As the remainder of the world zigs towards a four-day workweek, Greece is opting to zag.
On Monday, a regulation got here into impact that permits some firms to implement a six-day workweek, a shift that’s supposed to prop up the nation’s growing old work pressure, compensate strapped staff and maintain agency to the Greek lifestyle.
The regulation applies to non-public sector staff in sure industrial and manufacturing sectors, or to those that work in a enterprise that operates steady shifts 24 hours a day, seven days every week, with some exceptions. And it will be allowed solely “in distinctive circumstances,” like an unexpectedly elevated workload.
Labor unions, which have lengthy pushed for higher working situations and rights, have opposed the transfer. It has prompted a fierce debate and, when the invoice was authorised final yr, protests. Greece already has the longest common workweek within the European Union, and it isn’t clear whether or not the prolonged workweek will bolster productiveness.
The motion in Greece stands in sharp distinction to a lot of the world. Senator Bernie Sanders, unbiased of Vermont, in March pushed to reduce the standard workweek in the United States to 32 hours from 40 hours. Trials have been carried out in Britain, Iceland and New Zealand, not less than partly as a response to the drastic shifts in work that had been precipitated by the coronavirus pandemic.
Right here’s what to find out about Greece’s additional time measure.
Why do some suppose a six-day mannequin may assist?
Greece is coping with a scarcity of expert labor, as are its peers within the European Union.
Conservative lawmakers within the nation have billed the regulation as a manner to supply extra assets for employers, whereas offering further earnings for staff.
The additional day, mentioned Niki Kerameus, the labor and social insurance coverage minister, will permit employers to handle “pressing operational calls for” that can not be met given the present provide of staff, and also will put extra money within the pockets of staff.
In response to the regulation, staff get an additional 40 p.c on their sixth day. This rises to 115 p.c if that day falls on a Sunday or a public vacation. Some staff are already working greater than 40 hours per week with out getting paid for the additional time, and backers of the brand new measure say it affords them protections as a result of employers must declare further hours to the federal government.
The labor scarcity has its roots in the financial crisis that started in 2009. Enormous numbers of staff, most of them younger Greeks, went overseas seeking higher prospects, and a few firms in the reduction of on coaching and growth, including to the issue.
The growth that got here after supplied welcome monetary reduction, but it surely additionally left employers brief handed because the financial system rebounded. Greece has struggled to take care of an enormous inflow of migrants, however it’s now providing some extra established migrants residency and work permits, in addition to signing offers with different nations to herald extra staff for sure sectors like agriculture.
How have critics responded?
The Greek authorities has sought to downplay the implications of the transfer, stressing that it was an “an distinctive measure” that “doesn’t have an effect on in any manner the established five-day working week,” Ms. Kerameus mentioned.
However many, particularly on the left, are livid.
Syriza, the leftist opposition celebration, denounced what it known as “a return to working situations of the nineteenth century that places the nation to disgrace.”
Nikos Fotopoulos, the final secretary of Greece’s non-public sector labor union, excoriated the measure in an open letter to Ms. Kerameus, the labor minister, calling the federal government “probably the most barbaric, most anti-worker authorities ever.”
Almost one in 5 Greek adults had been at risk of poverty final yr, based on the analysis institute of Greece’s non-public sector staff’ union, and Mr. Fotopoulos mentioned the federal government’s argument that staff can forgo the additional day didn’t maintain up.
“Which employee, with the unemployment and poverty we now have, would dare to say no to unchecked employers who you’ve allowed to deal with staff like their slaves?” Mr. Fotopoulos wrote.
What’s the case for a four-day workweek?
Supporters of a four-day workweek say it may have vital advantages for employers and staff.
The logic? Fewer hours on the workplace ought to imply that the time there ought to be extra productive. Employees, based on the speculation, could have extra vitality and incentive to energy by way of the three p.m. to five p.m. need-a-snack lull, or different durations when fatigue units in and their minds start to float.
“When individuals work much less, they have an inclination to work smarter,” mentioned Dale Whelehan, the chief government of 4 Day Week Global, a nonprofit group. “In consequence, they reduce out unproductive time inside their work and are in a position to get extra executed in much less time.”
The proof continues to be rising, however a British trial run — carried out by Dr. Whelehan’s group — appeared to have favorable outcomes. In a survey about midway by way of the research, which passed off in 2022, a lot of the firms reported no loss of productivity through the trial.
How does the productiveness argument play out in Greece?
Greece had the longest average workweek in the European Union final yr. Working-age individuals spent a median of 39.8 hours at their jobs, in contrast with the bloc’s common of 36.1 hours.
So whereas Greece is seeking to lengthen the workweek in sure instances, backers of the four-day workweek like to emphasise that much less can typically be extra on the subject of productiveness.
And Greece’s productiveness has lengthy been lower than the European Union’s average. Knowledge from Eurostat, the bloc’s statistics company, exhibits that Greek productiveness per working hour was 30 p.c decrease than the bloc’s common final yr.
“It gives an incentive to staff who wish to increase their wage — whereas additionally rising truthful play by employers,” mentioned Emmanouil Savoidakis, a lawyer based mostly in Athens, who mentioned a few of his shoppers in manufacturing have already expressed curiosity. “Anybody who needs to spice up manufacturing has to do it topic to sure guidelines and pay the additional time.”