More than a third of entrepreneurs believe the four-day work week will only benefit employees, while about a third believe it will not benefit either party, according to a study by the AEP, released this Friday .
“The sense of opinion of business people about the segment that will benefit the most from the introduction of the four-day work week is very clear, given that it will certainly be the employees and not the companies”concluded the Associação Empresarial de Portugal (AEP), based on a survey conducted this month, to which 1,130 companies from various sectors responded.
The analysis concluded that “About a third of employers believe that introducing the four-day work week ‘will not be beneficial to either party'”, while “more than a third of respondents believe that ‘it will only be beneficial is for employees'”. .
The latter share rises to about 50% in responses from entrepreneurs in the industrial sector, the association notes.
In addition, more than half of businessmen see “no advantage” in the various scenarios presented for the introduction of the four-day work week, “not even in the possibility of a 10% wage cut and financial assistance from the state to make the transition support”. for the new model”.
From the point of view of the impact on the employee, the entrepreneurs consider the proposal advantageous, in the different possible scenarios.
Still from the employee’s perspective, companies believe that the main positive impact has to do with factors of personal well-being (83% of companies attribute a positive or very positive impact), quality of life (83%), family support (76%) and travel expenses (66%).
However, most entrepreneurs believe that the measure will have a neutral influence on factors such as job satisfaction, the intention to stay in the company or the level of commitment to the company.
“The vast majority of companies agree (partially or fully) that, as an alternative to the four-day workweek model, total flexibility in the model to be followed is preferable, in consultation between the employee and the company (77% of the businesses )”refers to AEP.
When asked about the impact on companies, respondents attribute a more negative impact to the level of profit (71% of companies regard this as negative or very negative), customer complaints (70%), the organization of internal processes (70%) , competitiveness (69%) and productivity (65%).
In terms of positive effects, on the other hand, they point to energy costs (40% of the responses consider a positive or very positive factor) and absenteeism (39%).
Source: DN
