Under the new legislation, which was passed as part of a broader set of labor laws last year, employees of private businesses that provide round-the-clock services will reportedly have the option of working an additional two hours per day or an extra eight-hour shift.
The change means a traditional 40-hour workweek could be extended to 48 hours per week for some businesses. Food service and tourism workers are not included in the six-day working week initiative.
Giorgos Katsambekis, a lecturer in European and international politics at the U.K.’s Loughborough University, described the Greek government’s introduction of the labor law as “a major step back” for a workforce that is already working the longest hours in the European Union.
Workers in Greece work more than those in the U.S., Japan and others in the 27-member EU, according to data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Greek employees were found to have worked an average of 1,886 hours in 2022, more than the U.S. average of 1,811 and the EU average of 1,571.
Sam Meredith
Feels like just the other day countries were considering lowering working days to four per week, now others are going back to six-day work weeks?!
On a certain level I am in favor of having the flexibility to work more when there’s something pressing to finish, or when the employee needs the extra money and is willing to work overtime or during weekends. But in practice allowing companies to decide when to extend the working week will create perverse incentives for them to demand this even when it’s not necessary, and to reduce their workforce because the rest will have to pick up the slack. Even if workers at the same company can choose freely whether to work five or six days a week, the ones opting for the shorter week will increasingly feel the pressure to conform, as their bosses quietly reward and promote the ‘hard-workers’ to their detriment – the same dynamic we have seen these past years between remote workers and those returning to the office.
As a means to increase productivity and drive growth, this policy will undoubtedly fail. Productivity can increase if the output increases faster than the worked hours, but generally with longer schedules people become less focused and productive. Add to this the decreased morale of having less leisure time, the contrast to other developed economies, which are moving in the opposite direction, the poorer prospects for young people, who may prefer to emigrate for higher wages and more free time… The measure could end up worsening the issues with productivity and worker shortages in Greece.
What annoys me the most about this legislation is that it provides precedent for other countries to explore similar, or more unfavorable, labor laws. Instantly there were dozens of LinkedIn pundits praising the move as if this thing would magically solve countless issues in the labor market for the foreseeable future – university professor types who haven’t worked a serious job their whole lives, and whose schedule is more like 4/4/4 (4 hours a day, 4 days a week, 4 months of vacation a year). I love how they can have the gall to push others to work more…
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