Swedish-Style 6 Hour Workday Favoured by 50% of Employers

by Ruaidhri Horan, Marketing Manager, Abrivia Recruitment

The recent Abrivia 2017 Salary Survey found that just over 50% of employers are in favour of trialing a Swedish style six-hour workday. When employees in Ireland were asked the same question the percentage supporting the idea rose to over 80%.

Whilst the level of support for the six-hour workday among employees doesn’t come as a major surprise to me personally, the employer response does where a majority, although slight, is in favor of trialing the six-hour workday. What is even more interesting is when you drill into these employer figures and compare various sectors.

When looking at employer responses per sector the legal profession is most in favour of trialing the six-hour workday (a whopping 67% in favour!). Next came the Accountancy sector, with 55% in favour of trialing the six-hour work day. The Finance, Banking and Insurance were 52% in flavorful only 41% of sales sector employers were in favor and a meagre 20% of marketing sector employers were in favour, by far the lowest of any sector.

Several businesses across Sweden have introduced the six-hour workday because of a comprehensive trial which found productivity increased, sick days were reduced dramatically and employers found that staff were much happier in their working environment. The adage “a happy worker is a productive worker” comes to mind. Do you think the same results could be attained in Ireland?