Australian workers should get a four-day working week and five weeks’ annual leave to compensate for the always-on digital workplace, the Australian Services Union (ASU) says, but persuading employers may prove difficult.

In a submission to a parliamentary inquiry into the National Employment Standards (NES), the union argued that workers are being squeezed by constant messaging, after-hours emails, and AI-driven productivity demands, and deserve shorter working hours in return.

The ASU, which represents more than 135,000 workers across community services, local government, airlines, energy, and call centres, said minimum workplace protections are struggling to keep up with modern work.

Writing to the inquiry, the union said workers need help to “get time back through reductions in working time and stronger protections for predictable hours and justice.”

Central to its proposal is a shorter working week.

The union wants section 62 of the NES amended so employers cannot request or require employees to work more than 30.4 hours across four days “unless the additional hours are reasonable”.

It also wants new provisions requiring employers to provide “predictable hours of work”.

Other proposed changes would allow workers to refuse roster changes “if it is unreasonable regarding their personal circumstances”, remove the requirement for a medical certificate unless an employee is absent for two consecutive days, and expand annual leave to five weeks.

The ASU is also calling for new forms of leave, including 10 days of paid reproductive leave and 10 days per year of compassionate leave for Sad News/Sorry Business, arguing such reforms are necessary to adapt to “profound change” in an “insecure and fragmented” labour market.

“Workloads have intensified,” the submission said, adding that “workers are increasingly subject to unpredictable and unstable rostering arrangements… [and] digital technologies including AI are reshaping how work is allocated, monitored, and controlled.”

“These developments have placed a growing strain on minimum standards designed around more stable and predictable employment models, widening the gap between statutory entitlements and workers’ lived experience.”

Fuelling a productivity paradox?

It’s not the ASU’s first call for a shorter working week, but this submission comes amidst a time of dramatic change as companies use AI to replace costly workers – with tech bellwether Atlassian firing 1,600 employees this week and Afterpay recently doing the same.

Such mass layoffs have become a feature of today’s job market, highlighting the complex dynamics of AI adoption that have seen generative AI (genAI) and agentic AI delivering strong returns for companies that have seized upon their promise to replace workers.

Well-considered deployments of GenAI and agentic AI deliver “compelling” 49 per cent return on investment, according to a newly released Snowflake-Omdia-Informa TechTarget survey of 2,050 AI-adopting business and IT leaders in 10 countries.

AI’s promised ROI has emboldened companies but threatened workers, with AI’s introduction linked to loss of entry-level jobs at 63 per cent of firms, 46 per cent reporting job losses at the middle management level, and 27 per cent firing senior managers.

Workers’ increased mobility is driving other workplace change, with Victoria recently confirming – over vociferous objections of the business community – that all workers in that state will be eligible to work from home two days per week from 1 September.

The four-day week is easier in theory than in practice

Calls for a four-day work week have gained momentum in recent years, with the likes of Medibank and Oxfam Australia joining a global movement and Victorian public school teachers recently clamouring for a trial of four-day weeks.

Yet for all the ASU’s desire to rebalance workplace policies – and research suggesting a four-day week can improve productivity and employee well-being – many firms will be sceptical as they grapple with economic challenges, ethical dilemmas and a productivity crisis.

The City of Launceston, for one, moved to adopt a four-day week in January, but got as far as renegotiating the EBA for its 600 employees with the ASU before it scrapped the plan a month later amidst fierce backlash from residents and ratepayers.

An “increasingly polarised” debate had “directed unacceptable hostility towards staff,” after the change was announced, CEO Sam Johnson said, adding that while the council “believes in the evidence behind it…. It must be supported and understood by the community we serve.”

“We believe in what it represents for productivity, wellbeing and the future of public service,” he continued, “and we believe that, done properly it is achievable here.”