Valencia will be the first Spanish city to apply four day work week, will do so this April as a ‘pilot project’ following in the footsteps of countries like the UK, Germany, Sweden, Iceland, Portugal or Japan. Starting next Monday, April 10, the city is examining how this four-day work option works over four weeks, coinciding with three consecutive holidays on Mondays and moving holidays from January to this month.

So, the weeks of April 10 (Easter Monday), April 17 (San Vicente Ferrer), April 24 (for January 22, San Vicente Mártir) and May 1 (Labor Day) will only be four weeks. pilot project promoted by the City Council to examine in the city the application impact and consequences on productivity, leisure, mobility, economy and health of people working 32 hours a week.

Proposals after the dialogue process

The City Council’s Las Naves innovation center will evaluate the results to come to a conclusion from this test by July 20. The suggestion comes from a dialogue process with the sectors involved – trade unions, companies, environmental organizations, other social institutions and agencies – and other similar augmentation experiences conducted in several countries, including Lithuania, United Kingdom, New Zealand, Germany, Sweden, Iceland, Portugal or Japan.

Reduction of working days is a subject subject to negotiations between unions and employers, but the consistency of wanting to do tests and study “what happened” with quantitative and objective data. From the pilot program, three broad areas will be studied: health and social welfare, climate emergency and economy.

In particular, issues such as the use of time, peace work life, feelings of well-being, rest, impact of actions on greenhouse gases, air quality, silence, energy consumption, traffic, public transport networks, domestic tourism, hospitality, trade and buying in stores and shops, among other issues.