A small number of companies have tried working 32 instead of 40 hours. It is noteworthy that they are already giving up this way of organizing working hours, BNT reported.
If the four-day working week is introduced in Bulgaria, labor productivity and wages will fall, employers’ organizations are categorical. According to the unions, the idea of a 4-day week is good, as employees will be more rested.
“In Bulgaria, labor productivity is five times lower than the average in Europe. And we do not produce enough products with high added value. In addition, we also have a labor shortage, i.e. there is no free labor to replace the missing , when it does not work during that one day,” explained AIKB executive director Dobrin Ivanov.
If it is introduced, production will drop by 20%, Ivanov also says, and so will wages.
The model has been tested in the Scandinavian countries, in Denmark and Spain, he explains, but so far it is not applicable. Perhaps the only exception is the IT sector, where one employee can complete his work in four days instead of five. This is also the opinion of Venelin Molnar, manager of a design bureau in Ruse. He has three employees.
The trade unionists are optimists. They say that if employers and unions agree, the legal framework could be changed and the working week made four days.
“If, through a shorter working week, the productivity of a worker or employee is increased and he is given the opportunity to spend longer with his family and thus, returning to work more rested, work more efficiently and productively, why it’s not possible,” asks Velichka Mikova, national secretary of KNSB.
