Earn the same salary by working four days a week instead of five. More and more countries in Europe are opening up to short working weeks, and according to a recent survey, 55% of Italians want to be able to use it. In Belgium, this type of time flexibility has been active for almost a year but does not seem to have won the support of workers. According to data from the Securex pension fund, only 1 in 200 employees has chosen the four-day week so far.
In the country, from February 2022, employers and workers can agree on the reorganization of working hours through two formulas: One providing four working days of 9 and a half hours (instead of 7 hours 36 minutes) and the other providing rest. The other is not a short week, but 45 hours a week followed by another 31-hour week. The first option was chosen by 0.5% of employees out of 121 thousand Securex samples.
According to Securex, there are two reasons why the short week failed. The first of these is the distrust of employers towards this measure: One in four managers (25.7%) think that the short week cannot be implemented in their company; especially due to the work organization that requires some roles to be there five days out of five. But even workers have their doubts: Many fear that the excessive length of working days could upset the balance with family life.
So what do the 0.5% who prefer the short week think? According to a study by Ghent University, the vast majority of employees interviewed said working four days improved their work-life balance, but did not lead to more stress due to longer daily hours.
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Source: Today IT
Roy Brown is a renowned economist and author at The Nation View. He has a deep understanding of the global economy and its intricacies. He writes about a wide range of economic topics, including monetary policy, fiscal policy, international trade, and labor markets.
