Whereas some international locations all over the world are contemplating transferring to a four-day work week, Greece is swinging in the other way.
His authorities is implementing a brand new six-day work schedule, which is in keeping with the employment legislation generally known as Regulation No. 5053/2023. The legislation is voluntary for companies and the thought is to jump-start the economic system in a rustic nonetheless rising from the ashes of Europe’s worst monetary disaster in many years.
However when many international locations and firms all over the world are contemplating adopting a four-day work week to enhance the standard of lifetime of their staff, why does Greece as an alternative add a one-day work week?
What does the brand new legislation present?
Greece’s new legislation offers employers in sure industries, together with these offering 24/7 providers, the fitting to pressure staff to work a sixth day in alternate for 40% of their wages for the additional day.
So, if a employee earns a each day wage of $100 and their earlier weekly revenue was $500, they’ll now earn a further $140, bringing their weekly revenue to $640.
The legislation shouldn’t be obligatory. Nevertheless, if an organization does undertake it, it should be utilized uniformly to all staff. Moreover, by legislation, employers are required to inform staff a minimum of 24 hours earlier than the beginning of any new shift and usually are not allowed to work time beyond regulation past the eight hours allowed that day.
Workers may additionally work a second part-time job for a complete of as much as 13 hours per day and 65 to 78 hours per week.
The Athens commerce union group (EKA) stated Greece’s meals and tourism sectors weren’t included within the new legislation as they’d beforehand been allowed so as to add a sixth working day.
The coverage takes impact on July 1.
Why does the Greek authorities favor longer working hours?
“At its core, this laws is worker-friendly and growth-oriented,” Mitsotakis stated earlier than the Greek parliament accredited the legislation in September 2023.
The Greek chief stated the nation’s getting old inhabitants – an issue he described as a “ticking time bomb” – and a scarcity of expert employees made the brand new plan vital. Eurostat knowledge exhibits that greater than 500,000 Greeks have left the nation because the outbreak of the Greek debt disaster in 2010.
The continuing disaster, mixed with the fallout from Europe’s migrant disaster by which Greece is mired, has weakened the nation’s economic system.
Elizabeth Gosme, director of COFACE Households Europe, a coalition of rights-based organizations, stated the rationale for the brand new coverage was purely financial, because the aim was to extend productiveness and thus Greece’s gross home product ( GDP).
“From an financial perspective, [the policy] Not utterly irrational,” Gosme instructed Al Jazeera.
Giorgio Dimitriadis, youth secretary-general of the Greek Staff’ Federation (GSEE), added that rising productiveness and rising Greece’s competitiveness within the world market are the primary the explanation why the federal government bucked the worldwide pattern and adopted a four-day week. Controversial new legislation.
“[The law] It comes at a time when governments want to stimulate the economic system and enhance competitiveness,” he instructed Al Jazeera.
The federal government additionally stated establishing formal guidelines on a six-day work week would assist get rid of undeclared work and purpose to extend employees’ incomes, in line with a June assertion from the nation’s labor ministry.
Why do critics oppose the six-day work week?
worker well-being
Gosme warned that the brand new plan could possibly be “catastrophic” from a human welfare perspective.
She stated quite a few research present that overexertion can adversely have an effect on an individual’s psychological well being and sometimes results in burnout.
Greeks already work longer hours than most Europeans, in line with Eurostat.
Unions have been among the many most vocal critics of the brand new coverage, and 1000’s of Greek public sector employees, together with academics, medical doctors and transport employees, gathered in Athens on September 21, 2023, the day earlier than the legislation was handed. procession.
Practice and bus providers had been diminished, state hospitals had been staffed with emergency personnel and many faculties had been closed that day as protesters marched to Parliament.
GSEE says the legislation will worsen working circumstances, improve burnout and cut back employees’ high quality of life.
“This strategy is regressive and inconsistent with fashionable tendencies to advertise work-life stability and enhance employee well-being,” Dimitriadis stated.
Financial influence
He added: “Whereas proponents argue {that a} six-day work week will improve productiveness, GSEE is worried that the long-term penalties will likely be unfavourable, resulting in greater well being care prices and decrease productiveness on account of burnout.”
influence on ladies
Moreover, Gosme stated the legislation will disproportionately influence ladies, who nonetheless bear the burden of childcare in a largely conventional nation.
“The place do individuals – particularly ladies – discover the time to tackle caring roles?” she requested, including that carers typically want extra versatile working hours.
She stated that with out entry to skilled care – a state of affairs confronted by most individuals all over the world – households must step up and a few, primarily ladies, “could even be compelled to cease working altogether”.
Due to this fact, the brand new legislation won’t solely have an effect on the well-being of employees, but additionally the equality of ladies, Gosme stated.
lack of session
Lawmakers from the primary opposition Syriza occasion stated the federal government was pursuing a “secret agenda” towards employees, whereas the KKE known as the invoice “appalling”.
Staff’ rights campaigners have known as for extra dialogue with the federal government on the problem.
“GSEE believes that open dialogue between governments, employers and employees is crucial to discovering options that promote financial development with out sacrificing employees’ rights and well-being,” Dimitriadis stated. “They proposed various insurance policies to extend productiveness by way of know-how upgrades and employee coaching, somewhat than by way of elevated working hours.”
Which international locations are testing a four-day work week?
Whereas Greece is working in the direction of an extended working week, the pattern elsewhere is in the direction of shorter four-day shifts.
In 2022, Belgium handed laws permitting employees to condense their working days into 4 days as an alternative of 5. In April, Singapore stated employees may ask for shorter work weeks and extra versatile working hours.
As well as, the USA, United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, South Africa, Canada, Spain, Eire and Iceland have additionally trialed pilot applications.
Within the UK, for instance, of the 61 corporations which have tried a four-day work week, 54 have continued with it, and 31 of them have stated they’ll implement the transfer completely.
Gosme defined that through the COVID-19 pandemic, many individuals all over the world started to comprehend the significance of work-life stability, particularly when individuals misplaced their jobs or had been compelled to do business from home (some for the primary time).
Many four-day workweek trials started quickly after the pandemic, with shorter workweeks seen as an vital a part of attaining that stability.
What do consultants say about the advantages of a four-day work week?
In 2022, one of many world’s largest trials of diminished working hours confirmed that employees working a four-day week had been as productive as these working a five-day week.
Non-profit group 4 Day Week World ran the trial with 33 corporations and greater than 900 staff within the US and Eire, saying it was “an enormous success in virtually each means”.
In the meantime, the nonprofit ran a four-day trial within the UK final 12 months and located a 71% discount in worker burnout and a mean improve in income of 35%.
The group’s pilot applications have additionally seen optimistic leads to non-Western economies similar to South Africa and Brazil, with will increase in income and worker advantages.
As well as, the World Financial Discussion board hosted a number of panel discussions with reform advocates. Ultimately 12 months’s annual assembly in Davos, Sander van ter Nordend, chief govt of human sources consultancy Randstad, stated the four-day work week was “a enterprise crucial”.
Are every other international locations contemplating a six-day work week?
On the similar time, the six-day work week has turn out to be frequent in lots of corporations in China, with some staff working in a method generally known as “996” – working from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days per week. The follow is unlawful within the nation, and though it’s comparatively frequent, employees have died from overexertion, in line with media studies.
In accordance with the American enterprise journal Fortune, some corporations in the USA will even transition to a six-day work week by 2025. In April, know-how group Samsung carried out a brand new, longer work week for its high executives in South Korea.
