Large-scale trials of reduced working hours in Iceland have been an ‘overwhelming success’ and have led to many people reducing their working time permanently, according to researchers.
Two trials, across a broad range of occupations, commenced in Iceland in 2015 and 2017 and eventually involved around 3,000 employees. Their success has led to unions negotiating shorter working hours, or a right to request shorter working hours, for 86% of the Nordic country’s population.
The first trial took place at Reykjavik City Council between 2014 and 2019, in consultation with the Federation of State and Municipal Employees (BSRB). It began at two workplaces involving just a few dozen workers, but expanded to include 2,500 staff. A second trial involved 440 Icelandic government workers.
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A service centre in Reykjavik and the city’s Child Protection Service both experienced high levels of stress, which shorter working hours aimed to reduce. An additional workplace was also selected as a control group for comparison.
Workers reduced their working time from 40 hours per week to 35 or 36 hours. Early positive results led researchers to encompass not only offices, but also playschools, city maintenance facilities, care homes and many other workplaces.
Productivity and service provision remained the same or improved across the majority of trial workplaces, while worker wellbeing increased across a range of indicators, from perceived stress and burnout, to health and work-life balance.
Guðmundur D Haraldsson, a researcher at Icelandic think tank the Association for Sustainable Democracy (Alda), said: “The Icelandic shorter working week journey tells us that not only is it possible to work less in modern times, but that progressive change is possible too.
“Our roadmap to a shorter working week in the public sector should be of interest to anyone who wishes to see working hours reduced.”
Iceland’s trade union bodies have since negotiated permanent reductions in working hours for tens of thousands of members across the country. In total, say the researchers, around 86% of Iceland’s working population has now either moved to working shorter hours or have gained the right to shorten their working time.
Will Stronge, director of research at UK think tank Autonomy, which with Alda published detailed analysis of the trials, said: “This study shows that the world’s largest ever trial of a shorter working week in the public sector was by all measures an overwhelming success. It shows that the public sector is ripe for being a pioneer of shorter working weeks – and lessons can be learned for other governments.
“Iceland has taken a big step towards the four-day working week, providing a great real-life example for local councils and those in the UK public sector considering implementing it here in the UK.”
According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Iceland, like its Nordic neighbours, benefits from generous parental leave, good income equality and a generous social safety net for its citizens.
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But unlike in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, Iceland’s workforce has traditionally faced long working hours. The OECD ranks Iceland as one of the countries providing the least number of hours per week for leisure and personal care, alongside other work-intensive countries like Chile, Mexico, and Japan.
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