Conversations around the four-day workweek were first reignited by the COVID-19 pandemic, with workers and employers rethinking the importance of workplace flexibility and benefits.
The idea is simple – employees would work four days a week while getting paid the same and earning the same benefits, but with the same workload.
Companies reducing their workweek would therefore operate with fewer meetings and more independent work.
Hailed as the future of employee productivity and work-life balance, advocates for the four-day workweek suggest that when implemented, worker satisfaction increases, and so does productivity.
Trade unions across Europe are calling for governments to implement the four-day working week, but which countries have embraced the idea and how is it going so far?
Belgium became the first country in Europe to legislate for a four-day week.
In February 2022, Belgian employees won the right to perform a full workweek in four days instead of the usual five without loss of salary.
The new law came into force on November 21 last year, allowing employees to decide whether to work four or five days a week.
But this does not mean they will be working less – they will simply condense their working hours into fewer days.
The goal is to give people and companies more freedom to arrange their work time.
Belgian prime...
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