On one hand India’s banking industry is still struggling to get Saturday off, on the other hand many countries in the world are already on the way in implementing a four day work-week.
Four Day Work-Week In Germany
For instance, nearly a year ago, the UK began a four-day work week trial.
As a result, they started to witness the lower stress and burnout levels among employees.
Now, this initiative is taken by Europe’s largest economy, Germany as it is set to become the latest country to begin the trial.
The development comes during a time when the country has just about managed to come out of recession.
Presently, Germany is battling a labor crisis as the country is set to begin the four-day work week trial from February 2024.
As part of this implementation, hundreds of workers in Germany are eligible to receive an additional weekly day off with full pay.
This is going to be a six-month program that begins on February 1.
The main reason behind this trial is to determine whether labor unions’ claims that it could make employees happier, healthier, and more productive turn out to be accurate or not.
Interestingly, this trial commences at a time when businesses are under pressure to hire more skilled workers considering a shortage of labor in the country.
The Labour shortage has affected the total economy in Germany as it is making employees in all industries feel more empowered to demand pay raises.
They also want to protect the flexibility and independence they acquired during the pandemic.
This problem is anticipated to get worse for Europe’s largest economy due to the reason that by the year 2035, over 7 million Germans are anticipated to have left the labor force due to low birthrates and immigration.
This in turn will not be enough to replace the country’s aging population.
Countries With 4-Day Work Week Implementation
The four day work week is already implemented in many countries, its details are given below.
- Australia
- Austria
- Belgium
- Canada
- Denmark
- France
- Germany
- Iceland
- Ireland
- Japan
- Netherlands
- New Zealand
- Norway
- Portugal
- Scotland
- South Africa
- Spain
- Switzerland
- UK
- USA
- United Arab Emirates
