When it comes to the four-day workweek movement, did anyone expect small-town Ontario to lead the way?
If you had to guess who was a global leader in the four-day workweek movement, would your guess be “small town Ontario?” Probably not — but another small Ontario municipality has just decided to make the reform permanent.
Last month, town councillors in the Municipality of French River in Northern Ontario voted to make their successful pilot permanent, praising the success of the program. Eighty-seven per cent of staff opted into the compressed schedule, the municipality said.
“I’m happy that this has worked out and that the employees are enjoying the new work schedule, alongside being able to service our public an extra half-hour per day,” said Marc Gagnon, French River’s chief administrative officer. Eighty-one per cent of all their employees backed the move.
The pilot differed from some other four-day workweek pilots in that it didn’t cut eight hours from the work week — it just compressed it. That allowed them to actually expand service hours rather than curtail them.
They aren’t the first small Ontario municipality to make this move, either. In late 2021, Zorra Township also opted to make their own four-day week scheme permanent, noting that it even helped them recruit candidates for open positions. And it makes a certain amount of sense: there’s very little fat to trim on the budget of most small Ontario municipalities, and providing service is always difficult. Any plan that improves moral, expands work hours, and makes it easier to attract staff, without expanding expenses too much, is a triple-whammy for a place like Zorra Township or French River.
And this even extended to French River’s own chief administrator, who cited his own feelings on the move.
“I’ve stayed on with the municipality,” Gagnon said, “going forward with this new council instead of choosing to retire.”
If it makes the boss happy…
Content written by Kieran Delamont for Worklife, a partnership between Ahria Consulting and London Inc. To view this content in newsletter form, click here.