Interest in a four-day work week is growing among Ontario’s rural municipalities. The Ontario Municipal Administrator’s Association reported this information.
At least eight municipalities currently offer employees four working days of flexible work. The latest addition to this is the Algonquin Highlands. This may be the beginning of this trend. More and more people seem to be trying it.
Interest in this model has grown so much that the association has decided to hold a workshop for Chief Municipal Administrators in May. There they will be asked for their opinion about the four-day working day.
Rural governments began to use the concept after the Covid-19 pandemic changed the nature of municipal services. Zora Township, a rural municipality in Kona, Oxford County, southern Ontario, started a four-day work schedule for workers a year ago. Several other municipalities in southern Ontario followed suit.
Some municipalities in Nova Scotia and Alberta have made this change and he knows them.
The Ontario Municipal Administrators’ Association says it’s easier for workers in rural municipalities to adapt to the model than in big cities like Toronto, Montreal or Vancouver. There are many reasons behind this. Number of employees is one of them.
Logistics is an issue for a small workforce. This workforce is like a laboratory where you can test anything. Another thing is that it is difficult to attract talent in small and rural areas and they often look for new and innovative approaches to win this battle.
