The workings of the labor journals four days ago is not a new discussion even with the pandemic has sought to clarify after that the relationships and work routines have been changed all the time because of the coronavirus.
Various companies in various countries have been able to test this idea, by increasing the productivity of the four workable days and giving a mayor motivation to the workers, as well as more opportunities for family conciliation and listening to the guests of the company mental health, between other winds and those that appeal to defenders.
In countries such as New Zealand, Canada or Germany the idea of implementing this week of four days, 32 hours, has land and New Zealand exists including a designated organization ‘4 days a week’, which promotes its implementation.
An example is the New Zealand food and cosmetics company Unilever, which announced in December that it will be hosting four days during the year, with employees adjusting the full salary system.
“La viejas formas de trabajar están obsoletas”, writes a BBC Mundo Nick Bangs, manager of Unilever Nueva Zelanda, who confronts that it is inspiring and the effect of the other firms como Perpetual Guardian of Microsoft Japón, which present the current ideas of the The Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Jacinda Ardern, said he was looking for companies to work in the most flexible way to deal with the pandemic.
The Spanish experiment
Spain could convert one of the first countries of the world to try the weekly week of four days in an experiment that proves to involve 200 companies and between 3,000 and 6,000 workers, who will not be charged their fees.
Asi recently explained the party leader ‘Más País’, which proposed the initiative to the governor and announced that the executive had accepted the bill.
To put this project on the market, we have 50 million euros at our disposal to help the interested companies as well as the initiative for three years.
The costs that tend to take up the company to reduce the working week to 32 hours are covered by the governor at 100% during the first year, at 50% the second year and at 33% the third year.
In the last few weeks, detailed details to be put into action in this pilot project that ‘Más País’ has assured that it will be assisted by a panel of experts composed of representatives of the government, trade unions and business groups, to carry out an analysis.
According to Tejero, the pilot will be able to march towards the end of this year and will take the first initiative at the level of pay to reduce working hours during the week. “Spain will be the first country to carry out a test of this magnitude,” said Tejero. “A pilot project like this has not been carried out in any part of the world”, added.
In 1998, France took steps to advance a working week of 35 hours, although experts assured that in reality it could not be put into practice.
Spain was one of the first countries in Western Europe to adopt the weekly week of eight hours, following a 44-day hiatus in Barcelona in 1919.
The results of this Spanish pilot plan will be followed by other countries to take the decision to implement or not this initiative.
The variant of the 6 hours a day
José Canseco, Professor of the School of Business at Barcelona EAE Business School, dijo al medio Business Insider that with the week of 32 hours absenteeism decreases and productivity increases, it is impossible to increase the concentration. According to the professor, “the human mind is being built to reach a 6-hour productivity limit”, because it also has an initiative that has been tried in countries such as Denmark or Sweden: implanting a labor market of six hours, five days a week.
Agreed with Canseco, the ideal series would apply “a mixed system”, taking into account the needs and methods of work of each sector. The expert gathers that in the “near future, in 4 or 5 years, we will start to lose”.
Obstacles
Employers who oppose the week of four days argue that this type of workmen terminate less work and that this type of company is less competitive, because it does not have the same level of availability for customers.
In Spain, Ricardo Mur, leader of CEOE, one of the main employers’ associations of the country, describes this initiative as a “locura”, that the country maintains a deep economic recession due to the pandemic. “Getting out of this crisis requires more work, at least”, said Mur in a forum in December, The guardian.
