Sweden is testing the six-hour day
Working less with the same salary? In the Swedish city of Gothenburg, the dream of many workers comes true. Municipal Councilor Mats Philhem dares a one-year attempt: A part of the public employees works only six hours a day, with full salary. The Swedish newspaper "The Local" said Philhem: "It is time to give this project a chance in Sweden." As a result, he hopes for increased effectiveness, fewer sick days and a more pleasant working environment.
Phillem, member of the Left Party "Vänsterpartiet", puts forward the following thesis: "He who works shorter feels physically and mentally better". He found that in some sectors, such as the elderly, it is not the labor shortage that is the problem, but the long, often inefficient (shift) work. That's why he is launching his one-year pilot project in this area as well: one group of nursing home workers will work six hours a day while the other half will stay at eight hours. The University of Gothenburg is scientifically researching the shortened working hours.
In Germany, too, there have recently been proposals for new working time models. Not only did Jutta Allmendinger, director of the Social Science Research Center Berlin, speak out in ChroniquesDuVasteMonde for the 32-hour week, but also Family Minister Manuela Schwesig brought a draft 32-hour week for parents on the table - and was not only by Business representatives, but also punished by the coalition partner. Yet the term "work-life balance" does not only play a role in Swedish and German parliaments. "Performance is measured by how many hours you spend at work, not by what comes out in the end, and in that logic it makes more sense to spend a lot of time with less work, rather than doing a lot of work in a short time. "My generation wants to change that," says Kerstin Bund (author of "Happiness Beats Money - Generation Y: What We Really Want") of "Time." And probably not only speaks from the soul of those born between 1980 and 1995.
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Can such a working time experiment work? Or are the six hours a utopian dream that can not exist in reality? Discuss in the ChroniquesDuVasteMonde community: What do you think about shorter working hours and alternative working time models?
