In a move that has been described as ‘barbaric’, Greece has decided to introduce a six day working week.
As businesses across the world experiment with a shorter, four-day work week, the European country has decided to go the opposite way.
‘When almost every other civilised country is enacting a four-day week, Greece decides to go the other way,’ commented Akis Sotiropoulos, an executive committee member of the Greek civil servants’ union ADEDY.
The alarming news comes after six-month pilot saw 61 companies from across the UK cutting hours to 80% while keeping salaries the same, with over 2,900 employees taking part.
The pilot was a success, as 56 of these businesses (92% of participants) extended the four-day week experiment and 18 made it permanent. A report released in 2023 claimed the benefits to worker wellbeing are ‘extensive’.
But despite the obvious benefits, Greece is introducing a law which allows a 48-hour working week as of Monday (1 July). The scheme will only apply to private businesses providing round-the-clock services, and Prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said the decision was made as a result of a shrinking population and a shortage of skilled workers.
While the change has been met with backlash by unions, it seems that the work life balance lessons we learnt during the pandemic are being forgotten.
Research released by LinkedIn found that 49% of companies would prefer staff to work more from the office, with 10% planning to force a return over ‘productivity paranoia.’
Molly Johnson-Jones, co-founder and CEO of Flexa, a platform for companies to advertise flexible working roles, says companies and countries need to stop ‘obsessing’ over how often employees are in the office.
She tells Metro.co.uk: ‘The four-day week trial taught us that 32-hour weeks can be as productive as 40-hour weeks. Yet companies and countries alike continue to obsess over the number of days and hours that staff spend at their desks as a measure of output. This approach risks incentivising the wrong behaviours’.
Molly says the key to improve employee output – as per the aim of Greece’s new laws – is by giving workers autonomy, not pushing them to work more.
‘If people want to work more days – whether that be five days instead of four, or six days instead of five – they should be able to choose roles that enable them to do so.
‘This is not the same as companies enforcing strict “return to office” mandates and going back on flexible working policies.’
So, is it likely that the UK could follow in Greece’s footsteps? Thankfully, the experts don’t think so.
‘If RTO (return to office) resistance is anything to go by, most UK workers would reject six-day weeks if our own government were to enforce them,’ says Molly.
Sophie Wardell, people director and HR expert at Higgs LLP agrees, citing that our five day week dates back to the 19th century.
‘Given this longevity, I don’t see an immediate cause for concern in the UK being inspired by Greece’s changes to the working week model.’ she says.
‘The current trajectory in the UK suggests that the government would be more likely to pursue the opposite policy: the four-day working week.’
However, she adds that Greece’s move is ‘concerning’.
‘Time away from work is crucial to reduce burnout and stress,’ she says. ‘As such, moving in the opposite direction of increasing working hours would increase stress-related health issues, physical health concerns, and a strain on family relationships.’
Greeks already work the longest hours in Europe, mucking in for an average of 41 hours a week according to Eurostat, the European Union’s statistics agency.
‘With a growing body of research emphasising employee well-being, there is evidence that increasing working hours could be counterproductive,’ says Sophie.
‘Remote working has been an incredible movement towards human-centric and output-focused thinking in the workplace. On the contrary, Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ policy works against these benefits.’
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