Belgium Approves 4 Days A Week System

In the past days, the UK has started to try the 4-day-a-week working model, causing a lot of controversy. Aiming for its employees to work more efficiently with less fatigue, the United Kingdom has started to try the 4-day working model in 30 pilot companies’ employees. It is expected that the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand will join this application of the United Kingdom in the coming days.

In our previous article, we talked about the weekly working hours in Turkey and other countries. Average working hours in most European countries 36-39 hours between working. Belgium has also recently made a regulation regarding working days, and just like the piloted model in the UK, the 4-day work week has been started. The proposal made in October to reduce the working days to 4 days was accepted by the Belgian government with some changes.

No need to look after anything work-related, except on working days

Although some unions opposed this bill, there were also unions who thought that working hours should be reduced, not working days. Although it caused controversy among the unions, the bill was approved by the Belgian government. According to the bill, employees with a weekly working time 38 hours in 4 days If they complete it, other days may be off. 9.5 hours per day The working hours of the employees, who will have a working time, can be increased up to 10 by the unions.

According to the new bill, employees who have completed a total of 38 working hours will have work-related activities other than working days. checking e-mails and phones there will be no such obligation. In the past months, this facility has been introduced for federal government employees and ‘except in emergencies’ They were allowed to not look at their phones. Private sector employees in Belgium will also be able to benefit from these opportunities with this new bill.

Of this new right, which will also be added to the employment contracts of the employees, only I have more than 20 employeesEmployees at their workplaces will be able to benefit. Collective agreements will need to be negotiated between trade unions and employers. Belgian Minister of Economy and Labor Pierre-Yves Dermagne said: “The boundaries of work and private life are increasingly intertwined. Incessant demands can harm the physical and mental health of employees.”