MILANO – In France we talk about the possibility of reduce the working week to four days for divorced parents. Or to alternate “long” and “short” weeks, to meet the need to spend time with the children, when you are “on duty” as part of the separated couple.
The prime minister recently put the proposal on the table Gabriel Attalwhich to Tribune Sunday he dusted off a theme that had already seen him at the forefront of the issues of his leadership of the Ministry of Finance.
In Swiss you think of shorten nurses’ hours from 40 to 38 hours, to win back a plethora of workers who emerged exhausted from the pandemic: the bugaboo is arriving at 2030 with a hole of 30 thousand professionals. According to the Sunday newspaper NZZ on Sunday the card could be played at a federal level, after a trial in a hospital in the Zurich area gave results that were widely appreciated. The problem is the cost: 1.5 million, in the case of those 260 nurses who saw their working hours cut by 10% for the same salary. Half of the money, however, was indirectly returned as fewer resignations and therefore a reduction in the need to resort to temporary jobs to plug staffing gaps.
Two out of three Italians would like to work less. The rule of “doing the bare minimum” wins by the Economics editorial team 21 February 2024
Cyclically the “short week” theme comes back high, especially for these international experiences. In Italy we have welcomed important steps forward, with the cases of some cutting-edge companies – Intesa Sanpaolo, Luxottica, Lamborghini just to name a few – which have turned the spotlight on this innovation. Livio Bossotto, partner of Allen & Overy, notes that indeed “employer and trade union organizations have an increasingly greater interest in the well-being of workers”. In national contracts the point emerges – in credit, for example, half an hour has been cut to 37 hours per week, in insurance there is a sort of free Friday – “but after the last few years of galloping inflation this round of renewals is very focused on the economic aspects”.
On the other hand, for the labor law expert it is precisely in relationships at company level that the game is played. What is holding back the expansion of these practices “is a sometimes antiquated mentality which translates into a lack of trust towards the employee”. Moving to the ‘objective-based’ way of working – and therefore of evaluation – remains a quantum leap.
And so the question arises: how are our European neighbors behaving? The international law firm has collected the practices of the main countries for Repubblica. “The interest is undoubtedly common to all the main labor markets – says Bossotto -. Clearly there are more ‘advanced’ cases, such as the Dutch one in which the concept of ‘generational pact’ has also been inserted which accompanies older workers to retirement with a reduction in hours that makes room for young people, as well as preserving their health ”.
So let’s see, thanks to the reconnaissance of Allen & Overy’s international partners, what the picture is in the countries close to us.
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We are still “experimenting”
As for diffusion, the general feeling – with the exception of Holland where some practices such as the ‘generational pact’ have been included in company agreements for years – is that we are still in an experimental phase that concerns few companies. The feedback is quite unique. An increase in the feeling of well-being among workers emerges from all countries. A thumbs up also comes from the human resources managers. Overall, the response in terms of productivity is also positive, but with some shadows. In Spain, for example, a trial in Valencia led to reports of sales losses in the commercial sector and negative feedback from customers.
But how can you organize the short week? Potential ideas come from abroad.
Belgium’s short two weeks
In Belgium, explains A&O, there is a collective level at company level, and an individual level. The first short week is implemented through a collective agreement in which the employer can opt for four working days or five working days with reduced hours. Total working hours are a maximum of 36 hours per week (instead of the normal 38) and a maximum of 9 hours per day, but can be further reduced (e.g. to 32 hours per week). The salary can be reduced proportionally or kept at the same level. In the latter case, employees can for example work 80% of their normal weekly working hours, while maintaining 100% of their salary. If, however, one operates on an individual level, in the case of an agreement with the employer the employee can work up to 9.5 hours a day for four days (therefore a total of 38 hours per week) or up to 10 hours a day if the working hours Applicable work is 40 hours per week. Salary and benefits are unchanged.
The German case
Even Germany – where there is no specific legislation but we rely on collective or individual agreements – reasons in two ways, based on how much of the original timetable is spread over the other days. In the first case, the weekly working days are reduced from five to four while maintaining the same salary; here it can be a question of eliminating an entire day (going for example from 40 hours a week to 32) or opting for a proportional reduction (from 40 hours a week to 36 or 34). These times are then spread over four days. Instead, you can have a cut in weekly working days, but maintaining the same full weekly hours, as well as the same salary; i.e.: no reduction in working hours, but distribution of full weekly working hours (e.g. 40 hours) over four days a week (and not five). The most popular formula is the four-day week, even with a reduction in hours.
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The Dutch pacts
In the Netherlands the situation is more stratified, regulated by contracts at national or company level. The first model dates back to the 1980s and translates into the so-called ADV/ATV formula, mechanisms included in contracts which essentially mean “reduction of working hours”. Employees – A&O always explains – work fewer hours, for example 36 hours per week instead of 40, or they work 40 hours per week and accrue four ADV/ATV hours (i.e. additional paid holidays) per week. Their salary does not change.
Then, since 2014, there has been that “generational pact” mentioned above: agreements that allow older employees to gradually reduce working hours in the final years of their careers, while maintaining favorable conditions for income and pensions. The goal is to help older workers retire healthily and create opportunities for younger generations. A classic scheme in this area is the “80/90/100” scheme, i.e. an employee works 80% of his normal hours, receives 90% of his salary and accrues 100% of his pension entitlement. There is also pressure from the union (CNV) to drop to 30 hours per week, while some companies are experimenting with shortening hours.
Spain at work
In Spain, a new legislative framework is being approved aimed at reducing working hours from 40 hours per week to 38.5 in 2024 and 37.5 in 2025. We are therefore moving towards a regulatory framework, while up to now the practice has been entrusted to collective agreements which have actually reduced the number of weekly hours to under 40 hours, but calculated as an annual average, and therefore not strictly definable as a short week.