Jasmina Saraivanova, "Social Dialogue" expert at BIA, "Business Start"
It is a significant moment when the employer and employees agree on terms with which both parties are happy. It is also crucial not to violate labour law provisions. It is admirable if they meet all these conditions and the company that wants to introduce a 4-day working week manages to do. But on a larger scale, the 4-day working week is still seen as an individual decision rather than a global labour policy. In addition, the reduced working week also means less social security contributions paid into the social system.
Hristo Nikolov discusses the topic with Jasmina Saraivanova, "Social Dialogue" expert at the Bulgarian Industrial Association for "Business Start".
The specialist explained the example given by a Varna accounting company, which introduced a 4-day working week in 2019. However, she adds that we should keep in mind that working time connects with productivity and insurance. Therefore, many companies will not pay the same amount of insurance if they introduce fewer working days a week. She also drew attention to the problem of health insurance. If they decrease, the health system will experience difficulties. On the other hand, annual leave is likely to be maintained because of its original idea of preserving workers' mental and physical health.
At the same time, there are many businesses for which such a model would be unfeasible. Saraivanova gives an example with a law firm that works with state institutions and cannot fully carry out its services if it introduces new working hours.
"At the moment, there is a sufficiently thorough labour law, which does not need to be changed."
Jasmina also gives the example of Henry Ford, who introduced the 5-day working week and the 8-hour working day when there was no regulation of labour relations to the course of work.
"Henry Ford thought that a person could work 8 hours, sleep 8 hours and do something else for 8 hours."
She explained that, in reality, there are no legal obstacles that would prevent a company from introducing a 4-day working week if it considers that it wants to work in this way. But the idea of a shortened week has not yet been proven in time. Jasmina Saraivanova shares that the European Union is discussing the topic and researching whether this is a more effective strategy. Even in the EU, labour law is coordinated between different countries, but not uniform, simply because the population of each country has different views on work and labour.
"Indeed, businesses cannot afford to pay more for lower productivity, so in many places, a theoretical introduction of the 4-day work week, wages and social security contributions would decline, leading to a risk of social tensions."
Jasmina Sariivanova also commented on the Japanese model of a 4-day working week. She said that the Japanese have a completely different work culture than the Europeans. There, fatigue is much more severe. Japanese people consider it an inconvenience if you feel tired. Furthermore, the idea of the Japanese government is not to introduce a 4-day work week for people to rest, but to be able to work a second job.
