Today, the scenario in which we work for four days and rest three days seems unrealistic so far. This vision is tempting but revolutionary for many. However, there are more and more experiments about shortening the working week, and they are conducted in different countries and cover various industries. And The pandemic is encouraging employers to take bolder decisions. In the program “Money. It’s Important”, Andrzej Kubisiak, Deputy Director of the Polish Economic Institute, asked whether it was possible to extend the weekend in Poland as well.

Four working days a week. Changes are inevitable, but we’ll have to wait a while

The four-day workweek (editor’s note) is not a trend for this year, but rather a long-term path. I feel it The first pebbles in this avalanche have already flown. COVID-19 has been a catalyst for changes in this regard – Kubisiak points out.

More and more countries are implementing pilot and testing activities to shorten the working week. We know that this experiment began last year in Spain. It is a specific component of the anti-crisis measures within the framework of European funds from the Recovery Fund. This week, there is information that an experiment with the participation of other companies has also started in the UKHe will test the four-day work week. Trials in Iceland and New Zealand are behind us – some companies are also testing such solutions – says the PIE expert.

As he explains – the first results of the experiments indicate that in general, companies do not lose out on the extension of the weekend, despite the fact that the number of working hours is reduced by 1/5.

– The work (performed by employees) is at least comparable, and sometimes at a better level than the work done in the five-day working mode – says Kubisiak.

And he reminds you of that Our economies have already gone through a similar revolution.

A few decades ago, we worked six days a week. Our parents and grandparents remember it well. It was a long-term process because it began in the early 1960s and 1970s and lasted nearly two decades. Changes started about four working days a week, and I think it’s inevitableBut they will take again – a decade, maybe two. Andrzej Kubisiak believes that our children will likely work in a different form than the one we know.