The Chaser Report - The 25 Minute Work Week

Episode Date: August 13, 2025

Dom and Charles hold an international summit on how to boost productivity, and the solution isn't a measly "four-day work week", it's even better. ---Buy the Wankernomics book: https://wankernomics.com/bookListen AD FREE: https://thechaserreport.supercast.com/ Follow us on Instagram: @chaserwarSpam Dom's socials: @dom_knightSend Charles voicemails: @charlesfirthEmail us: [e-mail] CEO’s Super-yacht upgrade Fund: https://chaser.com.au/support/ Send complaints to: [e-mail] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Chaser Report is recorded on Gatigal Land. Striving for mediocrity in a world of excellence, this is The Chaser Report. Hello and welcome to the Chaser Report with Domain Charles. An intercontinental edition with Globetrotting Charles Firth, who is in Edinburgh, apparently selling very well with Wankanomics. Charles, your mission to rebrand yourselves as a highly successful wanker is going along great guns. Yes, yes.

October is sold out to a degree that. I find highly implausible, but motions on that. However, it also means the podcast feed is a bit slower. We haven't done any episodes this week, and so this is coming up on Thursday. Charles, that means we're actually ahead of the curve because the new trend. This is the CPU, the Council of Trade Unions, has come out this week. He wouldn't have seen the news because why would that make news in the UK? And they proposed a four-day work week.

They say, this shouldn't it? It won't have impact pay or it will improve living standards. And thanks to an increase in productivity, everyone will do as much work, they claim. But we're only working for three days a week while you're away. And frankly, I think that is even better, even more productive. Look, I think this is right. So the ACTU's argument is we can increase productivity by working less because workers will be fresher every time they get into the office

because they'll have an extra day off to sort of, you know, do their life, you know, and I think that that works, but I think that they haven't taken the logic far enough. Like, I think, you know, like we're doing a three-day work week. I think that's good. I think a two-day work week. Imagine how fresh you'd be if you only work two days a week. But I'm thinking one day, one day a week. Oh, my God. Imagine it's how productive everyone would be. Yeah. You would. You wouldn't stop for a second. You wouldn't have coffee. You wouldn't, you probably wouldn't have a lunch break. Absolutely power through.

To be clear, if it was one week, I think it'd have to be nine to five because you'd be so productive, you'd get everything done. You'd get everything done by probably 3.30 or 4 for the whole week. Yes, I think that's right. Thank you for your patience. Your call is important. Can't take being on hold anymore. FIS is 100% online so you can make the switch in minutes.

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and a well-placed podcast ad. Get the word out about your business through ACAST. Visit go.acast.com slash advertise to get started. And I think the thing is, anyone who has a job knows this to be true as well, Dom. Like, it is entirely true. Like, the reason why you take as long as you take at work

is because, you know, you've got to fill out the time and you don't want to get burdened with any extra work by being too productive, right? But we could all... There's a risk of setting expectations too high, right? If you have an absolutely quarter of a week and you get everything done really early, and then you do all this extra stuff

that you won't even ask to do just to be even more effective and productive. Then you boss will say the same thing next week. It's not on. It's not on. And the thing is, if you eliminated all the unnecessary. And this is how we actually implement a one day work week

is what you do is you just eliminate all unnecessary meetings from the work. And then you would actually, like everyone would be able to do their work in about half an hour each week, I reckon, meetings. This really is. In fact, this is Wankanomics. Yes.

You've been so immersed in that world that you're just thinking at all meetings as a completely pointless drain on time. And frankly, having seen your current show, you make a telling argument. Yeah. And I felt so telling was it that at the end of the Wankanomics, one hour, 40 minutes, I felt that the meeting with you in the theatre had been a completely inefficient waste of time as well. Thanks, Dom. I'm glad it felt like one hour.

and 40 minutes, because the show's actually only one hour long, so. I'm just looking at your publicity who says it's one hour, 40 minutes. Okay, fine. Oh, no, you know, that's our October tour. Yeah, we've got to add, we've got to add some jokes. It is genuinely quite good. It's genuinely quite good. It's genuinely really good, I mean, I should say.

