Introduction Of 4-Day Working Week Should Be Examined

The possibility of introducing a four day week and its relationship to productivity should be examined, Labour Party Employment spokesperson, Ged Nash has said.

Making the call, Senator Nash said: "The world of work is changing rapidly and workers are increasingly being made feel like they need to be constantly available to their employers.

"In order to make work more productive and to ensure family life and society benefits from advances in technology I think it is timely that we examine how our working time laws at Irish and EU level can better serve workers and industry by providing workers with a better work-life balance.

"With workers constantly being expected to be ‘on’, there is evidence to suggest that quality of work and productivity can suffer as a result.

"Employees and employers don’t benefit from this kind of practice.

"Fórsa here in Ireland and the TUC in the UK have called for an examination into how a four day working week would benefit workers and the economy.

"The Labour Party is doing similar work in regards to this as we examine the challenges around the future of work.

"As we move closer and closer to full employment, we have to look at the pressures on workers, especially younger workers and examine how our current laws can be changed to benefit workers, society and industry."