Marin's intention would be that pay would remain the same, but hours would be less cumulatively. The total hours would be somewhere between 30 and 32 hours.
While generally supportive of such a change in Estonia, Estonian Member of Parliament (of the Social Democratic Party) and former Minister of Health and Labour Riina Sikkut was reported in August 2020 to have said, “It is clear that we cannot shorten everyone’s workday starting tomorrow. We cannot find more workers overnight or hike companies’ expenses to this degree. However, shortening the time we spend working should be a long-term goal…”
According to EURES (an agency of the European Union), Estonia's working population (between 15 and 74 years of age) in the first quarter of 2020 amounted to 984,000 people. At that time, 670, 300 of those people were employed, making for an employment rate of 68.1 percent. EURES data from Finland showed that the country had “just under 2.5 million workers” in 2018. At first glance, the proportion of people in Estonia who are unemployed could benefit from the increase of jobs that might come from the reduction of other people's hours. This is assuming both that young adults would not attend university and that people above the traditional North American retirement age would wish to continue working.
If eight or 10 hours of work were shaved off from each employee's hours at a business, would it allow for multiple additional part-time employees to step in, or one additional full-time employee? This would be beneficial for those seeking work; but in the long run it would cost employers more money. So it might not change anything at all. Projects might just go incomplete or take longer.
A reduction of working days has been criticized as a strategy because of the potential for employees to be asked to simply work more hours each day. Instead of working from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, workplaces might need their staff to stay until 7:00 PM. On a regular basis, this could lead to exhaustion and also cost employers more in the long-term because of overtime hours.
Nevertheless, let's imagine the benefits of reduced working hours or days. The hope expressed by proponents such as Marin and Sikkut is that the reduction of hours or days would make whatever time we are working more productive. Indeed, if you sat in the corner of a typical place of work, not all of the hours that you watched over would be furiously active. There would be meetings, natural pauses, and breaks. It's possible that less of these activities would take place in a reduced workweek. All employees would gain more time for recreation, cooking at home, exercise, and more. These activities improve physical and mental health.
With a six hour work day, starting at 9:00 AM, employees with school-aged children could align their schedules with that of their kids more easily. They could drop their children off at school and pick them up in the afternoon without needing to pay for daycare. Families would have more time at home together and save money. A more open schedule has the power to encourage more of the population to continue working even if they are raising a family, thereby reducing unemployment and boosting the economy.
There are definitely aspects that need to be solved for these changes to be implemented in Estonia. However, the benefits are numerous enough to justify that solution.
This article was written by Vincent Teetsov as part of the Local Journalism Initiative.
