A four-day working week sounds like a dream to many people. And until recently, it was little more than that: a concept being tested at universities around the world. But now that we’ve learned that Belgium has passed the concept into law: Well, that’s where we want it too.
For Belgians, the five-day week could soon be a thing of the past: The new law stipulates that employees will only be able to work four days a week. This will certainly bring even more flexibility to the world of work than the pandemic has done.
Employees can work the same number of hours as before, but spread over four days in order to get the fifth day off. This also does not result in a pay cut. Employees can apply to switch to this way of working for six months. If this proves successful, they can either make the change permanent or return to five days.
To do this, employees must submit a request to their employer. If it is rejected, companies must justify their response in writing. In addition, the Belgian government has also introduced an ‘interruption’ outside of working hours. In other words, employees in companies with more than 20 employees are not obliged to answer emails or phone calls outside of working hours.
This four-day week could give employees in Belgium the boost they need after two years of the pandemic. And in Germany too, of course. We’re keeping our fingers crossed.
Adapted from an article written by Max Hailer for Secret Munich.