Greece Bucks the Trend, Approves a 6-Day Workweek

While many countries are testing a four-day workweek, Greece is going in the other direction. The southern European country on Monday introduced a six-day workweek for some businesses as laid out in a package of labor laws passed last year, per CNBC. "Employees of private businesses that provide round-the-clock services will reportedly have the option of working an additional two hours per day or an extra eight-hour shift," for a total of 48 hours per week, instead of the typical 40 in a five-day workweek, according to the outlet. Workers who toil for these extra hours will be "rewarded with a top-up fee of 40% added to the daily wage," per the Guardian.

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Various trials of four-day workweeks have shown increased levels of productivity and better focus. Moving the other way, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis' pro-business government has touted a six-day workweek as "deeply growth-orientated" and "worker-friendly." It's meant to address the issues of undeclared labor, improperly compensated overtime work, a shortage of skilled workers, and a shrinking population. But labor unions decried the move as "barbaric," per the Guardian. "Critics contend the reform ultimately sounds the death knell of the five-day working week" in part because private employers can decide whether a sixth day of work is required, notes the outlet.

"It makes no sense whatsoever," says Akis Sotiropoulos of the civil servants union Adedy, per the Guardian. "Better productivity comes with better work conditions, a better quality of life [for employees], and that, we now know, is about less hours, not more." Jens Bastian, an expert with the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, says workers may be fired for refusing to work longer hours, per Deutsche Welle. Giorgos Katsambekis, a political researcher at the UK's Loughborough University, adds it's "a major step back" for a workforce already working the longest hours in the European Union, per CNBC. Greek employees worked 1,886 hours on average in 2022, more than the EU average of 1,571 hours and the US average of 1,811 hours. (More Greece stories.)