Dominican Republic to trial four-day work week: Can it work globally? | Labour Rights News

In February, the Dominican Republic will develop into the first Caribbean nation to verify a four-day work week, following comparable trials in nations such as a result of the United Kingdom.

The six-month pilot may be voluntary for corporations and gained’t comprise a pay decrease for collaborating staff.

Rising requires a shorter work week have stemmed from COVID-19-era discussions and anecdotes that prolonged and in-person work hours don’t primarily guarantee bigger productiveness.

So what’s the four-day work week trial throughout the Dominican Republic, and has it had success elsewhere?

What’s the Dominican Republic’s four-day work week trial?

Beginning in February, organisations throughout the Caribbean nation can choose whether or not or to not implement a six-month-long trial of a four-day work week.

The same old week will drop to 36 hours from 44 hours, normally working from Monday by way of to Thursday. Employees will proceed to earn the similar salaries.

Plenty of the corporations anticipated to participate throughout the trial run embrace the federal authorities’s nationwide medical medical health insurance firm; vitality agency EGE Haina; Claro, a Latin American telecommunications agency; and IMCA, a heavy instruments enterprise.

An space school has been tasked with analysing the outcomes, along with any properly being changes in employees and the connection between work and their personal lives.

How does a four-day work week really … work?

In a four-day work week, the workload normally stays the similar. Nevertheless corporations, managers and their teams are compelled to prioritise rather more than they in another case ought to, slicing out, possibly, some conferences.

Nevertheless there’s one factor else too {{that a}} four-day week model ought to emphasise, in response to the Dominican Republic’s Labour Minister Luis Miguel de Camps.

“It prioritises people, enhancing properly being and wellbeing, and promoting a sustainable and environmentally nice productiveness,” acknowledged de Camps.

The place has a four-day work week been trialled — and what occurred?

Plenty of nations across the globe have examined or legislated a four-day work week, notably since COVID-19, which reignited conversations spherical workplace flexibility, productiveness, and work-life steadiness.

In 2023, the UK launched what’s taken under consideration the largest trial of a four-day work week and situated optimistic outcomes. An entire of 61 corporations joined the trial, and 56 extended it, with 18 making the change eternal.

About 2,900 staff have been part of the pilot throughout the UK. Surveys taken sooner than and after the trial found diminished stress ranges inside workers.

Better than half of the surveyed staff acknowledged it was less complicated to steadiness work and residential duties, whereas 40 p.c moreover acknowledged they’ve been sleeping increased.

Plenty of the completely different benefits that emerged from the UK trial included:

• Employees ended up taking a lot much less sick depart since that they’d additional time to bodily and mentally recuperate from work and associated stress.
• Gender parity improved. Males contributed additional to household and family duties after they’d three-day weekends.

In Japan, the place lack of life by overwork killed shut to 3,000 people in 2022, greater corporations paying homage to Microsoft have examined the four-day work week and situated optimistic outcomes.

Are there completely different success tales?

Iceland trialled a shorter work week between 2015 and 2019. Roughly 2,500 public sector staff participated in it.

The outcomes: Employees have been a lot much less pressured, and productiveness didn’t endure.

The trial, that Iceland’s labour unions renegotiated contracts for larger than 85 p.c of the nation’s workforce to chop again work hours.

Nevertheless are all four-day work weeks the similar?

In February 2022, Belgium grew to turn into the first European nation to legislate a shorter work week. Employees can choose to work 4 days each week instead of 5, with out shedding their wage.

Nevertheless there’s a catch: They should nonetheless work 40 hours. In several phrases, people who choose the four-day work week ought to work 10 hours a day.

In 2021, the United Arab Emirates authorities launched that every one public sector organisations would operate for four and a half days per week. Nonetheless, staff throughout the nation nonetheless spend plenty of the very best hours at work, at a imply of 52.6 hours per week per employed specific individual.

How about going longer reasonably than shorter?

In India, newest requires a 70-hour week have sparked heated debate.

In 2023, Narayana Murthy, the long-lasting co-founder of Indian multinational know-how agency Infosys, made the recommendation saying it might enhance productiveness and the nation’s financial system.

India’s financial system is already the fastest-growing amongst G20 nations. And Indians already work a imply of 47.7 hours each week, which is higher than the 36.4 widespread within the US or 36.6 in Japan, in response to the Worldwide Labour Organisation.

In China, some companies observe a “996” work custom, by which staff work from 9am to 9pm, six days each week. The standard work week, nonetheless, is 46.1 hours.

Nonetheless, Murthy immediate that the younger generation is simply not hardworking enough.

“India’s work productiveness is probably going one of many lowest on the planet. Our youngsters ought to say: That’s my nation, I want to work 70 hours each week,” he acknowledged all through a podcast. India’s labour unions have hit once more at Murthy’s suggestions.