News

Counties Manukau Rugby will trial an innovative four-day working week over summer in an attempt to look after hard-working employees and improve production.

The full-on nature of rugby and the fact that it largely occurs on weekends means that the Union’s staff are working six and sometimes seven days a week for large chunks of the year to keep up with the workload.

Over a sustained period that takes its toll and CMRFU bosses have been exploring ways to try and alleviate that burden, while maintaining standards and continuity.

The concept of a four-day working week in the rugby off-season was put forward and the CMRFU board has agreed to implement in on a trial basis this year after delving a little deeper into how it could work.

“Our staff work so hard through the rugby season, and it has been a concern of mine for sometime about burn out and workload,” chief executive Aaron Lawton said.

“We started looking into the best ways to give staff a decent break to refresh and re-charge the batteries without it having an adverse impact on our business.

“That is where the four-day work week idea came about.

“We have decided to implement it this summer, starting after the rep season this year through until the start of March in 2023.

“Core work will still be done, and the expectation is that this shouldn’t have an impact on productivity. It also won’t impact payroll, with the additional day off deemed a privilege rather than a contracted day off.

“The concept makes sense, and it will be a trial this year to see how it plays out in reality.”

The idea was shared with club leaders this week, who backed the initiative unanimously and staff have been informed as well, with it being warmly received.