I like to walk through old cemeteries and read the tombstones. In Iceland, it is customary to engrave a person’s profession beneath their name, and as I get older, I wonder if my tombstone will have the title “professor” engraved on it. Although I love my job, I hope not.
Over the centuries, the tombstones of Icelandic women have rarely had any title other than “housewife” or “wife of [insertar el cargo del marido]”. Although Icelandic women currently perform all types of jobs, we have not yet achieved full equality. But an important step on that path has been the reduction of the work week from 40 hours to 36. This change began in 2019 in response to the campaign of some of the main unions in the country and after the success of pilot tests in which More than 1% of Iceland’s working population participated. As a result, nearly 90% of the country’s workforce now works fewer hours or has the right to reduce their working week.
Other countries are considering following Iceland’s example. Germany, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom have launched or are launching similar pilot projects. And a year ago, Belgium became the first EU country to legislate a four-day work week for workers who want to benefit from this model. However, unlike the Icelandic model, whoever decides to work four days in Belgium has to compensate for the day not worked throughout the four days worked. Maybe that’s why less than 1% of people have asked for the 4-day week.
How has the reduced work week worked in Iceland? It used to be more common for Icelandic women to work part-time to balance work and family. Since 2019, this has been a step towards greater equality because our shorter work week has also made it possible for people (mostly women) who worked 36 hours as a part-time job to have a full-time job with the same hours . And full-time jobs come with better pay and conditions for working the same hours as before.
The change has also given many men who were always stuck at work the flexibility to become more involved in their children’s daily lives.
Tumi, my husband, works in a government office. At first, he chose to work until noon every Friday, but soon decided to work two full Fridays and have two Fridays off per month. On his days off, he loves to sleep in, make long phone calls to people in his pigeon-loving group while cleaning the kitchen, before heading to bookstores in search of interesting books. Plus, he gets home in time to pick up our son from school at 1:40 p.m. Since I pick it up on the other days, every other Friday afternoon I have the freedom to meet up with friends to chat, volunteer or simply go to the pool, which is a radical change for a tired teacher who wants to escape exhaustion.
Most of us know that happy feeling the day before we go on vacation. It is a feeling of lightness and freedom. Now my husband enjoys that feeling twice a month and I don’t have to remember what week it is, because on Thursday afternoons I can see it reflected on his face.
As I am a secondary school teacher, I have not technically been able to benefit from this new work model, since my job is still considered 40 hours a week. However, only 26 hours a week are spent actually teaching. The rest of the time is dedicated to meetings, correction and class preparation. We have the freedom to organize those non-school hours, which means that by working a little more on some days, I can also take off the Friday afternoons that my husband has free.
School administrators, custodians, cleaners and kitchen staff belong to other unions and now have a shorter work week, and we have changed our schedule so that there are fewer afternoon classes on Fridays. The staff is happy and the students have not protested.
Companies and institutions have different needs and, obviously, not everyone can close their business at noon once a week. Some employees have cut back on coffee breaks and lunches, and people have had to rethink how work is planned, which meetings can be shorter, which can be virtual, or which decisions can be made over email without requiring an appointment. meeting.
Of course, there are always people who prefer the previous model and we have not yet solved all the challenges that a shorter work week can pose, such as the stress that some people suffer if they leave the office early, but their work continues to pile up.
It definitely hasn’t been easy, and it doesn’t apply to every job, but all the qualitative and quantitative data indicates that the majority of people who have reduced their hours are happy: job satisfaction has increased, stress has reduced and employees feel happier at work.
And contrary to fears that productivity and service delivery could be affected by a shorter working week, nothing could be further from the truth. Numerous research has shown that they have stayed the same or even improved, sometimes simply by eliminating longer coffee breaks or prioritizing work better.
My friend Bára works at a large car dealership. He explained to me how the staff came together to figure out how to implement a shorter work week without impacting their customers. Now, office workers can choose to finish each day early, have half a day off each week, or a full day off every two weeks, while mechanics have changed their shifts but fix the same number of cars on time. Bára tells me that the staff is happy with the changes and that none of them, including bosses, would return to the previous situation.
And we don’t spend our free hours going to the doctor or attending meetings at our children’s schools. In Iceland we have always had the right to carry out these meetings or procedures during working hours without having our salary deducted. None of that has changed.
Instead, we take advantage of those valuable hours to play sports, go to the hairdresser, go shopping and meet friends without feeling like we are missing out on quality family time.
An added bonus for those of us living in Reykjavík, the capital, is that the usual Friday rush hour traffic has been reduced, making getting around the city much easier and more enjoyable.
Changes like this to the way we work may seem impossible, but they can be done if people come together and rethink the way they work. I am a full-time teacher, but I am also a mother, wife, daughter, sister and friend, and having a few extra hours every two weeks when my husband is free to care for our family allows me to better fulfill all of these roles. I am also a woman who likes to walk through cemeteries and reflect on the meaning of life. And now I have more time to do it.
The EU, a divisive issue on the electoral agenda
This Saturday, the citizens of Iceland go to the polls in early legislative elections almost a year before the end of the legislature. These elections also put an end to the political crisis that began in April, when Katrín Jakobsdóttir, leader of the Left-Green Movement, resigned to compete in the presidential elections in June, in which she was defeated by Halla Tómasdóttir, an independent businesswoman who focused its campaign on issues such as the mental health of young people, the development of tourism and the impact of artificial intelligence.
According to the surveys, the Social Democratic Alliance, with 21.8% of voting intention, leads the preferences, while the three parties that formed the ruling coalition – environmentalists, conservatives and liberals – face a notable setback. Reforma, the liberal party, reaches 17.6%, followed by the Independence Party, led by Prime Minister Bjarni Benediktsson, with 14.7%. If so, it would be the second time since Iceland separated from Denmark in 1944 that the Independence Party lost a general election, explains EFE.
Both the Social Democrats and Reforma are the only forces openly in favor of integration into the European Union. For her part, Reform leader Katrín Gunnarsdóttir has promised to resume accession negotiations immediately if she comes to power, while Social Democrat leader Kristrún Frostadóttir has taken a more cautious approach. In this sense, the European question continues to divide Icelandic society, which belongs to the European Economic Area (EEA) and maintains a position largely opposed to accession, except in times of serious economic crisis. Despite this, none of the surveys gives a sufficient majority to the social democratic party and Reforma to govern together, so they would need at least another political force if the forecasts come true.
María Hjálmtýsdóttir is an activist and high school teacher in Kópavogur, Iceland. The article has been updated with information from EFE by eldiario.es
Translation by Emma Reverter
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