Why Greece’s six-day workweek initiative is unlikely to gain traction

The six-day workweek in Greece is designed to ensure fair compensation for employees, and to provide them with the opportunity to increase their earnings.

Except, there are no plans to implement a permanent six-day workweek policy.

“It is important to note that this new regulation does not in any way affect the established 5-day/40-hour working week mandated by Greek law, nor does it establish a new 6-day working week,” Kiki Kerameus, Greek Ministry of Labour and Social Security, told CNBC.

The new regulation, introduced this July, gives employees in some businesses the option of working an extra two hours each day, or adding another eight-hour shift to bring their total work hours per week to 48.

Only businesses that operate 24/7 with rotating shifts, and those that operate 24 hours a day for five or six days of the week, also using rotating shifts, fall under the regulation, said Kerameus.

“Additionally, the law stipulates more measures to ensure the protection of workers, such as guaranteed days off, specific working hours, and safeguards against unfair dismissal,” she said.

Whether the new regulation will be fully leveraged is likely to come down to employees themselves, although some may welcome its introduction.

Martin Laschkolnig, leadership and work culture expert, Keynote Speaker, and Founder of the “Living Serenity” Community, told HRM Asia, “This move now legalises an ongoing practice of extended unofficial work hours for which no social insurance fees and taxes are paid. Whether the legalisation of these practices now will lead to a more widespread utilisation by companies beyond what has already taken place remains to be seen.”

Currently based in Austria, Laschkolnig also sees Greece’s approach as an outlier and does not expect many countries in Europe, if at all, to follow suit.

“From an HR and employee attraction and retention viewpoint, it is worthy to note that employers who can, and will offer employees salaries for the regular work hour range that people can actually live off of, will be in higher demand and have a higher perspective on retaining their best talent,” he said.

However, even this is proving to be a challenge for many organisations, who continue to be besieged by financial constraints and a nationwide brain drain of young and well-educated people, a result of the salary structure of Greece, one of the lowest-paying economies in the whole of Europe.

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With data from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development already highlighting that employees in Greece on average work over 300 hours more a year than the EU-wide average, Laschkolnig also sees a long-term negative impact on employee wellbeing if employees continue to ‘choose’ to work longer hours out of bare necessity.

“So while this may be an industry-friendly move and maybe some employees will feel the necessity to utilise it to make ends meet, overall it is likely to do a disfavour to the overall work environment in Greece,” Laschkolnig concluded.