EY Romania: The current legislative framework provides sufficient leverage to implement the four-day working week

The current legislative framework in Romania provides sufficient leverage to implement the four-day working week, but the decision to implement such a measure is ultimately up to each individual company, according to EY Romania specialists. According to the quoted source, the four-day working week is not a universal solution. The employers may choose to apply it as general policy or with seasonal character (during summer). Alternatively, the framework may be applied only for certain categories of employees or departments, depending on the specificity of the activity.EY Romania's experts explain, in a point of view released on Monday, how this decision will be implemented and its advantages.   In the dynamic workforce, the search for work-life balance has led to new ways of organizing working hours to meet the modern needs of both employers and employees.   ” This new potential approach of the structure of the working programme surpasses the already known flexible working arrangements, such as telework, regulated in Romania by the law 81/2018 regarding the regulation of the telework activity. The four-working day week represents a larger vision of flexibility, with multiple advantages both for the employees and the employers” according to the experts.In Romania, there have been several legislative attempts to introduce a four-day working week, with proposals appearing in 2016, 2017 and most recently in 2022, according to EY Romania. However, those initiatives failed to take into account one aspect: existing national legislation already provides a legal framework for the implementation of such a working schedule. Although the standard work schedule is ingrained in the collective mentality - 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, with 48 consecutive hours of rest - the Romanian Labor Code also allows for an uneven distribution of working hours, adapted to the specific requirements of each job, the analysis shows. According to the Labor Code, the concrete manner of establishing the unequal working hours during the 40-hour working week, as well as during the compressed working week, will be negotiated in the collective bargaining agreement at the employer's level or, in its absence, will be laid down in the internal regulation. At the same time, in order to be implemented, this working schedule must be expressly specified in the individual employment contract, either at the beginning of the employment relationship or later, by means of an additional agreement.   According to the EY Romania specialists, the framework can be taken into consideration for this flexible working programme with the following shapes and not only. Thus, in the case of the four-working days there is a reduction of 20% of the standard working week of 40 hours, by the elimination of a working day, such as Friday (practically, the weekly working time is 32 hours). As regards the 4 and a half working day, this arrangement offers the employees half a day or a whole day free every two weeks.Similarly, the comprised working day, four days means the working time is not compressed, and the working hours will be distributed during four working days (for example, from Monday to Thursday the employees work ten hours a day and Friday is a free day).At the level of the European Union, Belgium approved since February 2022 at legislative level the working week of four days. The Belgian employees have the option to compress the working hours in four days, without any salary reduction. Even so, this is not translated in fewer working hours; it only means the grouping of the usual working hours in fewer days. Despite this progressive legislation, the adoption among the Belgian workers was relatively slow.Meanwhile, Germany has become the latest testing ground for the four-day working week, with a pilot project starting in February this year. The ambitious project involves 45 companies across a range of industries, all exploring the potential benefits and challenges of the new working week.   According to the source, the benefits of a short working week could improve employers' attractiveness in the labor market and help recruit the best talent. Also, for employees, the four-day working week can lead to increased well-being as it offers more time for rest, greater job satisfaction, reduced burnout and less exposure to occupational diseases.