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The priority? Mental health – breaking latest news

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Working life can be rewritten. The pandemic has demonstrated this and the numerous debates on this issue, which emerged in the post Covid, demonstrate it. From smartworking to hybrid work, from large resignations to new offices, each of us is wondering how to improve our lives, even reducing the work week. Even before Covid, when Sanna Marin was Finnish Transport Minister, she put the question on the plate during a panel: a four-day working week and six working hours a day is needed. In fact, Marin argued that shorter working hours can be offset by higher productivity and higher employment. Working less to work everyone, keeping more or less the same salary. An old adage that now that he is in government, however, has disappeared from his radar. The youngest Prime Minister of History, after a media buzz that has taken up those old statements of hers, has denied that this hypothesis is on the agenda of the current Finnish coalition. But the theme of working less (and better) has started to circulate again now in the Covid post exactly as with every release of the OECD ranking that certifies what we already know: very long working hours can damage personal health, compromise safety and increase the stress. And after the global pandemic, with smartworking that has sucked up our lives, the 4 days a week model has reappeared everywhere, so much so that the “global movement of 4 days a week” (copyright Forbes) has been talked about.

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In Scotland, the government has announced its intention to allocate 10 million pounds to finance the trials in the company. In Spain, it was proposed by Más País, the small party of Iñigo Errejón, a fugitive from the Unidas Podemos of the vice president of the government Pablo Iglesias. “We live sad, drowned and exhausted – he wrote on twitter winning thousands of likes – Our production model has expired and to improve it we propose to reduce the working day to 32 hours per week and put mental health at the center of the political agenda”. A debate completely absent from the political agendas of many European countries where, however, there are companies that are already testing a different production model.


The Spanish fashion brand Desigual approved by a large majority, 86% of workers, the reduction of the working week to four days, from Monday to Thursday, with the option also of using smart working. But in this case, the modification of the production model will lead to a decrease in wages of about 6.5%. A risky model that has been criticized by many parties. Much farther away, in Japan, it was Microsoft who experimented with the 32 hours in the summer of 2019, bringing home a productivity increased by 40% and a CO2 production decreased by 20% (due to the reduction in pollution that follows). A revolution if we think of Japanese culture where death from overwork, considered a real social problem, even has a name: Karoshi. In New Zealand, Unilever is trying it, working 4 days a week with a test that will end at the end of this year. “If you end up working 4 days with much longer hours then we have not achieved the goal – said Nick Bangs, managing director of Unilever in New Zealand – to the Financial Times. It is a question of radically changing the way we work ».

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Yet, a trade union political confrontation on the subject it is struggling to take off everywhere. Also in Italy, among the first places among the countries of the Euro area, where people work more hours a week (with 33 hours a week, 3 hours more than the European average of 30 hours. An average however influenced by the spread of contracts part-time work and other forms of flexibility). Above the average are also Ireland, Portugal, Slovakia, Latvia, Spain, Slovenia and Lithuania. But more hours of work does not mean greater productivity, so much so that our country is instead at the bottom in terms of productivity. France, which has one of the legally shorter working weeks, is still one of the most productive countries in the world. According to Gallup, an American consulting and analysis firm, it is obvious that a four-day work week means lower risk of burnout and greater well-being among employees. And it is precisely for this reason that many managers of multinationals are considering more permanent flexibility in the workplace. A hypothesis based on what they learned during the largest forced labor experiment in history during Covid.

“According to our study done in March 2020 out of 10 thousand full-time workers – explained Gallup – only 4% said they work four days a week. 84% work 5 days and 11% 6 days. The latter had the highest burnout and exhaustion rates. In that 4% of workers 4 days a week, there was instead the highest rate of well-being and mental health ». A shorter work week would offer more opportunities to cultivate social, physical and mental well-being. But according to Gallup it may not be the only solution. For the consulting firm, the real problem is that globally 8 out of 10 employees are discouraged from work. “The desire to escape from work is symptomatic of unhappy workplaces – he explained -. Furthermore, as flexible working hours and hybrid work become more and more widespread, it no longer makes sense to legislate on a reduction in the working week. Rather, it would be necessary to invest and improve on the skills of managers, to give them continuous coaching to have more awareness of their role. If employers focused on improving the quality of work experience, they could have nearly three times the influence on employee satisfaction compared to reducing the work week. ‘ Working life can be rewritten, but how and in what ways is still to be seen. Constant dialogue with employees will be essential, who now, more than money, look to other priorities: work-life balance, flexibility and mental health.

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