Four-day work week initiatives, which were adopted by a handful of New Brunswick communities during the pandemic, are sticking around with municipalities reporting positive results for employees and residents. Saint John, Quispamsis and Miramichi introduced four-day work options for some municipal employees in 2022, initially on a temporary basis. “It’s become a recruitment tool for the town, for sure,” says Quispamsis spokesman Tim Roszell. “We had some positions open lately and the four-day work week has certainly come into play there for sure.” Employees in Quispamsis have the option to work a regular five-day-a-week schedule, or choose to work longer hours Monday to Thursday, or Tuesday to Friday. Quispamsis Town Hall is still open Monday to Friday. “We have actually been able to expand our public facing hours by one hour each day,” says Roszell. The City of Miramichi made its four-day work week initiative permanent in 2024 following a trial run. “Feedback has been great thus far and we are exploring an expansion of the program with some of our unionized administrative staff,” says Mandi Grantmyre, the city’s director of corporate services, in a statement. The City of Saint John also introduced a four-day work week pilot program, making changes along the way. “Some of the feedback we got was that it worked for some places, and it didn’t for others,” says Ian Fogan, the City of Saint John’s chief administrative officer. The city’s customer care centre was initially open Monday to Thursday when the pilot program began. “From a customer service standpoint there were questions about if (people) could reach staff, who was able to be there, whether the entire city was shut down on that day,” says Fogan. Changes were made about a year-and-a-half ago to schedules, allowing the city’s customer care centre to return as a Monday to Friday operation. “Our flexible work program has been a good incentive to retain, but also attract employees, which for a while we had a large difficulty attracting the right kind of talent,” says Fogan. Tantramar has adopted a compressed work week schedule following a four-day work week trial, where employees receive one Friday off per pay period. In Riverview, the town runs a seasonal four-day work week for employees spanning the months of May and October. Four-Day Week Global, an advocacy group for condensed work schedules around the world, points to local governments as being at the forefront of testing such initiatives out. “Traditionally local governments struggle with attraction and retention of staff,” says Debbie Bailey, the non-profit organization’s co-CEO. “It’s very hard to compete with the private sector when you’re looking for planners and engineers, and those types of roles. So, this is one way we can level up the playing field a bit. You may not necessarily have more money for remuneration, but you can build those conditions. “What we’re finding is that people are much more interested in lifestyle conditions than they are in the extra money coming through in the pay packet.” Bailey says the idea of a four-day work week has evolved since the pandemic. “We’ve moved from this concept of ‘could a four-day week even work’ to more of a conversation around ‘how could it work in my business or my organization,’” says Bailey. “What we’re seeing is a much broader application of how this happens. There are a lot of different variations out there.” For more New Brunswick news, visit our dedicated provincial page.
