The coronavirus pandemic has forced people around the world to work less. According to Bloomberg, citing a study by job search site ZipRecruiter, the share of vacancies offering a four-day work week has tripled over the past few years. For 10 thousand applicants, 62 vacancies are now offered with such conditions.
The agency cites the German technology company Awin as an example. With the onset of the epidemic and the massive transition to remote work, employees first began to give more free time. They were first allowed to go home on Fridays afternoons and then a four-day work week with no pay cuts or employee benefits.
The idea of a four-day weekend has been discussed in Russia for several years. They returned to this issue in February 2021. As the deputy chairman of the United Russia faction in the State Duma Andrei Isaev said, the transition to it while maintaining or increasing wages is the main path, but today other tasks to protect the interests of workers come to the fore.
However, in October last year, the State Duma criticized this idea. Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Labor, Social Policy and Veterans Affairs Mikhail Terentyev considered that this could cause difficulties in remuneration.
As for the Russians themselves, almost half (48 percent) approve of the introduction of a four-day working week in the country and are ready to work a day less. 33 percent of Russians opposed the four-day period, while almost every fifth (19 percent) fears that they will not be able to cope with the usual amount of work if they work four days instead of five.