Insignia Financial trials four-day week pilot

Insignia Financial staff are to trial a four-day work week among multiple benefits agreed through a new enterprise agreement.

The licensee said it “acknowledges that a four-day working week is an emerging way of working that ought to be explored to identify its suitability for Insignia Financial”.

Staff would have the option to opt out of the trial, and design and parameters of the trial are to be confirmed in due course pending negotiations and agreement with the Finance Sector Union (FSU).

It also saw the removal of an expectation of 60 per cent attendance in the office, which will remain at the current rate of 40 per cent.

Money Management previously wrote how firms such as Invest Blue and Crowe Australasia – a subsidiary of Findex – had pivoted to offering a flexible work week and cited numerous benefits from the offering. Some 18 months on, Invest Blue said its initiative of a nine-day fortnight had seen increased job applications, minimal disruption to clients, increased wellbeing, and increased productivity.

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Research by recruitment firm Robert Half also found over 60 per cent of Australian workers would prefer a four-day work week, a finding that transcended each generation of workers.

Mel Walls, chief people officer at Insignia Financial, said: “As part of our 2024 enterprise agreement, we will explore the concept of a four-day working week to identify its ongoing suitability for our organisation.

“We have committed to a four-day work week pilot during the course of this enterprise agreement. The four-day working week pilot will be conducted with a contained group of people, with the parameters to be designed in consultation with our employees. Details of the pilot are yet to be finalised.”

Another agreement is to protect workers’ rights in the use of AI, ensuring that while AI can be a factor in decision-making process, a human must always be the one to make the final call.

Negotiations with the FSU has been ongoing since late February 2024.

The list of updated benefits for staff, which are subject to final approval by the Fair Work Commission, include:

• Guaranteed annual pay increases for those earning up to $130,000 TFR.
• Additional one-off $1,200 cost-of-living payment for all staff.
• Increases to superannuation.
• An industry first trial of a four-day work week.
• AI protections regarding decision-making processes and transparency around how AI is used.
• Increased parental leave to 16 weeks paid for either parent.
• Crystallisation of heritage severance pay entitlements.
• Increasing severance pay from 36 weeks to 52 weeks.
• Greater protections around working from home rights, including expanding exemption categories.

FSU national secretary Julia Angrisano said: “Workers consistently tell us that they value workplace flexibility, and this agreement delivers significant improvements and will allow workers the ability to work in ways that suit them – including more time at home if that is their desire.

“Workers will not only benefit from the conditions they’ve achieved, but can be proud in setting a standard for others in the finance sector. AI and flexibility are important to our members, and employers should be aware as they prepare offers that these clauses will become industry standards.”

The firm previously came under fire in July for proposing to slash staff redundancy pay arrangements by 58 weeks. The enterprise agreement provided for up to 94 weeks of redundancy pay, but it was proposed that this would be cut to 36 weeks after the first 12 months of the new agreement being in place.