Okay, so, Charles, why stop at one day? I mean, a half day, a half day, a four hour. That can be very, isn't there a book called the four-hour work week? Isn't there someone on this already? Yeah, look, I think. And look, I think maybe four hours is too long. Like, maybe the point is because, I mean, this is just normal. This is just pure maths, right?

If it's true that the less you work, the more productive you are, then what if instead of us turning up to work and working and then the company paying us money, instead we worked minus, you know, a day, minus four hours of work each week, and we get the company to do the work for us. You see what I mean? So we don't have to work. And maybe we pay the company a little bit of money to do the work for us. Do you see what I mean?

Charles, I mean, that really is. That's iterating like a boss. I mean, that's really fantastic. This guy, Timothy Ferris, has done the four-hour work week. No wonder it's sold well. And then he wrote the four-hour body and the four-hour chef. I think four-hour chef's probably too long. Yeah, it just strikes me.

And his thing is live anywhere enjoying the new rich. And clearly the best way to do that is to write a book promising a four-hour work week, which he's already done. But it's a compelling message. I think, I mean, in the era of AI, child, maybe the correct amount, actually, is the length of one of our podcast episodes, about 20 to 25 minutes. Yes. Maybe that's a need.

We put out one per week. And it's the 20 to 25 minute work week. We could make a lot of money out of that, Don. And all we would need to do is earn so much money from that one episode. It would need to be so good and so lucrative. That's all we'd need to do. I mean, it's kind of the home-ish daddy dream, isn't it? Yeah, yeah.

They've got it sorted. Yeah. All we need to do is get their level of charisma and commercial sailability and we'll be there. Yeah, I'm sure that that's just as easy as just writing a book. The 20-minute work week. That's what I'm thinking. I love it. But, Dom, I'm in the UK.

I haven't seen the coverage of the East. I assume the Labor government, who was elected on the promise of representatives, the Labor movement is all in favor of this, because this is something that will increase, you know, Labor's standard of living. So am I right in assuming that Albo's right behind this push? So the first response I want to go to, this is something that's going to be pushed for, by the way, at the productivity roundtable. This is what the idea is. I don't know if they're going to take four days. Do you think they're going to skip a day? Well, they should. They should.

Because this is not just based on like the ACTU pulling something out of their ass. The airport is actually, there's actually science behind, there's actually a whole lot of economic evidence that a four-day work week is just as good as a five-day work week. And you have arguably even productivity boosts because your workers can actually tend to the rest of their life and really focus on work when they actually are at work. So it's not just based on nothing. No, unless you read.

economist Richard Holden writing in the financial review today when she says that the studies that the ACTU sites are complete bullshit. And unfortunately I did, I wasted time reading his column and so I'm a slightly dubious about the whole idea. But I still like the idea. So Tim Wilson has come forward the new amendment of Goldstein and said that the Labor and the ACTU plotted on this proposal. And that they plotted to increase people's happiness. Oh my God. What a conspiracy. Release the happiness files. But the thing is, Charles, that Anthony had already ruled it out saying the government has no plans for a four-day work. What a fucking fuck-wit. Last week, Albo said that he's not going to rule anything out, that he's open to all suggestions

for productivity. But the one suggestion that he has ruled out is the suggestion that would use and increase in productivity to actually improve people's lives. So clearly his belief is that productivity should only advantage companies and not people. Is that his position? Is that his stated position? Be fair, it would also benefit shareholders as well. Yeah, well, exactly. Yeah. He was asked if he supported the idea. The PM said, I wouldn't mind a six day and 23 hour work week myself rather than 24-7.

