Finland puts four-day work week back on political agenda

The positive results from a four-day work week trial in the UK, has sparked the debate in Finland ahead of the April elections.

In the UK experiment, nearly 3000 employees in 61 companies trialed a 32-hour working week. After six months, 39% said they were less stressed, 40% slept better, and 54% found a better work-life balance.

The political left in Finland has quickly picked up the results and included them in their ongoing election campaign.
Prime Minister Sanna Marin, first brought up the idea in 2019, where the topic was shot down. But the recent UK trial seems to have brought the question back.

SDP has suggested a wide survey of a four-day week during the next parliamentary term.

The Chair of the Left Alliance, Li Andersson, tweeted:
“Awesome! The results from the UK trial have been revolutionary. Maybe the debate over working life in Finland slowly becomes more modern.”

However, reactions from the political right have been quite the opposite.

The liberal-conservative National Coalition Party (NCP) has stated, that work time should be increased not decreased, since companies already suffer from labor shortages. The same goes for Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK).

The Economic Affairs and Employment Ministry has later announced, that by the end of March, they will find out the best way to carry out trials on shortened working hours.

Source: euractiv.com