On Tuesday, the Labor Secretary said the four-day week should not be a legal obligation, but rather a dialogue between companies and workers, with incentives to implement the model.
Ana Mendes Godinho spoke to reporters in Lisbon after the presentation of an interim report on the four-day working week project, according to which the majority of companies and workers who tried the new work model were satisfied with the experience.
“This pilot project worked very well because it was carried out on a voluntary basis,” said the Minister of Labour, Solidarity and Social Security, when asked whether the four-day week should be included in the legislation.
According to Ana Méndez Godinho, “these processes should be based on dialogue and the great active participation of workers in building their own models and should not be imposed by law.”
“This is a path, not a legal imposition, but an increasingly developed project in collaboration with new solutions and, naturally, so that the state can develop incentives and support tools to make this happen,” the minister added, pointing out that we must await the pilot’s final report in April, which will indicate the path to take.
According to the interim report, 41 companies are experimenting with a four-day week in Portugal, covering more than a thousand workers, and 21 companies coordinated the start of a test in June last year.
On average, the four-day week resulted in a 13.7% reduction in weekly working hours, to 34 hours, according to companies.
More than 40% of companies chose a nine-day, two-week schedule, alternating a four-day week with a five-day week, and only 20% decided to have Friday off.
The study also shows that 75% of companies have adopted organizational changes such as reducing the number and duration of meetings, creating work pods or introducing new software, with 95% of companies rating the test positively.
The level of work fatigue fell by 19%, and the percentage of workers who believe that balancing work and family is difficult or very difficult fell from 46% to 8%.
According to the document, 85% of workers will agree to switch only to a company that works for five days, subject to a salary increase of more than 20%.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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