Sweden – To try six-hour public sector workday

A city council in Sweden is set to cut the number of hours its staff members work down to just six – while keeping them on full pay. 

The controversial economic experiment will see municipal workers in Gothenburg, the country’s second-largest city, become guinea pigs in a trial lasting at least one year.

The council’s ruling coalition of left-wing Social Democrat and Green parties has proposed reducing one department to 30-hour working weeks while keeping another unchanged as a control.

“We think it’s time to give this a real shot in Sweden,” deputy mayor Mats Pilhem told the Swedish edition of The Local.

One of the departments that has been put forward for the scheme is elderly care, Sweden’s Metro newspaper reported. They would be kept on the same pay as the “control” department and, after a year, their performance would be assessed by researchers.

“We’ll compare the two afterwards and see how they differ. We hope to get the staff members taking fewer sick days and feeling better mentally and physically after they’ve worked shorter days,” Mr Pilhem said.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story at Sweden to trial six-hour public sector workday – Europe – World – The Independent.

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