UQ ChangeMakers: does the 4-day week work?

As more and more large organisations around the world experiment with the 4-day model, debate continues around the likelihood of broader adoption – and whether it really works.

Our next UQ ChangeMakers panel explores the impact this shift could have on workplace culture, diving into complex questions about productivity and the shape of our working lives in the era of AI and remote work.

Date: Wednesday 11 September 2024
Time: 6pm–7pm (AEST)
Event format: online
Cost: free

Speaker

Professor Deborah Terry AC
Vice-Chancellor and President The University of Queensland

Panellists

Debbie Bailey GAICD
Consultant Partner, 4 Day Week Global
Master of Business Administration '06
Expert in driving transformative change across organisations, including local governments, national charities and international companies based in Australia and overseas.

Debbie Bailey is a graduate of Queensland University of Technology (BBusComm) and the University of Queensland MBA program. She is a seasoned executive with over 20 years of experience in leading organisations and transformational change across Government (Museums), Commercial (4 Day Week Global), and Non-Profit sectors (Regional Development and Mental Health). As the Founder of Debbie Bailey Consulting and Consultant Partner with 4 Day Week Global, she currently specializes in the design, implementation and trial of the 4-Day Week and reduced hours working solutions.

Her 4 Day Week experience is global with clients in the US, Canada, UK, EU, Australia and New Zealand. In this work, Debbie has guided 4 Day Week trials in businesses from a variety of sectors including: Local Government, Community Services, Retail, Health Services, Knowledge Workers, Financial, and the Not for Profit sectors.

Debbie is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, an experienced Board Director and currently holds a Board Chair role for a Not for Profit Community Pharmacy.

Shannan Quain
Chief People Officer, Australian Digital Health Agency
Graduate Certificate in Business '16 and Graduate Certificate in Education '22
Experienced senior executive leading people and culture teams for both government and the non-profit sector.

Shannan is currently the Chief People Officer for the Australian Digital Health Agency. She has led people and culture teams as a senior executive across multiple jurisdictions and states for both government and the non-profit sector. A self described “HR Nerd”, Shannan loves to keep across contemporary practices, research and events to understand how she can best serve her team and organisation. While she started her career in Sports Science, she has been working as a HR leader for over 20 years.

Shannan is a graduate of the Queensland University of Technology and the University of Qld and is currently finishing her Masters of Neuroscience and Business at the University of New England.

In 2024, Shannan was announced as the inaugural winner of the AHRI Scholarship where she is completing a study in performance management in the Australian Public Service.

Dr Timothy Ballard
Senior Lecturer of Business and Organisational Psychology School of Psychology
UQ Bachelor of Psychological Science (Hons) '09
Researcher focused on understanding the dynamics of decision-making, motivation, fatigue, and stress.

Tim's research focuses on understanding the dynamics of decision-making, motivation, fatigue, and stress and how these processes affect our performance and mental health. Tim use this knowledge to help design work environments that promote happier, healthier, and more effective work. Practical applications of this work so far have included providing evidence-based recommendations regarding alternative work concepts such as the four-day work week, providing tools to forecast fatigue in safety-critical work environments, enhancing the capacity and safety of remotely piloted aircraft operations, and improving climate change communication practices. The success of his research program has been recognised by ARC DECRA and Future Fellowships and Early Career Researcher Awards from the Australian Psychological Society and Australasian Mathematical Psychology Society.

Moderator

Professor Tyler Okimoto
Associate Dean (Academic), Faculty of Business, Economics and Law,
UQ Recognised expert in business leadership as well as social and organisational psychology.