Is a four-day work week mandate likely in Australia if the fuel crisis worsens?
Several countries have now introduced a four-day week mandate amid the growing fuel crisis, with the big question being, will Australia follow suit?


News.com.au
March 26, 2026

Several countries have now introduced a four-day week mandate in response to the growing global oil crisis, in a bid to reduce fuel costs by having less commuters on the road.   

Sri Lanka, the Philippines and Pakistan have all introduced a four-day work week for government employees, with the private sectors also encouraged to follow suit.

In the case of Sri Lanka, every Wednesday has now been declared a public holiday, impacting government institutions, schools and universities.

Anthony Albanese has called a national cabinet meeting with state premiers for Monday to consider new emergency measures to conserve fuel.

It is understood the measures being examined include carpooling, working from home when sensible and public transport discounts.


So far, there has been no talk of following in the footsteps of other countries and adopting a temporary shorter week, but one expert says that if the situation continues to deteriorate then the government will have no choice but to bring in various measures.

“We’re not at that point just yet, but if the war carries on and reserves start running low, some form of measures will need to come into place to ensure fuel supplies for essential workers and vehicles are prioritised,” John Hopkins, Professor of Management, Deakin University and four-day week advocate, told news.com.au.

He added that if the Australian government tried to mandate a midweek shutdown now, like the one in Sri Lanka, then there would be “pushback for sure”.



However, looking back at the response to the 1970s oil crisis, it is not out of the realm of possibility that countries in the West could consider shortened work weeks this time around.

The 1973 crisis began when the Organisation of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) launched an oil embargo against countries that had supported Israel during the Yom Kippur War.

The move drastically cut global oil supplies, having a major impact on the Western world and essentially causing prices to quadruple overnight.

For the UK, this collided with domestic industrial unrest, further escalating the situation and resulting in the government imposing a legally mandated three-day week for many businesses.

Dr Hopkins said the adoption of these kind of measures “could happen again”, but if it does it would likely be a short-term, emergency measure.

“I don’t think it will become a permanent shift, and not something that would necessarily contribute to the wider debate around four-day weeks and working time reduction,” he said.

“Having said that, if these emergency measures ended up being in place for an extended period of time, there is more of a chance it could influence how firms operate in the future.

“Similar to the pandemic, a large-scale move towards working from home was never planned or on the agenda, yet it is now still available to many workers six years later.”

If the Australian government does choose to move to a mandated shortened work week in order to conserve fuel, Dr Hopkins said it will likely be implemented in one of three ways.

The first being that workers would receive their full pay and work four standard days. This is known as the 100:80:100 model, as staff keep 100 per cent of their pay but have their work hours reduced to 80 per cent.

The second option is that employees continue to work their existing hours over four longer work days instead of five.