Belgium has become the latest country to announce plans of offering employees the chance to get a four-day workweek under the federal government's plans to boost flexibility in the workplace.
Authorities wish to address the problems exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic as the whole world has experienced what Prime Minister Alexander De Croo called "difficult years." The choice to overhaul the country's labor laws will enable workers more freedom when working.
Four-Day Work Week
Employees will also be given the right to ignore their bosses and work emails if it is already after work hours. The process is another growing trend in the workplace in the middle of the health crisis.
The seven-party coalition federal government of Belgium was the one responsible for striking a deal for the agreement. It aims to be able to make "people and businesses stronger." During a Tuesday news conference, De Croo said that the country aimed to become "more innovative, sustainable, and digital."
De Croo added that his administration wanted to incentivize more people to work as the employment rate in Belgium was at around 71% by the end of last year. The federal government wanted to increase that number to 80% by 2030, as per The Washington Post.
Belgium's latest announcement would affect roughly 65,000 government workers in hopes of providing a better work-life balance. In a statement, Belgian labor minister Pierre-Yves Dermagne said that the decision resonated with workers in the country. The official argued that an employee is the one who will make the request and the employer must provide solid reasons for any form of refusal.
The announcement will let workers request a four-day workweek for a six-month trial period and will have the choice to either maintain the shortened workdays or go back to their previous timeline. Belgium's four-day workweek is not like other countries' processes; while others removed a day in the workweek, they did not require workers to put in more hours in the other four days.
According to Forbes, Belgium's program would maintain a 38-hour working week with the additional day off compensating for longer workdays. This means that employees will be required to work longer fours on each of the four days.
Similar Programs
Other nations that have implemented shorter workweeks include Japan, New Zealand, Spain, and Sweden. A pilot program from 4 Day Week Global, a New Zealand-based not-for-profit advocacy organization, was announced in January and will be launched for a six-month trial period that will begin in June.
The director of the Four Day Week Campaign in the United Kingdom, Joe Ryle, announced on Twitter on Wednesday that there were already 50 companies in the UK that supported the initiative.
Furthermore, the United States could also be on its way to implementing a four-day workweek after economic stagnation and recession in the 1970s and the 1980s cut any momentum for the process. A previous study found that Americans who worked four days a week reported benefits such as "significantly higher levels of well-being and less likely to feel chronically burned out," Newsweek reported.
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