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Four-day workweek: Could it be implemented on a trial basis in Lima?
A global trend that is gaining ground in the workplace is working fewer hours. Several cities have already begun testing whether companies and workers could adapt to this model.
The five-day workweek has existed as such since roughly the 1980s. In Peru, there are even many workers who work six days a week, given the country’s high rate of informal employment—around 75.7% of all employees, according to the latest National Household Survey (ENAHO) by the National Institute of Statistics and Informatics (INEI).
Thus, current trends favor well-being, with demands for more free time and less time consumed by work—and to avoid burnout—especially after the COVID-19 pandemic, during which companies had to implement remote work arrangements, which increased sedentary lifestyles, anxiety, and reduced physical activity, according to a study by the Journal of the Faculty of Human Medicine at Ricardo Palma University.
It is a fact that work has changed. And in Peru today, work-related burnout is one of the indicators on the rise. Although the figures do not exceed the levels of “burnout” seen during the pandemic year—89% reported experiencing this exhaustion—from 2022 to 2023, the number of Peruvians who said they experienced this syndrome increased from 66% to 78%, according to a study by Bumeran.
In light of this, the outlook for what people want from their working lives has also changed, and the proposal for a four-day workweek is gaining ground. Did you know that several countries have already conducted pilot tests to assess its benefits? That’s why Infobae Peru spoke with various experts to learn more about this labor revolution and how ready Lima and Peru would be to implement it.
The four-day workweek: a trend spreading around the world
There are quite a few countries that are already actively seeking to test the advantages (or disadvantages) of implementing a four-day workweek. One of the most notable has been Iceland, which conducted various trials between 2015 and 2019, testing this work change with more than 2,500 workers—representing 1% of the workforce. These trials involved a reduction in working hours without a decrease in pay and resulted in equal or higher productivity, greater well-being for employees, and a lower risk of burnout, according to a BBC report.
Other countries have also followed this trend, including the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Finland, and Spain. Among the most recent pilot programs conducted and planned, these took place in Valencia (Spain), the Dominican Republic, and Germany. In the first, according to a report by El País, several public holidays in May and April 2023 were used to test this initiative, which improved workers’ health and well-being and air quality, but led to a 20% drop in retail sales and increased strain on emergency medical services—according to a report by the Valencia City Council.
