Why Greece’s Six-Day Workweek Gamble Won’t Pay Off

Greece has simply launched a six-day workweek coverage, efficient July 1st, 2024, geared toward enhancing productiveness and combating its persistent unemployment points. As of Might 2024, Greece’s unemployment charge stands at 10.6%, exhibiting a decline from earlier years however nonetheless reflecting vital financial challenges. The query for me stays whether or not the easiest way to beat these challenges and optimize a working populace is by extending the workweek.

Though early into its life, the brand new coverage has sparked widespread debate. Will Greece see a boost in productivity and enhance its financial circumstances, or does this alternative have a better probability of stagnating the workforce additional and damaging work ethic and morale? Let’s discover each side of the coin.

The financial context

So, why is Greece ready requiring such a drastic change? The reply is pretty easy — Greece has confronted substantial financial hardships over the previous decade, significantly because the debt crisis within the early 2010s, which noticed unemployment charges soar to nearly 28% in 2013.

Clearly unsustainable, Greece has carried out an important job bringing the unemployment charge again right down to 10.6%, and this means restoration. Nevertheless, it is all relative. In reality, 10.6% stays one of many highest within the Eurozone. Greece’s authorities wanted to do extra, and this choice to implement a six-day workweek was due to this fact pushed by a have to stimulate financial exercise and scale back joblessness.

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Professionals of the six-day workweek

The primary chance is that the six-day workweek may result in increased general output. In fact, by rising the variety of workdays, companies may obtain extra consistent productivity and scale back downtime. Companies maximize the utilization of their sources in a setup like this, each fiscally and personally. Nevertheless, whereas this further utilization may drive financial development and a discount in unemployment, you’re additionally extra prone to expertise burnout within the group and drop morale. What’s the affect of this? A lower in productiveness.

There are a lot of items to this puzzle. Some sectors, significantly these reliant on steady operations, may profit from the prolonged workweek. Extra workdays can translate to extra manufacturing and buyer engagement for industries like manufacturing and companies, which could assist companies get well quicker in a nonetheless fragile financial system.

Greece is seemingly clued up on this, as the brand new legislation will solely be legitimate for workers of personal companies and manufacturing vegetation that function 24 hours a day, together with sure retail and agricultural employees.

Moreover, the legislation (particularly Law 5053/2023), which was handed by parliament on the again finish of 2023, clarifies that the worker’s further day/hours are capped at 8 hours. Employers can even resolve whether or not a employee ought to are available and work for this sixth day. There’s flexibility, which could possibly be vital to the tactic’s success. The incentives are additionally fairly vital — staff can be paid 40% additional time for the wages overlaying the additional time.

Associated: Why ‘Quiet Fridays’ Are the First Step Towards a 4-Day Workweek

Downsides and alternate options

Regardless of these potential advantages, it most positively will not be assured to be all sunshine and rainbows for Greece. Loads of analysis and sensible expertise means that extending the workweek may not be the simplest technique for enhancing productiveness.

Longer working hours can result in employee burnout, decreased job satisfaction, and decrease general productiveness in the long run. A 2014 study by Stanford University discovered that productiveness per hour declines considerably when the workweek exceeds 50 hours and drops off so sharply after 55 hours that there isn’t a level in working anymore.

Moreover, the standard of labor can endure when employees are overworked. Artistic and cognitive duties, that are essential in lots of fashionable industries, are sometimes higher carried out with sufficient relaxation and a balanced work-life schedule.

Clearly, all of us have totally different working types, however the present shift in the direction of distant and asynchronous work fashions advantages the workforce usually. Flexibility can enhance productiveness and worker well-being, as long as you select your staff rigorously.

Associated: Why Hybrid Work Is Failing Your Employees

Embracing fashionable work practices

To steer on from that final level, we all know that Greece can not select its staff, and so it doesn’t have the luxurious of pinpointing particular industries or working strategies for particular personnel. Due to this fact, it is smart to implement a reasonably broad ‘repair,’ even when it’s not all-inclusive.

What I’m wondering, although, is whether or not they may gain advantage extra from embracing fashionable work practices that target flexibility, distant work, and asynchronous communication as methods to enhance output.

At Bubbles, we facilitate asynchronous communication and alter how colleagues have digital conferences. If constructing and utilizing Bubbles has taught me something, it is that updates, suggestions, and concepts don’t must be given throughout the identical four-wall boundary. In reality, a faster, extra environment friendly approach includes being aside and being extra versatile.

Studies have shown that dedication to asynchronous communication and collaboration has lowered the quantity of real-time conferences groups have by up to 38%. Who is aware of what may occur when it comes to output if Greece have been to focus and put money into the effectivity of the present 40-hour workweek as an alternative of preserving this largely related whereas solely boosting the period of time individuals spend doing it.

To supply some optimistic context to this rationale, we are able to take a look at corporations like Atlassian and Slack, which have reported increased worker satisfaction and productiveness by minimizing conferences and specializing in deliverables fairly than hours labored.

I can perceive this concept absolutely, however whether or not the execution is right is one other matter. Whereas the choice is smart inside Greece’s financial context, it’s essential to contemplate the potential long-term impacts on worker well-being and productiveness and, as such, the alternate options for optimizing the present format of Greek working tradition and hanging a steadiness between financial development and morale.