This column first appeared in Malta Today

The new PN leader Alex Borg’s proposal for a four day week sounds great on paper. If it’s implemented, employees could officially start their weekend on a Friday (for example) which would lessen the stress of trying to cram errands and chores into 2 days.

Anyone with a family who works full-time Monday to Friday knows what it’s like to wake up on Saturday morning with an audible groan, rather than that delicious feeling of carefree pleasure we felt when we were young, single and had no responsibilities. Adulthood and especially parenthood generally means that Saturday mornings are the time you do housework, grocery shopping and ferry the kids around to their various extra-curricular activities. The day is gone before you know it.

Sunday is when you try to fit in some family quality time which means different things to different households. Some people brave the Sunday driving to get some fresh air or visit relatives, others prefer to stay at home, vegetate and try to recuperate, recharging their batteries as best as they can before Monday inevitably rolls around again. For those with school-age children, ‘Monday’ officially starts around 6pm on Sunday when they have to prepare uniforms, lunches and brace themselves for one of the children to suddenly remember that they forgot to finish their homework.

So I can see how the promise of having another day off is tantalising. Speaking in an interview, Alex Borg outlined his idea:

“As a testing ground, I’ll start implementing it with certain government departments. If it works, and it turns out that productivity, efficiency and returns have increased as a result of a four-day week, we could then start slowly implementing it in the private sector through incentives.”

In fact, what he is suggesting is nothing new. Former Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin recently called for a more flexible work schedule, consisting of a four-day work week of six hours a day. Marin said that a flexible work schedule would give employees more time to spend with their families.

If this seems so far-fetched that it cannot possibly work, Madeline Grecek, writing on the website remote.com, outlined which countries have already successfully implemented this model. Here are some actual examples which I’m quoting from her article which have adopted different models.

In February 2022, Belgium introduced legislation allowing employees to condense their full 38-hour workweek into four days without losing pay. This reform was part of a broader labour market modernisation effort, aimed at increasing flexibility and boosting productivity.

Iceland conducted one of the world’s largest and most influential trials between 2015 and 2019. The pilot — which included 2,500 public sector workers (over 1% of the country’s entire workforce) — reduced weekly working hours from 40 to 35 without reducing pay, with results showing improvements across productivity, job satisfaction, and wellbeing. Today, following negotiations with their unions, 86% of Iceland’s workforce have either adopted shorter hours or gained the right to request them.

Since 2022, Lithuania has offered a shorter work week to employees with children under the age of three who work in the public sector. They are entitled to a 32-hour work week without any reduction in salary to support working parents, reduce stress, and help balance family responsibilities.

Apart from these countries, she points out that there are others which have carried out pilot projects, namely the UK, Germany, Portugal, Spain, Japan, Ireland and New Zealand. From the point of view of employees the results were positive, as they reported better mental health, less sick days and a better work-life balance

Looking at what has happened elsewhere you would think, this is brilliant, why not introduce it here? But this is where we come to the crunch. I’m sorry to sound so cynical about my fellow Maltese, but what guarantee do we have that they will actually use that extra day to spend time with their family rather than concocting some kind of side hustle, doing a part-time job while still being paid for their actual job?

It seems I am not alone in my scepticism: The Malta Chamber of SMEs, the Malta Hotel and Restaurants Association and the Malta Chamber of Commerce all expressed their misgivings citing less productivity and predicting that it will be economically damaging. Unfortunately, working with a government department or entity is already perceived as a job where you can literally do nothing all day or skive off work while roaming around the streets of Valletta, and still get paid without any reprimand or warning because no one will fire you. A job for life with the least amount of stress possible – that’s the mental image many have of civil servants which is why a “job mal-gvern” tops the list of Best. Job. Ever.

The biggest hurdle I can see is a downturn in productivity. We are already in a situation where some departments are so over-staffed with people who have been employed because of their political allegiance that they are basically “protected”. Now add another layer to that (working one day less), and in my mind’s eye I can see documents and files potentially piling up on a backroom desk, remaining unprocessed to the detriment of the general public. And let us not forget that untouchable Holy Grail: summer half days. Would they also remain intact?

For a four day week to work it is essential for it to be linked with actual results. There must be deterrents for those who do not deliver, and those who abuse of the situation in some way, should be penalised. How can that be actioned in practice? Ahh, that is the crux of the matter.

The problems which can arise were succinctly explained by the director general of the Malta Employers’ Association Kevin Borg who warned against promising unrealistic “populist” measures.

“Proposals that disregard the realities of productivity and labour market dynamics risk creating unsustainable working conditions and false expectations that will ultimately harm both the workforce at large and the broader long-term national interest…By its nature, the public sector is not subject to the commercial pressures that drive efficiency and innovation in the private sector,” he pointed out.

Interestingly, he says that the trials in other countries have led to less productivity and operational challenges.

In short, what we do not need is even more people clamouring for jobs with the public sector, leading to a workforce shortage within the private sector – which in turn will lead to having to recruit from abroad. This at a time when ‘all these foreigners’ seem to be the target and scapegoats for all our woes. So while working only four days a week is enticing I think we have to be careful what we wish for.

Rather than going down to a four day week, perhaps first what we should be striving for is something which has long been discussed – more flexibility which includes the option of remote working on certain days. As is often pointed out, we miraculously managed to do it during lockdown and yet suddenly it seems to be out of the question. All desk jobs can offer this type of hybrid model and productivity can be easily monitored. There just needs to be the political will to do it, and that is why government entities should be at the forefront of to this model, rather than being the first to demand they want their employees physically back at the office because they are obsessed with micro-managing – which doesn’t necessarily mean more productivity.