Four-day workweek model to become more widespread in Hungary?!

In the economic crisis caused by the emergence of the coronavirus, several companies around the world have introduced the four-day workweek model temporarily, in order to reduce costs and prevent mass dismissals. Even though this crisis management tool had not been used before the pandemic, some companies might introduce it, in the long run, thanks to its advantages. Let us see what can be expected in the future.

The issue of the four-day working week comes up from time to time. Not surprisingly, as this possibility becomes especially acute in times of crisis: in addition to reducing redundancies and wages, the reduction of working hours is also a useful crisis management tool.

Accordingly, several Hungarian companies switched to the four-day working week by the emergence of the pandemic.

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Besides crisis management, there are several companies all over the world, including Hungary as well, where the model is part of everyday life. According to Miklós Antal, ecological economist and researcher, the feasibility and effects of working time reduction have been examined by a number of studies recently; however, there is limited information on the impact so far.

Belgium

“In Belgium, one municipality introduced four-day work without reducing wages. In practice, the program worked as an economic recovery program: extra people were hired, wage costs increased proportionately, and so did employee consumption”. However, this is less common, as usually, the salary decreases in proportion to the working hours.

Germany

Reducing working hours is a very complicated decision. The best example is the largest German union, IG Metall that achieved with a strike in 2018 to allow members to work 28 hours a week instead of 35, on a time-proportionate basis. However, only 0.3% of the 2.3 million members, numerically 6,000-7,000 employees have taken advantage of the opportunity.

Hungary

The introduction of the four-day workweek model depends on several factors; but in the IT sector, the chances might be higher than in less competitive sectors. There are already Hungarian examples where employees are explicitly looking for opportunities with flexible working hours;

therefore, there is a great chance that by the passage of time, this model will become more widespread in Hungary, resulting in a win-win situation.