France ponders the idea of a 32-hour working week
The trade unions in France are incredibly powerful and the CGT union supports the idea. Its secretary, Sandrine Mourey, was quoted in theas saying, “for us, it’s an opportunity to think about the organisation of work differently,” adding that it didn’t need to mean working on just four days, but could mean five shorter working days to help families.
France steadfastly protects its workers and their working life but French workers still manage to maintain high productivity levels compared with other countries, despite taking lunch breaks and having a legally shorter week.that French people typically have 24.8 years to spend in retirement, whilst the average American has 18.1–indeed, the current retirement age in France is low, at 63.3 years.
Many companies around the world are currently playing with the idea of four-day working weeks, some with the idea of paying employees the same money as for five days.that Unilever is currently running a one-year trial in New Zealand paying its 81 employees five days pay for a four-day week. Parkinson’s Law, coined in 1955, says all tasks expand to fill the time allotted to complete them, pushing people towards the idea that their jobs could be done in less time with the same productivity levels. The pandemic has taught companies a lot over the past year, namely that one way of measuring employee productivity could be in terms of output rather than time spent. It remains to be seen in France, how far this idea takes hold during the upcoming French presidential elections.