2.1 How it worked

After the five-day work week proposal was accepted, Roberts Co. and Health Infrastructure NSW engaged UNSW Sydney in 2019 to evaluate the effectiveness of the five-day work week on the wellbeing of construction workers and their families. The evaluation had three aims:

1. To measure changes in the wellbeing of construction workers and their next of kin, 2. To conduct an economic evaluation of the shortened work week, comparing in monetary terms the costs and benefits of the intervention, 3. To analyse how the five-day week delivery model challenges and addresses construction industry norms.

While the central intervention was a five-day work week, across the Roberts Co. sites they also introduced complementary interventions. These innovations were also considered in the research evaluation, and included: > Online site inductions and streamlined safety procedures using technology including a subcontractor’s app with a site contact list, QR code control and weather information. > Changes in contract conditions between Roberts Co. and subcontractors, effectively reducing Roberts Co.’s sanctioning powers and paying subcontractors on the same day each month. > Targeted mental health first aid training and safety training. > Improved site facilities for workers such as a breastfeeding room. > For Roberts Co. employees, access to three wellbeing leave days and $1000 per annum to spend on their wellbeing. > Signage at the front of the site that read: “Thank you to our subcontractors and stakeholders, we can’t build without you,” and named every subcontractor. 2.1 HOW IT WORKED

It was one thing to propose the five-day work week on paper, but another thing to put it into practice. No work on weekends required Roberts Co. to re-think its construction planning. On the Concord site, the working day which normally operates from 7am – 3pm was extended by two hours from 7am – 5pm, to provide overtime pay during the week and give workers a two-day weekend. The development application approved work hours remained unchanged and Health Infrastructure NSW held Roberts Co. to these hours to give respite to adjoining hospital facilities. On the Concord site, the subcontractors generally worked the same hours they would have worked across a six-day week but in a five-day week, giving workers two days of weekend to rest. While workers were discouraged from working on other sites on weekends, there were no formal contractual arrangements between Roberts Co. and subcontractors to enforce this. All the trades who had regular crews on the project at any stage of the project generally worked their crews on Concord for five days with no transfer to other projects on a Saturday. In terms of rostered days off (RDOs), flexible RDOs were worked by workers who wanted to work, whilst the site was shut for fixed RDOs.

The study group became known as “Project 5”. In response to COVID lockdowns in March 2020, a control group was added to the study. The Mount Street Project, a high-rise commercial building operating a six-day work week, was added as a control site to determine the effect, if any, of COVID-19 on the wellbeing of workers. At the same time, Liverpool Hospital early works, a five-day work week project was also added to the study to increase the number of participants in the study. Roberts Co. followed the tendered five-day work week program throughout the course of the study at both Concord and Liverpool projects. Exceptions were made on direction from Health Infrastructure NSW when:

> erecting and dismantling the tower cranes, because of the high-risk nature of the works, > undertaking specifically requested interface work with the existing hospital site (for example road closures within the precinct, works on the atrium section where the new building joined the old building), > implementing public health orders in response to COVID-19, (for example adjusting the site accommodation to comply with the 4m2 per person rule) at very short notice > work was requested to be expedited for a three-week period at the end of the project to make the facilities available for the COVID-19 response. During this period the site operated a seven-day work week.