Jan 28, 2021
Sydney/Tokyo – The idea of a four-day workweek has increasingly been embraced by businesses inside and outside Japan during the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Unilever New Zealand has introduced the system as part of a one-year experiment, while Mizuho Financial Group Inc., one of Japan’s three megabanks, launched similar work arrangements in December.
While the emerging trend reflects that employers are becoming more engaged with improving their workers’ productivity and life balance, it is receiving additional help from the pandemic.
Unilever New Zealand has allowed all of its 81 employees to work one day fewer per week without a cut in salary during the experiment.
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Like many mums, Nicola OâBrien was feeling âa bit vexedâ about how her three early-adolescent children were using technology. But rather than ban or demonise it, she suggested they draw up a family tech plan. âI thought, âletâs plan a day and treat it like a corporate retreatâ,â she says.
She wrote an agenda, bought snacks and developed a quiz to break the ice before the family delved into the upsides and downsides of each memberâs use of tech, what they wanted out of it, and what they could change.
Nicola OâBrien drew up a tech use agreement with her twin sons Charles and Miles.
4-day workweek gaining traction as business responds to pandemic
January 25, 2021 (Mainichi Japan)
This photo shows Unilever New Zealand s office in Auckland. (Photo courtesy of Unilever New Zealand/Kyodo) SYDNEY/TOKYO (Kyodo) A four-day workweek has increasingly been embraced by businesses inside and outside Japan during the novel coronavirus pandemic. Unilever New Zealand has introduced the system as part of a one-year experiment, while Mizuho Financial Group Inc., one of Japan s three megabanks, launched similar work arrangements in December. While the emerging trend reflects that employers are becoming more engaged with improving their workers productivity and life balance, it is receiving additional help from the pandemic.
Where are we going with Australia Day?
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As soon as I stepped off the tour bus the tears appeared. The other Aussies and Brits started to cry. The Turkish tour guide looked teary while the Americans looked solemn but puzzled. “Was there a war here?” one asked in hushed tones.
Anzac Cove in Gallipoli, Turkey.
Credit:AP
I have never felt more patriotic than during that visit to Anzac Cove. The little beach fringed by the low sandstone wall, the schoolbook history of the failed Anzac campaign suddenly alive and overwhelming, the pride in Australia and Turkey as two enemies that became friends.