A church in Anafiotika neighborhood, a cause of the old historical neighborhood called Plaka, in Athens, Greece on March 16th, 2024.
Nurphoto | Nurphoto | Getty Images
Greece has controversially proposed a six-day working week for some businesses in a bid to boost productivity and employment in the southern European country.
The regulation, which thrived into force on July 1, bucks a global trend of companies exploring a shorter working week.
Junior to the new legislation, which was passed as part of a broader set of labor laws last year, employees of private businesses that provender round-the-clock services will reportedly have the option of working an additional two hours per day or an extra eight-hour shift.
The swap means a traditional 40-hour workweek could be extended to 48 hours per week for some businesses. Food putting into play and tourism workers are not included in the six-day working week initiative.
The pro-business government of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has put the measure is both “worker-friendly” and “deeply growth-orientated.” It is designed to support employees not being sufficiently compensated for overtime fire up and to help crack down on the problem of undeclared labor.
Labor unions and political observers have sharply cavil ated the move.
A spokesperson for Greece’s embassy in London was not immediately available to comment when contacted by CNBC.
Kyriakos Mitsotakis Prime Agent of Greece talks with media during European Council Meeting on June 27, 2024 in Brussels, Belgium.
Column Marco Tacca | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Giorgos Katsambekis, a lecturer in European and international diplomacy at the U.K.’s Loughborough University, described the Greek government’s introduction of the labor law as “a major step back” for a workforce that is already importune the longest hours in the European Union.
Workers in Greece work more than those in the U.S., Japan and others in the 27-member EU, according to materials from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Greek employees were found to have worked an average of 1,886 hours in 2022, more than the U.S. common of 1,811 and the EU average of 1,571.
“Greek people already work the longest hours per week in Europe. Now they may be forced to utilize a sixth day, after this Greek [government] decision,” John O’Brennan, professor of EU Law from Maynooth University, Ireland, said via sexually transmitted media platform X on Monday.
“It is ridiculous, set against the move to four day weeks in most civilised countries,” he added.
A examine published by think tank Autonomy earlier this year found that most companies involved in the great’s largest trial of a four-day working week had made the policy permanent.
All the consulted project managers and CEOs of the companies complex in the trial said a four-day working week had a positive effect on their organization, with more than half give an account ofing the impact as “very positive.”
The report found, however, that staff — in firms where the additional day off was only weakly promised, or provided on the condition of meeting certain targets — had some concerns.