Bunnings will be the first Australian retailer to trial a four-day week for thousands of its full-time workers, with the hardware giant announcing it had made a landmark agreement on Friday evening.
The agreement with Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association (SDA) delegates will also entitle Bunnings’ staff to pay rises over the next three years and more holidays.
Delegates agreed to Bunnings’ proposal to deliver a 10.5 per cent pay rise to 40,000 staff over three years, including 4.5 per cent this year, and increase annual leave to five weeks a year, according to The Australian Financial Review.
The deal will allow full-time workers the option to request to work 38-hours over four days.
SDA national secretary Gerard Dwyer told the AFR that a four-day working week was something the union had been seeking in the retail sector for years.
He said the Bunnings deal was a “significant breakthrough for work-life balance” for retail workers, and could set a precedent in the industry.
“These are advances the SDA will be pursuing in upcoming rounds of negotiation with other major retailers,” Mr Dwyer said.
“This package is good for workers and for this major retailer alike, setting Bunnings up as a preferred employer in a tight retail market.”
According to the newspaper, Bunnings will now trial different models of a four-day work week or nine-day fortnight and test the benefits for workers.
Full-time employees who opt-in could spread their 38-hour weeks over four days, or over 18 or 16 days per four-week roster cycle – if they work some weekend shifts.
Meanwhile, the 10.5 per cent pay rise will kick off this year, with 4.5 per cent, then another 3 per cent each in 2024 and 2025.
The new enterprise agreement comes after Bunnings withdrew its proposed agreement in 2020, after it was held up by the Fair Work Commission for almost 12 months.
At the time, Bunnings’ managing director Mike Schneider said the move was to bring certainty to its workers amid great disruption due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Mr Schneider was also critical of the bargaining system, slamming it as “a waste of time” after becoming frustrated with the “never-ending cycle of review”.
But Bunnings’ chief people officer Damian Zahra told the AFR implementing a new enterprise agreement was always the plan post-Covid.
He said this agreement follows the brand’s track record of industry-leading benefits and was made to account for their workers’ best interests and, as such, he is “optimistic the agreement will be endorsed by team and Fair Work”.
Bunnings is one of many major employers returning to bargaining this year, including Coles which also ditched the system in 2020, and ANZ bank – which has reportedly started negotiations for the first time in seven years.