Employees at Microelectronica, a manufacturer and retailer of hardware and software tools, had their employees gradually work four days a week over the past eight months, increasing productivity by about 30%.
In Serbia, employees work about 43 hours a week, above the European average, but Microelectronica wanted to see the effect working fewer hours would have on productivity.
“Productivity increases only if a personal and team decision is made to get the job done in four days. Other employers find it strange that you must increase the paycheck in a four-day workweek. But people used to spend Friday at work, and now they have that day to go out and spend money. Paycheck comes from productivity, and the four days will be more productive with more work getting done”, the company’s director Nebojša Mati told Serbian Radio-television.
The UK, Spain, Iceland and Belgium have all attempted to implement four-day work weeks, mostly with positive results, though the benefits were not visible across industries.
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which in Serbia make up most of the businesses, would have a hard time implementing such a model due to the low employee count, while the retail and hospitality sectors would likely not benefit from this type of system.
“If we get a law that states a four-day work week, it should only leave that possibility and let employers and workers figure it out through dialogue. The economic power of Serbia and developed EU countries are certainly not equal, although we are progressing”, said Svetlana Budimčević from the Serbian employers union.
(Bojana Zimonjić Jelisavac | EURACTIV.rs)
Source: euractiv.com
