Valencia is testing a four-day work week during April

Valencia workers will test during this month of April What would your life and work be like if you had a four-day workday? implemented in their companies. A pilot project promoted by Joan Ribó city council aims to analyze the effects that a 32-hour work week can have on the economy, the health and well-being of residents, as well as the impact on the environment.

The initiative was rejected by merchants when it was proposed a few months ago, but the City Council decided to go ahead with it study of the impact on citizens, although the results will be known only in July. The mayor assures that it is not about shortening working hours, which is the responsibility of social workers, but that it is “a test, an experience that will benefit society and workers”.

The month of April was chosen for this test considering that Mondays, April 10, 17 and 24, as well as May 1, are holidays in the capital, which partially distorts the initiative because it is not implemented in real conditions. Businesses in the city will be closed because of the holidays and many residents may leave the city to take advantage of the long weekend.

“We work on things that directly benefit people, many of them are organizational issues, the organization of society,” said Ribó. In his opinion, the trend is going in that direction at the European level, and he cited as an example other countries where the shortening of working hours is propagated, such as Germany or Great Britain, where it has been successful.

Thus, of the 71 companies that in June last year in the United Kingdom changed their working hours to one of four days a week without a reduction in pay — the largest pilot test carried out to date in the world — 61 extended it, and of those 18 has already become permanent. The The results reveal a significant reduction in stress and illness rates among 3,300 workers which are part of the project. Seven out of ten reported feeling less tired and 40% less stressed.

Returning to Spain, many private companies already implement this system, with or without wage reductions. In the Community of Valencia, the Consell has published a call for public assistance for those companies that spend this kind of day, but the stringent requirements set meant that only three were able to pull it off. Therefore, a new invitation was announced this week, which they hope will be more successful.