Greece's plan for a 6-day workweek to boost productivity may not work

• Greece is shifting to a six-day workweek in some industries to boost productivity.
• The new 48-hour workweek counters global trends toward shorter ones for better productivity.
• Critics argue longer hours may lead to burnout, despite higher pay for additional workdays.

So long, siga siga.

The Greek phrase meaning "slowly, slowly" refers to the relaxed pace of life in the country famous for its culture, history, and clear Mediterranean waters.

It could be harder for some workers to embrace that philosophy as the country prepares to shift to a six-day workweek for some industries.

The Greek government says the move to a 48-hour workweek, which is set to start Monday, could boost productivity amid a declining population and a dearth of skilled workers. The shift is notable because it runs counter to the companies and countries that are experimenting with a four-day workweek.

Working longer hours can help people further refine their skills, but it can also lead to decreased productivity because of fatigue and burnout, research shows.

The extra hours will come with a 40% jump in pay for Greek workers who add two hours to their day or take on an extra eight-hour workday. The change, which won approval in September, applies to workers in industries like agriculture, retail, and various service industries, as BI previously reported. It also applies to private businesses that operate 24 hours a day.

Even with the bump in pay for the extra time, some union officials are decrying the shift.

"It makes no sense whatsoever," Akis Sotiropoulos, from the civil servants' union Adedy, told The Guardian. "When almost every other civilized country is enacting a four-day week, Greece decides to go the other way."

Doing more with less

Experiments with the four-day workweek have often shown being on the job for less time makes workers more productive because they're better rested, more focused, and have more time to attend to needs that arise in their personal lives outside work.

One study that examined manufacturing in the US found that when overtime increased by 10%, productivity dropped by 2% to 4%.

Another review examined the output of more than 10,000 skilled workers at a large tech company in India working from home. When time on the clock went up — including a jump of 18% outside normal work hours — output slipped, and productivity dropped between 8% and 19%. The biggest culprit: more time spent communicating and coordinating and less time engaging in uninterrupted work.

Research shows workers often benefit when they have time away from their jobs to recover.

Having more free time can also boost gratitude among employees. Zachary Toth runs a small manufacturing company in Toronto. He previously told BI that he and his management colleagues began looking into a four-day workweek after seeing successful pilots in Japan and other countries.

Toth didn't expect the extra time away from the factory would encourage workers to show up without being asked.

"They just came in because they knew there was a project that had to be finished, and they didn't want productivity to fall. They wanted to make sure we keep doing the four-day workweek," he said.

Toth, the owner and president of Metex Corporation, said productivity has increased "in every single way."

Basis Technologies, an advertising software company, shifted its workweek to four and a half days after years of experiments with a four-day workweek and other approaches. For 2024, it settled on making Fridays a half day.

Emily Barron, the company's executive vice president of talent and development, previously told BI that the company had been looking for ways to give workers more time to decompress while still meeting the business's needs. For now, the half-day approach is best, she said.

"It really is intended for people to take a mental break, to get caught up, to, you know, go to that workout class that they couldn't get to at 7:30 in the morning," Barron said.

The end of the 5-day week

In Greece, the longer workweek is designed to address changing demographics, which the country's prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, has called a "ticking timebomb," according to the Guardian. Some 500,000 largely young and educated Greek citizens have left the country following a debt crisis that began more than a decade ago, the newspaper reported.

The new rule is voluntary, but some critics say it will effectively mark the end of a five-day workweek.

Aris Kazakos, an emeritus labor law professor at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, recently told Germany's DW news outlet that bosses can require workers to work a sixth day, and workers can't say no.

The move to six days "will kill off the five-day workweek for good," he said.