Euronews: “Belgium approves four-day week and gives employees the right to ignore their bosses after work”

A government spokesperson confirmed to Euronews Next that employees would be able to ask to work four days a week for a period of six months. After that, they could choose to continue the arrangement or return to a five-day week with no negative consequences.

The period of six months was chosen so that an employee would not be stuck for too long in case of a wrong choice, they said.

Under the Belgian system, employees would be able to condense the current five-day week into four days. In practice this means maintaining a 38-hour working week, with an additional day off compensating for longer work days.

Tom Bateman

Reading the headline (and retweeting it) a couple of days ago, I assumed this meant a four-day week on the same 8-hour working schedule, but apparently I was overly optimistic… A 38-hour working week divided into four days translates into two working days on 9-hour shifts and another two on 10-hour shifts… Not the work-life balance progress I was expecting. For reference, Iceland also experimented with shortened working weeks with great results, but they moved from a 40 hour week to a 35 or 36 hour week.

A commuter walks past a closed metro station during a stoppage of the Brussels public transport network STIB/MIVB in Brussels April 10, 2012. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir/File Photo

Between commutes and lunch breaks (no idea how Belgian companies handle them, but here in Romania many employers add them to the working hours, so you end up spending a minimum of 9 hours at the office under current circumstances), people could end up dedicating 12–13 hours or more to their jobs. I’m not so sure the extra day off is worth it considering. Years ago, I worked at a company where I had shorter Fridays in exchange for working one extra hour the other four days, but I never felt that arrangement was to my advantage. I spent 10 hours at the office Mondays to Thursdays (the 9 regular working hours plus the lunch break), and then on Friday I couldn’t even skip my lunch break, which was technically my personal time, to leave at 2 PM instead of 3 PM… And then when I got home, I was so tired that the day was wasted anyway.

A four-day week does mean one less day of commuting, and for people who don’t have the luxury of working from home that might make this change palatable enough to switch. Personally, I would simply prefer the option to permanently work from home.