Advice firm decreases working hours

Australian financial advice firm, Invest Blue, has announced it has implemented a trial of a nine-day working fortnight, giving employees an extra 26 days off a year and costing the business approximately $1.9 million.

This comes after the firm was included on the inaugural list of Australia’s Best Workplaces for Women in 2022 and has previously received several certifications from list creator, Great Places to Work.

Kasey Patterson, Invest Blue’s Head of People and Culture, said its inclusion on the list and working hours initiative speaks to its philosophy: “If we look after our people, they will look after our clients”.

“Our vision is to be Australia’s trusted home of great advice,” she said.

“Our mission is to have a recognisable presence across the country, which depends on our ability to attract, develop and retain advice professionals who are able to consistently deliver excellent advice and service to our clients.

“A critical element of our recruitment strategy is to ensure we remain a great place to work and initiatives like the nine-day fortnight demonstrate our commitment to employee health and wellbeing.”

Lexi Glover, Chief Operating Officer, said the nine-day fortnight initiative extended to the firm’s 194 employees around Australia and its offshore team was its way of offering workplace benefits to uplift employee satisfaction while only minimally disrupting operations and clients.

“We have the right technology and infrastructure to support our people but most importantly we have the right culture,” she said.

“Geographically, our people are spread out in many different locations so trust and transparency are critical. It is not uncommon to have teams that work together operating from different offices or from home. We have established operational rhythms, data analytics tools and clear communications including daily team huddles, which can be done physically or virtually.

“Business growth should never come at the cost of employee wellbeing. Everyone is busy here and there’s plenty of work to do so, intuitively, it doesn’t make sense to compress the week and give people every second Friday off but research shows that this approach can lift productivity while increasing employee satisfaction.”