34-year-old Sanna Marin, Finland’s new Prime Minister, has called for the introduction of a four-day working week and a 6-hour working day to allow workers to spend more time with their loved ones.
A mother-of-one and the second-youngest head of government in the world, Marin leads a center-left union with four other parties which are all led by women, three of which are under the age of 35.
“I believe people deserve to spend more time with their families, loved ones, hobbies and other aspects of life, such as culture,” she said. “This could be the next step for us in working life.”
Before she became Prime Minister, she was Finland’s Minister of Transport. During her time in that position, she already advocated for shorter work weeks to improve employee productivity and rapport.
It is currently normal to work 8 hours per day and 5 days per week in Finland.
The new proposal was welcomed with enthusiasm by Li Anderson, the minister of education and the leader of the Left Alliance.
“It is important to allow Finnish citizens to work less. It is not a question of governing with a feminine style but offering help and keeping promises to voters,” she expressed.
In Sweden, where 6-hour working day has already applied since 2015, employees were more productive, wealthier and happier.
Microsoft Japan also took a bold move to enhance work-life balance by introducing a 3-day weekend. Incredible results showed that productivity went up by 39.9 percent!
One internet user commented: “Finland is a small country. Guess they import most everything so not much to do.”
Another wrote: “I’m all about the 6 hour day, but that takes mutual respect between the employer and the employee, and that’s hard to do with an hourly wage.”
A third added: “I hope this doesn’t wreck the economy. We shall see.”
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Replaced!