REPORT Project 5: A weekend for every worker
the people working these hours. This sentiment also overlooks anecdotal evidence by industry and project stakeholders that Saturday work is often unproductive and costly. There was recognition in the stakeholder interviews that many building programs tendered by clients set unrealistic timeframes. “I think, the industry has gone way too far on programs being that tight and a builder wanting to win the next job and taking projects on in a timeframe that is unachievable. And that’s why we’re seeing seven days a week, 24-hours a day jobs operating. And I think [the five-day week] just relieves the pressure and brings it back to organising jobs properly, making sure that they’re set up from day one, and they’re run in an efficient way. And I think it all benefits a business.”
4.4 C HALLENGING CONSTRUCTION NORMS WHILE IMPLEMENTING THE FIVE-DAY WORK WEEK
>
Narrow views of productivity were identified by industry stakeholders as a barrier to the five-day work week, with many believing clients would view the move as counterproductive.
>
Government procurement practices were another industry norm that act as an obstacle to reform, as governments tend to look at direct costs of a tender, and not indirect costs such as health costs for the workforce.
>
After participating in the Project 5 study, subcontractors realised Saturdays were not a productive day of the week. Project stakeholders witnessed workers’ enthusiasm to finish tasks by Friday, as they looked forward to the two-day weekend.
>
The invitation by a government client, Heath Infrastructure NSW, to submit different delivery models in the procurement phase was the essential launching pad for Project 5.
>
Support among workers for the five-day work week led to its incorporation into the NSW Enterprise Bargaining Agreement (EBA) with a number of large contractors while Project 5 was still in progress.
Most industry stakeholders agreed that further research currently being undertaken by the NSW and Victorian Construction Industry Cultural Taskforce (CICT) was required to build a greater evidence base about the effects of different project delivery models on people in the sector, productivity and cost of projects. EXISTING PROCUREMENT PRACTICES
Construction industry stakeholders perceived that government procurement practices routinely prioritised construction costs over indirect costs and value considerations in tender assessments, often overlooking the value or indirect costs associated, for example, the health benefits to the workforce of different project delivery models. This is another key challenge for delivery models like the five-day work week. For the five-day work week to become uniform, according to industry stakeholders, government as a large and influential client would need to mandate it, or run the risk of it being applied ad hoc, leaving systemic issues such as long work hours, low gender equality and poor worker wellbeing remaining intact.
Putting the five-day work week into action on a large health project in Sydney required the project team of Roberts Co. and Health Infrastructure NSW to think creatively about how to work around entrenched practices and mindset in the construction sector. The following section draws on interviews with industry stakeholders to document their views about the five-day work week and its likely success in the construction sector. It also documents feedback from project team members on the obstacles they encountered when delivering a five-day working week during Project 5, and their responses.
“I think it needs to be driven from government, initially, on government projects. And then I think the, the private sector will follow on, eventually. But unless it’s driven from somewhere, I think it’d be done ad hoc and not take off.”
4.4.1 Construction norms
Industry stakeholder
VIEWS ABOUT PRODUCTIVITY AND WORK HOURS
According to construction industry stakeholders, a key challenge of implementing a five-day work week would be the client’s view of productivity. Industry stakeholders believed that clients simply equated the number of work hours with the level of output, with little thought for the quality of the work produced. In other words, clients would view the five-day work week as significantly less productive than a six-day work week because it would take longer to deliver a project. As an industry stakeholder asserted, “It’s really going to live or die by productivity … Clients need to know that the jobs can be delivered on time to high quality and to a reasonable cost or competitive cost.”
“The [construction] industry is very good at doing what it’s told to do. If you ask the industry to build you a pink elephant, they’ll build you a pink elephant. But they’re not so good when it comes to looking to do things, taking a step back and looking to do things differently. Therefore, if we’re going to see progress in this area, external intervention is important.”
This view of productivity, however, gives little consideration of the quality and value of work hours or the health and safety of
Industry stakeholder
45
