Spain has cut its working week – here’s why that could backfire ...Middle East

MADRID – Workers may have applauded Spain’s decision to shorten the working week for the same pay but it may not be as good as it seems, studies show.

The Spanish cabinet passed the measure on Tuesday, which must now pass through parliament before it is expected to come into force by December.

Under the plan, Spain will reduce working hours to 37.5 per week from the current 40, with no change in salary.

Some studies have shown that cutting working hours may help with people’s work-life balance. However, others have found that it puts employees under more stress to carry out the same amount of work in less time.

One study found some workers benefited while other employees were forced to work unsociable hours in order to qualify for reduced hours.

A 2004 study for the British Sociological Association found that a French policy to cut the working week to 35 hours produced “inequalities between workers employed in ‘family friendly’ companies and those who have to accept unsocial or flexible hours of work in exchange of a reduction for their working time.”

Another 2019 study published in the Labour Economics journal on working week reductions in Portugal and France found it resulted in greater satisfaction with working hours and working conditions.

However, it said that if working hours were reduced it could result in “work intensification”.

Francisco Díaz Bretones, a professor of labour psychology at the University of Granada, said some studies in the past decade had shown that cutting the working week might not guarantee happiness.

“It is not as good as it seems. It may require many adjustments [for workers] who may find that they end up working more intensively for less hours,” he told The i Paper.

“In Spain it might have been better to change the working day than reduce the weekly hours. In Spain people start working at 10am but then stop at 2pm, start again at 5pm and do not finish until about 8pm.”

Professor Bretones said that the national policy to reduce the working week may suit some people but not others who had different jobs.

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The change was welcomed by unions, but Spain’s central bank warned that higher labour costs could fuel inflation and curb job creation.

Companies have also voiced concern. Spain’s main employers’ association, CEOE, says that a shorter working week should not be imposed by law but through collective bargaining with each company able to adapt it to its specific needs.

Under the Spanish plan, hotel, restaurant and domestic workers will benefit the most, according to an analysis from the Spanish government.

Teachers, public service employees and workers in the financial sector will not see any change in their working week because they are already covered by labour agreements which limit the working week to 37.5 hours.

One in three – or 4.4 million – of Spain’s 12.5 million employees will be able to work fewer hours each week.

Spaniards work an average of 1,632 hours a year, below the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) average, but above other European countries such as France, Germany or Finland.

The British work an average of 1,531 hours annually, also below the OECD average of 1,746.

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