The Minister of Economy and Labor of Belgium, Pierre-Yves Dermagne, has proposed launching a pilot experiment to reduce the working day to four days a week and without a reduction in salary with the aim of "working less to work better."
"We want to be able to analyze the benefits and difficulties of this experience of collective reduction of working time in companies in different sectors," explained the minister in an interview on the Belgian channel RTL, information collected by Europa Press.
In 2022, the Belgian Government already offered its workers the possibility of reducing their working hours to four days, but without working fewer hours, so they had to accumulate hours worked to enjoy that day off.
However, in this case it is not about this "compression" of the day, but rather a true "collective reduction in working time", as the minister explained.
A total of 286 companies and associations have already registered to participate in an online seminar organized by the Belgian Federal Planning Office, while the implementation of the pilot experience will also be supported by professors from Ghent University.
Dermagne has indicated that his intention is to leave "as much freedom as possible" to companies to take into account the specificities of their activity and their organization, so the Government will be "very flexible" in its organization.
Convinced that this is one of the solutions to the problems of the labor market, the minister hopes to be able to launch a "large-scale" experience to be able to learn from it in addition to offering better conditions for those more "arduous" professions.
