Add more content here...

The evolving world of work Part 3: Why Medibank, Unilever, Inventium and House of Brand are signing up to a 4-day week – and it’s working better

Medibank’s four-day working week trial has slashed sick and carers leave across frontline teams by two-thirds. Unilever’s NZ pilot saw work stress decrease by 33 per cent, work/life conflict fall by 67 per cent and meetings reduce by 3.5 hours per week. House of Brand is successfully recruiting talent and seeing energy levels rise thanks to its 100 per cent pay, 80 per cent time, 100 per cent approach. Inventium’s ‘gift of the fifth’ combined with efficiency training saw financial goals achieved two months early and gave workers a new sense of empowerment. The concept of a four-day working week is one of a swathe of evolving work models gaining popularity. But how does it work? Can staff really deliver the same volume of work to the same standard in less time? Do you just end up working a compressed work week? Can you still win and service clients? And is this a model that cuts the mustard long term? We speak to four companies trialling or well-entrenched in a four-day working week to find out.

Published
Categorized as Articles

‘Performative IWD celebrations won’t move needle; action and outcomes will’ – female leaders from Innocean, EssenceMediacom, Amaysim, Rackspace on what WGEA’s gender pay data really tells us

Ahead of International Women’s Day (IWD), government pay gap data shows media, marketing, agency and tech industries are some way off gender equality. Release of the WGEA figures has women resetting their position on “lacklustre” programs designed to support fellow females in the workforce, but that aren’t in reality delivering. The accountability WGEA provides also has women in leadership questioning company policies that should be helping empower women, such as flexible work, as well as those that could hinder – they see promotion through meritocracy as one. Senior female leaders from Innocean, EssenceMediacom, Amaysim and Rackspace fear IWD is increasingly a tokenistic gesture instead of what is really required: Discussion – and action – that drives demonstrable change.

Published
Categorized as Articles

New Coke: CEO hails digital flip and WPP in-house unit as growth powers, CFO becomes marketer pin-up with words every CMO wants to hear; AI coming for product formulations

Coca-Cola, the original TV alpha advertiser, has flipped to digital first, now spending 60 per cent of its circa $4bn media budget on digital. But its digital transformation runs much deeper than media – and it appears to be paying off big time. Revenue in 2023 was up 6.39 per cent and CFO and President John Murphy said its marketing reorganisation is boosting agility and productivity, with marketing “not a cost, but an investment”. CEO James Quincey said its in-house Studio X, delivered by WPP with output underpinned by Hogarth, is powering, “bringing it all together,” per Quincey, with the firm balancing digital and massive experiential events to put cans in hands, build brand and scoop up first party data along the way. It’s now also using AI to help reformulate product. So far it seems to be working.

Published
Categorized as Articles