Working time: why the 4-day week is not the 4-day week

The semantic nuance is important. Once again, Gabriel Attal was in favor of proposing a new work organization “to those who wish” during his interview on TF1 this Wednesday.

The Prime Minister mentions the famous 4-day work week, but not the 4-day work week. One notable difference: Gabriel Attal strongly opposed a further reduction in the weekly working day set in France at 35 hours.

For him, it is about “improving working conditions” and offering “those who want it” more flexibility.

More intense work days

Specifically, it is not about working 32 hours spread over four days instead of 35 hours spread over five days while maintaining the salary (i.e. a reduction in working time advocated in particular by the opposition), but offering the possibility of compressing a five-day week into four days , or more intense work days. .

For an employee, this means arriving at work a little earlier and leaving a little later at night. In total, the employee works the same number of hours (35 in general) not in 5 days but in 4.

If the number of days worked is actually reduced, the effective working time remains the same.

That is, working days of 8 hours and 45 minutes for an employee every 35 hours instead of 8 hours (excluding lunch break). Or at 9:15 am for a 37-hour employee or at 9:45 am for a 39-hour employee.

Remember that legally a work day cannot exceed 10 hours.

“35 hour straitjacket”

This is the system that Gabriel Attal offers voluntarily, in particular to French people who cannot telework and who want to spend their week in four days instead of five, or even to single or divorced parents who would appreciate being able to work less during their week of childcare and more when they don’t have it.

In this way, the experiences that began in January, particularly in the ministries, will be extended, although voluntarily.

As Minister of Public Accounts, Gabriel Attal launched the experiment in March 2023 for Urssaf agents in Picardy, with quite relative success.

In the private sector, it is companies, through social dialogue, that have control over the organization of working time.