Lately, we have seen significant changes in labor law, driven by the necessity for businesses to remain engaged and have productive employees. In addition, the tendencies imposed by younger generations place a higher premium on personal and professional balance—those who value flexibility above the rigorous requirements established by applicable legislation.
European law has made significant progress in making work more flexible by recognizing new flexible work arrangements and reaffirming established principles in light of recent trends.
EU Directive (EU) 2019/1158 on ensuring parents and carers have a work-life balance allows employees to change their work schedules through flexible work schedules, short work schedules, or distance working. This will enable employees to work more or less, as well. Thus, the directive requires the Member States to take the appropriate steps to guarantee that employees with children up to a specified age, but no less than eight years, have the right to work flexibly. Of course, employers will have to help with these requests, and if they don't, they'll have to explain why.
Also, Directive (EU) 2019/1152 on the transparency and predictability of working conditions in the European Union provides for the option of doing work in an organizational model that is partially or entirely unexpected and the notion of on-call contracts.
Four-day workweek - a global success story
Iceland, Spain, the UK, and Japan are some countries that have tried or plan to try a four-day workweek.
Iceland ran tests between 2015 and 2019 where employees were paid the same for working only four days a week. The tests targeted around 1% of the active population and included employment in kindergartens, workplaces, public agencies, and hospitals in the pilot program. Following a trial in the Icelandic workforce, unions changed work schedules, and more than 80% of the country's workforce now works shorter hours while keeping their pay the same.
Spain joined the movement recently, authorizing a three-year experimental scheme. Hundreds of businesses are anticipated to participate in the government's initiative to evaluate the 4-day workweek's efficacy. Members of Spain's major parties have backed this experiment since before the pandemic, and even more recently, the pandemic has shown that greater labor relations flexibility is conceivable.
In the United Kingdom, a six-month trial scheme has been started. Participating in businesses would enable employees to work four days (or 32 hours) each week without decreasing their wages or benefits. It operates concurrently with similar experimental initiatives in Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand. The attempt will begin in the United Kingdom in June 2022 and initially target 30 firms. The scheme will function on a "100: 80: 100" basis, in which employees will earn 100% of their income for 80% of the time worked in return for retaining 100% of their former productivity.
Perhaps the most surprising proposal comes from Japan, a country notorious for the high number of demises due to excessive labor and long hours. As a result, the Japanese government is urging businesses to adopt four-day workweeks to improve the well-being of their employees.
In Belgium, the four-day workweek has already been approved at the national level, with employees free to work up to ten hours each day and have three days off.
A draft bill to change the Labor Code was recently submitted to the Senate in Romania. It would allow employers and employees to agree to work 10 hours a day, four days a week, with three days off.
While the majority of countries that tested the four-day workweek considered a proportional reduction in weekly hours worked while maintaining unaltered pay. In Romania and Belgium, the concept of the short working week entails only a 40-hour reduction in weekly hours worked and the grant of three days off.
As a bonus, the working formula under consideration in the Senate is already allowed by the Worker Code, which means businesses have many other ways to keep their workers flexible even if the draft law isn't approved.
Thus, the Labor Code allows for irregular or compressed work schedules within the framework of a 40-hour workweek. The irregular work schedule enables greater flexibility regarding the number of hours worked each day of the week. In contrast, the compressed work schedule reduces the length of the typical workweek, for example, from five to four days, while still adhering to the 40-hour workweek. These programs must be written into each person's employment contract for these programs to work.
The personalized work schedule is another technique to increase work flexibility that the Labor Code controls. Individualized work schedules can be set up with or without the employee's permission. They divide the day into two parts: a fixed period during which all employees work together and a variable period during which the employee chooses their arrival and departure times.
Any of the above-mentioned techniques of employment flexibility may be multiplied by the advantage of teleworking, either in the employee's home or another location agreed upon by the parties.
Given Iceland's success in introducing a four-day workweek (without decreasing salaries), the actual effect would be a legislative amendment that incorporated these concepts into Romanian law. On the other hand, legislation will require an in-depth look at how it will affect labor law and social security.
