As more and more countries opt for a four-day working week, Belgium announced on Tuesday that Belgian workers will soon be able to choose a four-day week as part of a series of labor market reforms. work. These reforms also contemplate the right to disconnect, also giving workers the right to turn off their work devices and ignore work-related messages following hours without fear of reprisal. But despite the fact that these measures appear to be positive for the health and well-being of employees, according to the family league, this will not be advantageous for parents, as they may be forced to work less flexibly to ensure working days. denser.
Employees will be able to test the four-day week to see if it suits their needs well.
Under the Belgian system, employees will soon be able to condense the current five-day week into four days. In practice, this means ensuring a 38-hour working week, with an extra day off to compensate for the longer working days. A government spokesperson declared employees will be able to ask to work four days a week for a period of six months. After that, they can choose to continue with the arrangement or revert to a five-day week without negative consequences. “This must be done at the request of the employee, with the employer giving solid reasons for any refusal,” said said Belgian Labor Minister Pierre-Yves Dermagne during a press conference on Tuesday 15 February.
The four-day week gives employees the right to ignore their bosses following work
To avoid the overstretch experienced by some teleworkers during lockdowns, the reform package agreed by the country’s cross-party coalition government will also give workers the right to turn off work devices and ignore work-related messages without fear of reprisals. “We have had two difficult years. With this agreement, we are laying the groundwork for a more innovative, sustainable and digital economy. The goal is to be able to make people and businesses stronger,” said the Belgian Prime Minister Alexander de Croo during a press conference.
Towards a better work-free time balance?
These labor reforms in Belgium aim to protect the balance between work and private life. They will benefit public and private sector employees who want to spend more time with their children. Labor Minister Pierre-Yves Dermagne said the reforms would be particularly helpful for divorced or separated parents who share custody of their children. However, for the League of Families, the proposal does not correspond to the reality of parents.
Parents prefer better paid parental leave
Christophe Cocu, director of the Family League, explained for RTL Info that “to move to four days a week, parents will have to work a minimum of 10 hours a day. The worker will start working at 8 a.m., he will finish at 6 p.m. children to school or pick them up”. Ultimately, parents with children, especially young children, will not be able to benefit from this model, explains this father: “…for parents of young children with little autonomy, this will pose a concern for extracurricular activities during the week in particular”. For parents, a better solution to free up time for families would be to better reimburse parental leave at 4/5 a reduction in salary. For the League of Families, the ideal would be to reimburse 100% of the salary and not 70% as is currently the case.
