Or......
They have finally realised that recruitment and retention is becoming a problem because of lifestyle and rostering issues. This is a way for them to relax some of the ludicrous and random restrictions without any loss of face. ("We always wanted to give you more days off in a row but the old system wouldn't let us. Now we can. See, we are nice guys really. Please don't leave.")
If recruitment and retention continue to be a problem expect to see even more clever things the new system can do that the old one couldn't.