In Belgium, only a fraction of full-time employees currently work four days a week, despite the law allowing this since November last year. Taking a balance of ‘activities’, the short working week does not seem to excite Belgian employees very much, since it was chosen by only a percentage between 0.5% and 1%. According to a recent survey by Securex, an employment consultancy, only one worker in 200 he applied it.
The study, based on a sample of more than 120,000 workers, also found that the percentage of employees choosing the shorter workweek has barely increased this year, from 0.45% in January to 0.52% of November. Even lower is the balance sheet of the employment consultancy firm Acerta, which last month reported that only 0.73% of Belgians now work four days a week, or one in 130.
According to the terms of Labour Deal of the federal government, introduced in November 2022, full-time workers in the Belgian private sector were legally allowed to request to spread their weekly working time (which remains 38 hours) over four days instead of five (therefore working nine hours and a half a day), maintaining the entire salary ei benefit.
Additionally, the Labor Deal allows employees to work alternating intensity weeks, meaning a five-day 45-hour week followed by another 31-hour week spread over four days. According to Securex, there are several possible reasons behind this trend: the first is pressure from employers, of which more than a quarter (25.7%) believe that the shorter working week is inappropriate for their business or even harmful. The second reason is workers’ lack of knowledge about the program and their belief that any request to do so can simply be rejected by their bosses.
A survey also showed that 77.6% of Belgian workers who chose this option did so to have more space for their private life, 36.5% to reduce their workload and 29.3% to spend more time with your children.
Also according to the survey, the short week was chosen mostly by young employees as 47.6% of those aged between 20 and 30 would prefer not to work the traditional five-day working week. According to Annelies Bries, an expert at Acerta, the relatively slow adoption rate could be attributed to the unfamiliarity and novelty of the scheme, as well as the lack of administrative tools to implement it efficiently, which could threaten business continuity. The Belgium was the first European country to adopt the short week, followed by other countries such as Iceland, Lithuania, Germany and France. The option is also active in the United Arab Emirates, Japan.