He then says people will come up with a whole range of ideas. That's not a bad thing. I think a lot of people would like to have a five-day working week. These ideas will come up. I'm not going to give a running commentary on all of them, but certainly the government has no plans. So you know that when someone says, I'm not going to give a running commentary,

then that person's really working for six days and 23 hours, because if he was, he'd have time to give a running commentary. You know, I've got a theory on people who oppose a four-day work week. Yeah. My theory is that they fall into two categories. Right. You're either people who hate their families and don't want to go home and spend time with their family or and or, you know, they are people who have an unequal distribution of

housework at home, right? So, because the thing is, anyone who actually, you know, wants to spend time with their family is going to look at this proposal and go, yeah, yeah, let's just make it work, right? Like, let's, like, this is a good way to run your life, right? Like, to spend more time with your family. Similarly, if you're somebody who has to do a whole lot of the housework and tidy up and clean everything and get everything sorted and do all the admin and all that sort of stuff, you're going to go, yes, I need that extra day to do that.

The only people who, I mean, like, who do you think has, like, how do you think it works in Jody and Albo's relationship? Like, who do you reckon does more tidying up around the lodge? Jody or Alba? What do you reckon? I think the butler does. I don't know. Just think about it.

So Alba gets home and he goes, oh, darling, Jody, I'm just so tired from a hard day's work as the head of the Labor movement, screwing over the, well, the Labor movement. I've got to lie down and Jody goes, oh, yeah, no, no, that's all right. Do you eat it? I'll put on the McCain frozen pizza tonight for you. You really sort of, you know what I mean? Like, he's the, like, the reason why he wants to work 23 hours a day, six days a week, is because he doesn't have to do anything at home. Yeah, you're right.

And it wouldn't be, Jody. It would be the butler going, here's your McCain frozen pizza, sir. I think Butler's probably not going to go down to the four-day work week. The thing that really troubles me about this idea, okay, sure, if you can, if Richard Holden's wrong and you can get the productivity to work, great. And particularly in an AI era, maybe you can. Thank you for your patience. Your call is important.

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But Charles, there's one group of people, I insist work for five days a week. And okay, maybe they can work for four days a week and have a roster or something. But there is over my dead body, Charles, over my dead body in the name of productivity, will school go to four days a week? School has to be five days a week. No, I want the time to work. Yes, I want the time for me, not for my family. Yeah, no, that's good.

Yeah, yeah. So we have a 20-minute work week. But your kids have to work 23 hours a day, six days a week. Well, otherwise, how do they become the leader with the Labour Party in the pro-medicant? It's good. The AI revolution. I mean, it should. Charles, if we actually were successful, when you're going and doing the stage stuff,

you can ideally, I mean, if you can write a decent show, it seems that you can, you can work an hour a day. You can do a one-hour show a day. Isn't that the dream in common? That is what I'm doing at the moment. And it works well. Why are you recording this? Oh, yeah.

It's crazy. Because it's now a sort of, it's an hour and a half a day. No, because I'll tell you what, that's a 50% increase in productivity, Dom. That's massive. These are the sort of game. See, if we all scale down our work week to 20 minutes a day, then every extra five minutes that we work will literally be a 25% increase on productivity. And all the numbers will work well.

Like, the economists will love it. And this actually exposes the other thing about. economics right and this whole productivity fucking caper right which is I am all for increasing productivity like I get why productivity is important in terms of increasing you know

society's wealth right yeah but but the absolute proof that economics is not actually a science at all but actually a sort of moral belief system like a form of modern theology really is that Protestant work ethic

Yeah, is that, you know, so the ACTU has sort of is arguing for something where the productivity will actually benefit the worker. Like, you know, they're basically saying, look, like there are ways to sort of reshape the way we work that actually means we end up with happier outcomes for workers, right? And immediately, you know, like every economist has come out and said, oh, no, you can't possibly do that. that's not what we meant by productivity. The only way that productivity can be measured is by how much value it creates for companies. Like, this has nothing to do with people. And that is not, that's not productivity.

That's not a science, that's not a scientific or evidence-based sort of thing. That is a belief system, the idea that the only benefits should go to companies rather than to workers. But that is just a fucking theology. and they should just climb down off their high horse. And that's why I'm so fucking sick of the narrative because it's so fucking shit all the time that every time our fucking Labor government

tries to sort of, you know, does anything. It's like, oh, how do we make ourselves into better automons for the system rather than actually, you know, you know what? We're Australians, like let's actually do something for people, for fucking ones, sorry. To be fair, to be, and I know you're only a high house about this. Yeah.

