Created in partnership with the Helpdesk on Business & Human Rights
Unilever
Reduced Working Weeks and Flexible Work from Home Policies to Increase Productivity and Improve WellbeingUnilever, a British multinational consumer goods company, is trialling a 4-day working week programme in New Zealand. The programme, which will run for 12 months from November 2020, allows its 81 eligible employees to work only four days a week at full pay. By the end of the trial, Unilever will assess the correlation between reduced working days, productivity levels and overall employee well-being. Should the outcomes prove favourable — which will be measured in collaboration with the University of Technology Business School in Sydney — Unilever will explore what this could mean for Unilever’s ways of working on a broader scale in the future. Additionally, the business announced in January 2021 that in the aftermath of COVID-19 pandemic, its employees will no longer be expected to work from the office every day of the week.