While in many areas of the so-called ‘civilized world’ (many times societies where the decadence of the Western civilization is more pronounced), governments and businesses are testing a shorter working week of four days, in the southern European country of Greece, the opposite idea is being implemented, with a 48 hour/six-day week coming into force for some businesses.
Rather than dreaming about not working and having an AI robot doing everything for you, the Greeks rolled up their sleeves and got to work more.
The controversial six-day working week is presented as an attempt to boost productivity and employment.
The regulation came into force on Monday.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis described the measure as ‘worker-friendly’ and ‘growth-orientated’. You can’t get more ‘worker-friendly’ than forcing workers to work more.
It would support employees that are not being sufficiently compensated for overtime and help rid the Greek economy of the problem of undeclared labor.
As one would expect, Labor unions have sharply criticized the move.
“Workers in Greece work more than those in the U.S., Japan and others in the 27-member EU, according to data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Greek employees were found to have worked an average of 1,886 hours in 2022, more than the U.S. average of 1,811 and the EU average of 1,571.”
This new regulation goes against the trend to move to a four day week in many western countries, and is seen as an unorthodox step aimed at turbo-charging productivity.
