Staff to receive same pay as those working longer hours
A Swedish council is piloting a shorter six-hour day for a group of workers employed by the municipality to increase productivity and potentially save money by reducing sickness absence.
Selected public sector workers in Gothenburg will work an hour less than the normal seven-hour day as part of the experiment. Employees in the elderly care division of the council have been nominated to work the shorter 30-hour week.
Another group of employees, a control group, will continue to work their regular hours on the same pay as the pilot group, then the achievements of the two groups will be compared. This trial is expected to last for up to a year.
Mats Pilhem, the city’s deputy mayor, told newspaper The Local Sweden, that he hoped the trial would show “staff members would take fewer sick days and feel better mentally and physically after working shorter days".
Shorter working hours have previously been championed as a way to boost productivity while reducing workforce stress and ill-health.
The New Economics Foundation think tank has previously called for the introduction of a 20-hour working week in a bid to ensure there were more jobs available, improved work-life balance for employees and less environmentally damaging energy consumption.
Commenting on the experiment in Gothenburg Anna Coote, head of Social Policy at the think tank, told The Telegraph newspaper: “Shorter working hours create a more committed and stable workforce.”
And referencing a trial in Utah where public sector workers were given a three-day weekend, she added: “There are indications you can make savings by reducing working hours.”
And this week, a legally binding deal has been signed by French technology industry employers that means they are not allowed to contact their employees via email or phone about work outside work hours. The idea is to stop the creep of work communications intruding on non-work time.