Staff Take A Day Off To Save Their Jobs
Sydney Morning Herald
Tuesday January 13, 2009
THURSDAY has become the new Friday for a Lismore advertising firm. Since Christmas all staff at the North Coast Ad Agency, including the boss, have had their working week reduced in expectation of a sluggish year.
The company switched to a four-day week after revenue fell 60 per cent late last year. The chief executive, David Kavanagh, said advertising and marketing budgets were usually the first to be slashed in economic downturns. "We started calling it viva la revolution. We're going to take it out to the world," he said. The decision was made after a long negotiation with his 10 staff. "I came back to the group with some options and one of them was this four-day week. As a group we worked through various scenarios and options, and this one kept coming back as a really positive thing. It was the one that made everyone feel good." They debated the possibility of staying open five days a week, with staff members alternating their four days, but decided that shortening the week was best. "I think Australians work way too hard," Mr Kavanagh said. The company's decision falls in line with a plea from the Deputy Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, for employers to take the "long-term view" and resist the temptation to sack workers. Mr Kavanagh said the four-day week was a rarity in ad land but he believed it would catch on. In Britain last October, 2500 workers from the equipment firm JCB voted to work a four-day week to prevent the loss of 350 jobs. An ACTU spokesman said reducing the working week was a valid response for businesses that were financially strained. "Clever employers will . . . [use] the down time to retrain and retool. The fifth day of the working week could be allocated towards this, with workers earning a training wage of at least 80 per cent of their normal pay." Mr Kavanagh said the slowdown was the worst he had seen since September 11, 2001, when advertising, particularly in tourism, "just stopped". Better prepared this time, he said the business was in good shape and staff morale was high. "They're going to have more time with their kids . . . Two people are doing part-time university and it takes some pressure off."
© 2009 Sydney Morning Herald
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