Moldova’s Minister of Labor reacts to four-day workweek proposal
Several European countries have allowed employers to shorten the workweek to four days, while others are considering this option. However, the Moldovan government does not plan to regulate or implement such a model.
According to the Minister of Labor and Social Protection, Alexei Buzu, the essential thing is employees' productivity, which cannot be measured by the time they spend at work.
"We are in an economy based on services and information technologies, which means that the unit of measurement regarding the time someone spends at work is less relevant. What is relevant is that employees be productive. If certain economic agents want to organize their time by having four working days a week, they can do it and the productivity of my colleagues in the team is more important than the time spent at work. The government will not regulate and impose a model for establishing a four-day workweek on employers in the Republic of Moldova," Minister Buzu told Radio Moldova.
Alexei Buzu added that, currently, the legislation allows private companies to organize their work in this way, with one condition - that the salary rights of employees are respected. Specifically, the Labor Code does not prohibit companies from applying a reduced working week, what is essential is that the working day does not exceed ten hours.
We remind you that Belgium was the first country in Europe to legislate the transition to a reduced working week in 2022. Employees received the right to work four days a week with the same workload and without reducing their salary. The authorities expressed their hope at the time that this change would make the rigid labor market in Belgium more flexible and allow people to more easily combine family and professional life.
The model has also been tested in Portugal, and a similar one has been successfully implemented for several years in the United Kingdom. Over 200 companies have adhered to this idea, without making salary cuts, thus changing how the British work. Last spring, France also began testing the four-day working week in ministries and local administrations. Meanwhile, after a year of delicate negotiations, the Spanish government has given the green light to reduce the working week from 40 to 37.5 hours, which will be applied to about 12 million private sector employees. Last year, the Polish government announced its intention to amend the Labor Code to reduce working hours by introducing a four-day or seven-hour workweek before the current executive’s term ends in 2027.
Only four out of ten companies would accept such a program in Romania.
States implementing this model say employees feel more rested and less stressed, contributing to increased productivity and a better work-life balance.
However, the prospect of a reduced week does not benefit all workers. For example, some full-time employees would have to work longer hours each day to get all the tasks they used to cover in five days. Others, such as those who work shifts, cannot flex their work schedule.
Author: Cristina Prisacari
