The City of Valencia will temporarily introduce a four-day work week
From Monday, April 10, the city of Valencia will investigate how the four-day work week works over the course of four weeks. The municipality can try this because there are three public holidays in a row and a public holiday has been moved from January to this month.
In this way, the weeks of April 10th (Easter Monday), April 17th (San Vicente Ferrer), April 24th (January 22nd, San Vicente Martyr), and May 1st (Labour Day) will have only four working days. This is a city council-supported pilot project to test the impact of working 32 hours a week on people’s productivity, leisure time, mobility, economy, and health.
Las Naves Innovation Center Local Council It will evaluate the results and announce the results of this test starting July 20th. The proposal arose from a process of dialogue with relevant sectors made up of trade unions, companies, neighborhood associations, foundations and other social actors, and the experience is in line with similar projects implemented in several countries, including Lithuania, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Germany, Sweden, Iceland, Portugal and Japan.
Mayor Joan Ribot notes that Valencia is a European reference point for innovation and this is an innovative experience. We want a healthy, friendly city that cares about people. We want people to work to live, not the other way around.”He said on March 24 during the launch of a media campaign about the four-day work week.
Reducing the working week is a matter that depends on negotiations between unions and employers, but the city council wants to take the test and study what is happening through quantitative and objective data.
The pilot program will study three main areas: health, welfare, climate, and economics. Specific issues such as time use, work-life balance, well-being, tranquility, impact of the measure on greenhouse gases, air quality, noise, energy consumption, traffic, public transport, domestic tourism, hospitality, commerce and shopping, and other issues will be analyzed.
According to the mayor, the pandemic has led to the possibility of working from home, with the help of technological developments, and brought about a change in the way of working, other than being on site in offices and companies.
Fighting climate change has provided another factor to reduce polluting emissions while reducing daily travel, which also contributes to this cultural shift towards other ways of working. “I am optimistic and now it is time to take the next step, as has happened with the traffic-free areas in the city centre, where it has been proven that reducing traffic does not come at the expense of retail sales” According to the mayor.
In order to “motivate” the reduction of the working week, the Region of Valencia helps companies implement it, without affecting the salaries of employees. For 2023, it offers financial benefits of more than 9,000 euros per employee to companies that offer a 32-hour work week, always with prior agreement with the employee’s legal representation and a plan to improve productivity.
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