Factbox: The four-day work week: some see a win | – #Factbox #fourday #work #week #win
February 21 (Reuters) – Participating in the world’s biggest test of the four-day work week Britain companies largely decided to keep what campaigners on Tuesday hailed as a breakthrough for better work-life balance.
That may still be a far cry from the 15-hour workweek that British economist John Maynard Keynes predicted in 1930 could be the result of mass automation – and surveys show that the vast majority of firms have no plans to go down the same route.
However, in the past two years, many experiments such as the COVID-19 pandemic, rising energy bills and labor shortages have led employers to rethink the work week for reasons ranging from employee well-being to cost savings.
Their France 2035-hour work week enacted in 00 law whether the project will have longevity remains to be seen. And they contrast with the grueling hours and dangerous working conditions that remain the lot of millions of workers around the world.
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Below are some examples of schemes:
BRITAIN – Workers at 61 companies worked an average of 34 hours over four days between June and December 2022 to earn their current wages. 56 of them or 92%, 18 chose to continue like this permanently. A number of participants reported improved job retention and recruitment during the trial.
SPAIN – The left-wing government launched a pilot project in December to help small and medium-sized companies cut their working week by at least half a day without cutting wages to boost productivity. The country’s telecommunications giant Telefonica also gave its employees a four-day week offer did – but in return the salary was reduced by 12%.
ITALY – Italy’s largest bank Intesa Sanpaolo last year to employees this january the option of a four-day work week with the same salary from offer made, the first such move by a major Italian employer. Intesa said it was looking at shortening the working week to curb rising electricity bills.
PAKISTAN – Fuel savings have also been a key motivation for Pakistani authorities, who last June included provisions for shorter working hours in a sweeping energy-savings plan. In his case, the cut was six to five days.
GERMANY – A pay deal agreed last April for tens of thousands of workers at Germany’s public sector banks included a reduction of one hour to the 38-hour work week from 2024. Germany has been a pioneer in aligning working weeks. labour to avoid cutbacks in fee negotiations or economic slowdowns. Car In the 1990s, the bosses of the giant Volkswagen said that the four-day week was harmful to their competitiveness and wanted to increase it. Recently, he and others car manufacturers practice a 35-hour work week.
CHILE – Santiago-based career services company People&Partners was among the first to implement the four-day week during the COVID-19 pandemic. It said it was inspired to take the step after Chile’s mass protests in 2019, followed by economic hardships from the pandemic, took a toll on its workers.
NORDICS – Some government offices in Denmark and Iceland have already adopted 4-day weeks. Nordic Visitor, a tourism company with offices in Iceland, Scotland and Sweden, has reduced its working week from 40 hours to 35 hours. He said that the satisfaction of employees has increased, sick reported fewer days and more profit.
NEW ZEALAND – Estate planning company Perpetual Guardian 2018He experimented with the four-day week in 1940 and later made it permanent, leading to increased productivity and absenteeism. Consumer goods giant Unilever has also experimented with a four-day work week for local workers.
Designed by Mark John, edited by Christina Fincher
Our standards: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
2023-02-21 20:40:28
Source – reuters
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