Finland should test shorter working hours across different sectors to assess their effects on employee wellbeing, ability to work and productivity, according to a report commissioned by the Finnish Confederation of Professionals STTK.
The report, written by researcher Anna Kuokkanen, reviewed international research and interviewed representatives of Finnish workplaces that have introduced shorter working hours.
It found that reducing hours works best when employers also reorganise tasks, involve employees in planning and monitor the results.
“Simply mechanically reducing working hours does not necessarily work. Work also needs to be reconsidered and reorganised,” Kuokkanen said in STTK’s release.
The report found that shorter hours had improved employee wellbeing at the organisations interviewed without reducing productivity. In some cases, productivity increased.
STTK said shorter hours should form one option for employees facing health pressures, demanding periods in their lives or work patterns that place greater strain on recovery.
The organisation identified night work as one area where reduced hours deserve further testing. Shorter shifts would give workers more time to recover and could help them remain in employment for longer, STTK social impact director Taina Vallander said.
The report comes as mental health has become a major cause of absence from work and loss of working ability in Finland. Mental health disorders became the most common basis for sickness allowance in 2020 and are also the leading reason for moving onto disability pension, according to STTK’s release.
The study examined Finnish companies using different models for shorter working hours.
Oulu-based game developer Fingersoft allows employees to work 80 per cent of standard full-time hours. About 25 to 30 per cent of its workforce uses the arrangement. Employees working four days a week receive 80 per cent of their usual salary, while those working six-hour days receive 90 per cent.
Most employees at Tampere restaurant Kajo work four days a week without a reduction in pay. Vehicle electronics company Sercap in Keminmaa also operates a four-day week on full pay.
Helsinki consultancy Third Rock gives employees Friday afternoons off without cutting salaries.
Kuokkanen said such arrangements depend on how workplaces organise the remaining working time.
Successful trials could remove unnecessary tasks and expose problems in working practices that organisations have previously left unresolved, she said.
STTK is calling for trials in different sectors rather than a single model covering all workers. Vallander said working hours should respond to differences between jobs and changes in employees’ circumstances during their careers.
Trade union Pro also called for the debate to focus on research rather than fixed positions between employers and employees.
Pro chair Niko Simola said changes driven by technology, digitalisation and artificial intelligence raised questions about how productivity gains should affect working conditions.
Pro is seeking a national pilot programme for shorter working hours as part of its parliamentary election objectives. It also wants employees to have greater access to part-time work during different stages of life.
Kuokkanen said workplaces could begin with trials lasting six months or a year and decide whether to continue based on the results.
She said shorter working hours require planning, management, employee participation and systematic monitoring of their effects.
HT