Charles, you have to salute the productivity gains in just saying no to everyone. That doesn't take a lot of time. I mean, rather than trying to solve these problems, if you simply take the position, no, that's very, very efficient. It saves a lot of time. Yes.

And, I mean, you have to hail. The government didn't aim very high. the governments that talked about building car parks and didn't build them. It takes a lot less time to say, oh, yeah, car park can go on and build it. This is how we achieve productivity in government. The rest of us should do the same sort of thing. You know, I've just come up with a perfect way to increase productivity immediately for the government, which is to cancel the meeting, the productivity roundtable.

Cancel it activity time. Yeah, because that's a meeting. That would save a lot of time to say, oh, should we have a productivity roundtable? round table? No. That's what the previous government would have done. No. But also, okay, look, I mean, I can save them all the time. Chat GPT-5's out. Very easy. Just ask it. You'll take one second. It'll have an answer. That's it. End of story. Isn't that the way that's the key to productivity? Just get Chat-GPT-5 through the work. And as long as the people who make... They don't have bother having a meeting. Well, I can't see any problems.

There's no downsides with that at all. Yeah. There's no hallucinations in AI. You can completely rely on what they say. Yeah, no, I think that would. Let me just ask. What is the one thing Australia needs to do to supercharge productivity? I'm on chat, GPT5. Productivity, just typing away.

Oh, no. What? Charles, this is no. What? All right, it's got one answer. got an answer. It's a simple answer. Oh, wow. It's one sentence. You ready?

What? It says the one thing Australia is to supercharge productivity is to massively lift skills through lifelong education and training. I mean, that sounds like a bit of hard work to me. I don't think they're up for it. And also, they've massively cut funding to universities.

All the entire university sector is in crisis. That's a direct result. of the government's policy. Oh, damn, okay. I literally say this is a large number of academics I'm hearing. You know what we should do. That's the proxivity summit. We make the universities work a six-day work week.

That's what we do. Everyone else gets four days, but because it's all about training. And then the schools, so basically Chet JCPETE agrees with us. Because we said, oh, schools should be, you know, six days, 23 hours a day. And same with the universities. Oh, wait a minute, but you work at a university. don't you, Don't anymore. I don't know if chat GPT being this good.

It even explains how to do it. A lifelong learning system subsidised microcredentials and rapid re-skilling. Employer tax incentives tied to workforce up skilling. A cultural shift where training is as normal as paying super. And it's also saying, I can outline the one sentence answer that economists, unions and business groups will give. Oh, okay. And what's there?

I mean, there's no need for a summit. We just had it. We just had it. This is it. This is. Well, see, this is. increased productivity already. We've done the government's hardlifting for them.

Just, good. We're good. And all with a 20-minute work week. It's perfect. Do you want me to know what the one sentence is, let me tell you the one sentence that all the other camps will say. Yeah, what is it? Insanely good.

Yeah. Economists, reform the tax system, get away from stamp duty and payroll tax, broad-based consumption tax to unlock investment and labor mobility, business lobby, cut red tape, speed up project, approvals. Union movement, boost wages and job security, so there's stability and confidence. Tech sector, adopt technologies, especially AI at scale. Yeah. Infrastructure advocates, build more transport energy system, not in this Australia. Education reformers, lifelong learning universal.

That's the one that chat GPT likes. And then the climate people are saying accelerate the clean energy transition. And then it says, tell me which one has the strongest evidence base. This is actually great. This is, this is the strongest. evidence it does say chat chippy Tick can make mistakes don't the bottom

over the screen and yeah it's gone back to skills information and workforce upskilling yeah well that's it's all over

people that's because the people doing the research and generating the evidence a fucking at the university

they have a vested interest in telling you to learn more large language models just gone and looked at university research that way

university's good yeah what a fucking scam yeah all right all right well look that's i've been recording for 22 minutes that's enough of a workday for me charles oh god we've done overtime did we get paid two minutes overtime i hope so we're part of the economy class network yep catch you tomorrow if we can be bothered yeah i don't

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