“We are going backwards”: Strong reactions from Greek citizens after the move to a six-day working week, which is supposed to improve labour productivity.
A controversial new working time law came into effect in Greece on July 1. The law allows more employers to implement six-day working hours for their employees in exchange for better pay.
The law stipulates that companies operating continuously (i.e. providing services 24 hours a day, 7 days a week) or companies reporting a “workload” – which they will have to prove to the labor inspectorate in the event of an inspection – can ask their employees to work six days a week.
This measure does not apply to the tourism and catering sectorswhere six-day work under special conditions is already in force.
If accepted, the worker will receive a salary increased by 40% for the sixth working day. If this day is a Sunday or a public holiday, the increase will reach 115%.
The Ministry of Labour’s objective is to support companies that have difficulty finding staff for rotating shifts. The government’s ambition is also to combat undeclared work, as many workers were already working six days without this being recorded in the ERGANI system.
As most economists point out, the main problem of the Greek economy is not the total number of hours worked by workers, but the productivity of this work.
According to data from the European Commission, nominal labour productivity per hour worked in Greece is around 40% lower than the European average.
Several factors contribute to this situation: a lack of investment, especially in new technologies, a workforce lacking the necessary skills and a high level of bureaucracy that weighs on entrepreneurship.
Eurostat figures for 2023 show that the average working time in Greece is 39.8 hours per week, the highest in the European Union, followed by Poland and Cyprus.
The European average is 36.1 hours per week, while the lowest number of hours worked is found in The Netherlands, with 32.2 hours per week.