Does Italy have a 4 day work week?
Italy is starting its journey with the 4 day work week
The 4-day working week in Italy is a recent innovation, although many countries such as New Zealand, Australia, UK, USA and Canada have already experimented with it several years before.
Italy’s move towards trialing a 4 day work week
Covid-19 has accelerated the need to give a new meaning to work and private life: reconciling people's well-being and work flexibility with company productivity.
In Italy, several companies, in the last two years, have defined their own "short working week", some by simply moving working hours to 4 working days, others as an incentive for blue collar workers to compensate for the smart working benefits for white workers collar, others still to attract and retain talent and finally others to generate well-being for people due to burnout and absenteeism.
How to move towards a shorter work week
In general, to implement a reduction in working hours while keeping productivity intact, you need to trigger a cultural and cognitive transformation, reviewing the way you work, think, behave and decide, unless your company is so profitable that the 4-day working week can be thought of as a benefit for your employees.
Why implement the 4 day working week in Italy?
There are several reasons:
Italy is at the bottom of Europe with only 4% of workers who feel actively involved in the company - Gallup
One in two people silently struggle with problems related to mental illness due to their occupation and 70% are struggling with stress and burnout - GoodHabitz
The absenteeism rate stands at 6.4% - Confindustria
The annual hours worked in Italy are 1669, among the highest in Europe with a productivity index of 103 (i.e. Germany 1346 hours and i.p. 106) – OECD
55% of Italians are willing to earn less in order to have an extra day off, and the percentage even rises to 62% in the age group between 25 and 34 - Assirm
What are the plans for the future of Italy’s 4 day work week?
Italian companies also have the opportunity to have the support from 4 Day Week Global to increase the chances of success in implementing the 4-day working week in their organization.
4 Day Week Global was founded in 2019, from an idea and a need of Andrew Barnes of Perpetual Guardian, has supported more than 400 companies in 16 countries in the implementation of the 4-day working week or other version with reduced hours.
Today 4 Day week Global has achieved a global presence, having more than 20 Country Partners in 5 continents.
What 4 Day Week Italy hopes to achieve
The aim of 4 Day Week Italia is to build an Italy, together with visionary and pioneering leaders, together with governmental and non-governmental institutions, together with women and men who firmly believe in giving meaning to work, to people's well-being and also having an impact on society and the environment!
What is the true meaning that we at 4 Day Week Global attribute to the 4-day working week.
“The 4-day work week is not just about shifting hours. Its implementation starts from healthy principles that leads to a change of mentality, based on productivity, well-being and mutual trust. It is a deep collective understanding of what matters most to the organization and to the people.”
How 4 Day Week Global is partnering with Italy
We are spreading the culture on the principles of the 4-day work week, according to the 100:80:100™ model, i.e. employees receive 100% pay for 80% of the time worked to achieve 100% productivity goals. And above all we are bringing on board pioneering companies for the experimentation of the 4-day working week, which will begin in September 2024.
