Data from the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound) show that Croatia has the longest working week in the European Union, which does not include undeclared or unpaid overtime, the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Croatia (SSSH) says.

Under the Labour Act, full-time work is considered to be 40 hours per week, unless otherwise agreed. This possibility of agreeing to different working hours, which generally benefits the workers because they keep the same salary level, is used too little, the SSSH executive secretary for labour law and the labour market, Sunčica Brnardić, told Hina in an interview.

She says that although Croatia is seeing strong growth in wages and productivity, this is not resulting in an increase in competitiveness in improving working conditions, in which Croatia is still far behind other EU members.

The shortening of the average working week in other EU countries, as a rule, takes place through branch collective agreements, which recognise the specificities of individual activities.

“An interesting example is France, which shortened the working week to 35 hours in 1998, which encouraged employer associations and unions to negotiate collectively on this and other issues. This initiative should be given thought and collective bargaining should be encouraged because of EU directives and the need to regulate the labour market in Croatia,” Brnardić said.

Worker satisfaction and productivity

Shortening working hours can increase work efficiency and worker satisfaction and reduce the sick leave rate, but employers do not recognise the shortened working week as an important means of work organisation and attracting and retaining workers.

A survey carried out by the SSSH has shown that shortening working hours by three hours per week would have a very strong positive impact on workers’ satisfaction with their current job as well as on individual productivity. This in particular is true for workers in the private sector.

The current situation on the Croatian labour market is characterised by labour and skills shortages. These are structural circumstances that certainly cannot be overcome by extending working hours, as we have seen in Greece, where the working week has been extended, Brnardić said.

The leader of the Croatian Independent Unions (NHS), Darije Hanzalek, says that when shortening the working week the easiest way is to do it gradually, without reducing wages. “In that way, in addition to other benefits, the value of the hourly wage, i.e. the worker’s work, increases, and when the transition to the new regime has been completed, material rights can continue to develop in the long term.”

He noted that several conditions should be met for a successful transition to shorter working hours in society as a whole.

“First and foremost, the focus should not be solely on growth and profit as the only measures of value and success. In addition, it is important that the benefits from the development of knowledge and technology are put in the service of society and not individuals, because only in this way can we continue the further emancipation of man from work. Attention should also be focused on the sustainability and long-term nature of working relationships based on preserving workers’ health and ability to work,” Hanzalek said.

Adjusting working hours to climate change

Hanzelek went on to say that Sweden had made an experiment with shorter working hours in publicly funded institutions in Gothenburg in 2015, when people worked six hours a day five days a week for full pay.

“None of the workers who participated in the experiment were on sick leave for two years, there was a significant improvement in the work-life balance, job satisfaction, and mental and physical health. Also, the workers increased their productivity.”

A similar experiment was conducted in Iceland from 2015 to 2019 by introducing a 35-hour working week. It was a great success because the well-being of workers increased, the work-life balance improved, there was a reduction in stress and burnout, and productivity remained the same or even increased.

“As a result, the Icelandic unions achieved a reduction of working hours of around 86 per cent for the entire working population,” Hanzalek noted.

In 2021, Spain also started to introduce a 32-hour working week without a salary reduction for a period of three years, but the results are not yet known.

Soon there will also need to be talks on adjusting working hours to new circumstances in view of climate change and heatwaves, the NHS leader said.

“We should keep Croatian workers”

Citing the example of Greece, which recently extended the working week to six days, Hanzalek says that in less productive systems, the length of working hours will not improve things, adding that “we should not follow bad examples.”

“We should strive to be productive in our work, to keep Croatian workers and not to drive them away from their employers or out of the country by treating them poorly,” he says.

“The extension measure in Greece does not apply to all activities and is not binding on everyone. It seems that, given many misuses, it actually sets out additional criteria for overtime work.”

Overtime work is allowed only in the case of force majeure, an extraordinary increase in the scope of work and similar situations and has no place in regular working hours. Therefore, it is understandable that the Greek unions were against the very possibility of such a development, the NHS leader said.

“Ultimately, if this measure takes a negative turn, it could backfire on them, because more of their workers could leave the country. We can no longer afford something like that,” Hanzalek concluded.