign up ?to our free?Wealth Generation?newsletter: direct to your inbox, every Wednesday.

By the numbers

The results of a six-month four-day working week trial were released yesterday.

The 26 companies that took part, most of them in Australia and New Zealand, typically stuck to the 100:80:100 model – where employees retain 100 per cent of their pay while reducing their hours to 80 per cent, provided they maintain 100 per cent productivity.

All but one of the companies surveyed at the end of the trial said they would continue using a shorter week. And employers and employees reported big benefits.

One of the biggest was a huge reduction in absenteeism . Workers took 44.3 per cent fewer sick and personal days on average; 54 per cent said they did their best work during the trial; and 96 per cent said they wanted to stick with a four-day week.

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