A four-day week would be a problem for companies

A four-day working week would be a problem for employers, because it would deepen the current labour shortage. According to them, shorter working hours should be addressed through collective bargaining. Trade unionists, on the contrary, see a solution to the shortage of workers in reducing the number of working hours. This follows from the reactions of employers' organisations and chambers, as well as trade unionists, whom TASR approached.

„A long-term problem of employers, which we constantly point out, is the labour shortage. If several employees were to request a four-day working week at the same time, the shortfall could amplify this difficult situation even more significantly. For a certain type of job, especially in the non-manufacturing sector, it is possible under certain conditions to shorten the working time at the workplace, but a shorter working week would, for companies that have, for example, continuous operations, cause higher costs or increased administration in connection with hiring new people,“ said Miriam Filová, spokesperson of the Association of Employers' Unions and Associations (AZZZ) of the Slovak Republic.

„We do not agree with the view that shorter working hours should be mandated in a centralised way. We are of the opinion that this institution should be regulated through collective bargaining, where many companies already today have a shorter working week agreed in their collective agreements than the standard working time,“ emphasised the spokesperson of AZZZ.

A four-day working week would, according to the Secretary General of the Federation of Employers' Associations, Martin Hošták, have „incalculable consequences“ for the ability of companies to fulfil orders and would fundamentally worsen the situation on the labour market, where almost 100,000 employees are missing. „Experiments from abroad (Iceland, Belgium) did not confirm the justification of such social experiments, and the working week remained five days,“ underlined Hošták.

Shortening of the working week is not welcomed by the agri-food producers either. „The Slovak Agricultural and Food Chamber (SPPK) definitely does not support considerations of shortening the working week to four days. Such an intervention in the length of working time in our segment is out of the question altogether. Agriculture and the food industry have long struggled with a shortage of employees, and therefore companies are forced to use foreigners, temporary workers for work in the sector, or, for example, fruit growers introduced self-picking in orchards precisely because of the labour shortage. Therefore, in the agri-food sector, options are sought rather for how to involve more people in the work process than to take away time spent at work,“ added the spokesperson of SPPK, Jana Holéciová.

The Food Chamber of Slovakia also rejects, according to the words of its director Jana Venhartová, the proposals to shorten the weekly working time. „According to OECD data from 2022, fewer hours are worked annually in Slovakia than the OECD average, and also fewer than in the other V4 countries. Already at present, the Labour Code allows, where the nature of the work permits, the agreement of an employment relationship with shorter working time, or possibly flexible working time. Many employers at the same time allow employees to work from home or other benefits,“ Venhartová added.

„The claim often appears here that we cannot shorten working time because in Slovakia we have a high labour shortage. And it is precisely the reduction of working hours that can be a solution to the labour shortage,“ added Martina Nemethová, spokesperson of the Confederation of Trade Unions (KOZ) of the Slovak Republic.

When sectors suffer from a labour shortage, high costs associated with unfilled positions and the need to use agency workers, one should, according to her, ask why the labour shortage occurs in the first place. „The answer in many cases is related to unsustainable work, overtime, hard physical conditions and low wages. The solution can be precisely shorter working time,“ concluded the spokesperson of KOZ of the Slovak Republic.

Article taken from Teraz.sk.