Iceland paves the way for shorter working hours

Is it possible to work less, perform better and get paid the same? Well, it seems so. Those were at least the objectives of an experiment carried out in Iceland between 2015 and 2019, and whose meticulously analysed results have just been released.

The government of Reykjavík promoted this trial, which involved 2,500 workers from different sectors, i.e. 1% of the working population, commissioned by the municipalities with the support of the BSRB, the confederation of the country's largest trade unions.

The results have now been published by the Association for Sustainable Democracy (ALDA), a think tank working in both Iceland and the UK, which concludes that the "experiment has been a far greater success than expected". 

During the four years of the trial, workers reduced their working week from the usual 40 hours to 35, spread over the first four days of the week, and increasing the bank holiday weekend to three days. The affected workers themselves report feeling "much more satisfied" with both the performance of their work tasks and "a much more relaxed atmosphere in the company", where, in this case in the opinion of the managers, there has been an unquestionable development of team spirit and pride in belonging to the company. 

As was to be expected, practically all of the worker-collaborators in the experiment expressed their satisfaction with the repercussions that this reduction in the working week has had on their family life, their dedication to friends and leisure activities, and all of this with a noticeable improvement in the mood and humour of its protagonists. 

The consequences of the publication of this study have not been long in coming: 86% of the Icelandic working population is calling for the incorporation of the four-day working week into collective agreements as soon as possible. For those activities or sectors that claim to need more time to assess the impact such a measure would have on the bottom line, workers are demanding that they at least accept that it will be introduced in the medium term.

One of ALDA's researchers, Gudmundur D. Haraldsson, speaking to the pan-European television channel Euronews, said that "the Icelandic experience shows not only that it is possible to work less with equal output in today's times, but also that it will be possible to do so in the future even with even less working time". Haraldsson believes that the measure could be more easily implemented in the public sector, where performance could also be multiplied through the widespread use of advanced technology.

Several European governments have already expressed interest in learning more about the results of this study, which could lead in the not-too-distant future to a harmonisation of the four-day working week throughout the European Union. 

Spain is one of the interested countries. Among the projects submitted to channel European funds is one that aims to carry out a three-year pilot project. 50 million would be invested from the European Recovery Fund to compensate the 200 medium-sized companies that would take part in the experiment. 

However, pioneering companies have already started such trials. For example, Software Delsol, based in Andalusia, has invested 400,000 euros in 2020 to reduce the working hours of its 190 employees. The company reports that in that time, absenteeism has been reduced by 28%, sales have increased by 20% and not a single employee has left the company since the new system was implemented. 

In Iceland, the UK and of course not a few business circles in EU countries have also been critical, the most common of which is that the current economic climate, with the economy badly shaken by the coronavirus pandemic, is not the best scenario for such experiments. 

Only time will prove one side or the other right. But it seems reasonable to expect that the working day, without detriment to productivity, will gradually give way to the other activities that make up human development.