The idea of the 4-day working week – a proposal that would involve reducing the working week to 32 hours by increasing leisure time – is already being tested in several countries, with many studies supporting its benefits for employees’ physical and mental health while increasing their productivity and companies’ profitability; however, implementing a 4-day workweek in companies in Turkey, where a culture of long working hours prevails, could be almost mission impossible, experts say.
Across the developed world, there are growing calls to reduce weekly working hours to promote health and productivity and stimulate the service and leisure industries; but in several Eastern European countries and especially in Turkey, where Turkish workers have traditionally had much longer working hours than their European neighbours and other OECD countries, the task may not be so easy, especially because of the reluctance of many employers or the fear of many employees to see their wages reduced.
According to the most recent data published last May by Eurostat, while the average working week for European workers is around 36 hours, when we look at the data by country we find that Türkiye stands out as the country in the region with the longest working week among medium and long term workers aged 20 to 64, with an average of 43.1 hours per week. It is followed in second place in the European ranking by Serbia with 41.3 hours, Bosnia-Herzegovina (41.2 hours) and Greece (39.8 hours).
“In countries such as Japan, China, India, the United States, the United Kingdom and Turkey, long working hours are an intrinsic part of the culture,” explained Turkish economist Filiz Eryılmaz speaking on the subject, in statements reported by several Turkish media. “For example, unpaid overtime is so common in Japan that they even have a special word for it: Karoshi, which means ‘death by overwork’”’. In China, the system of working from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. for 6 days a week is called ‘996’. Turkey has a similar culture, so both employees and employers would need to change their mentality first,” he warned.
Similarly, labour consultant and expert Emin Yılmaz stressed that although there is a legal limit in Turkey whereby employees cannot work more than 45 hours per week, in practice this is not enforced: “Unregistered working hours also have to be counted. Although various ministries are working on this, it is a difficult system to implement in Turkey, even if it is guaranteed by law. I think most businessmen would oppose a 4-day workweek“, he concluded.
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Edited and reviewed by:
Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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