4-day work day in Peru: how viable would it be to apply this model in our country?

In recent days, the German Government announced the reduction of the work week to four work days. The initiative, implemented over a six-month period in 45 companies, aims to determine the level of productivity of German workers, as well as address chronic employee shortages. This is not the only country that has been applying this work model; In Latin America, the Dominican Republic has also joined this new work trend, thus becoming the first Latin American region to try it. But How viable would it be to apply this working day in Peru?

To answer this question, at La República we contacted Mariano Silva, a lawyer specializing in labor rights, and Gerónimo López Sevillano, spokesperson for the General Confederation of Workers in Peru (CGTP). They both gave us more information on this topic. Find out how feasible it is for Peru to apply the reduction of the work week to four days of work.

How viable is it to implement a four-day work week per week in Peru?

According to the human rights lawyer, at an economic level, applying a working day of only four hours a day in Peru would be beneficial to increase the level of productivity in workers and reduce downtime within working hours.

“I think the reduction of one day (to four days) could increase the level of efficiency. (in the worker), since there would be less time (to complete the projects and more) and the workers would know that now their (usual) work rhythm is in a shorter time. This also avoids downtime during working hours. Therefore, on an economic level, implementing it is very viable. That’s why (countries) are doing it,” commented the specialist.

However, at a legal level, this would not be very beneficial for workers, even though the law allows it. This is because, currently and as stipulated in the Political Constitution of Peru, the mandatory work day is 48 hours per week; That is, if the country wanted to reduce working days to only four per week, it would imply that the worker, in order to comply with what the labor law stipulates, must increase the hours of his daily work day to 12.

“On the legal side, this would be complicated, given that the Political Constitution establishes that the maximum working day is 48 hours. Now, If we apply the 4 working days a week, the employer may say ‘we are not going to work from Monday to Friday, but only until Thursday, but we are going to split the time and it will no longer be 8, but 12 hours a day.‘. I mean, the constitution and the law do allow it, but from there to whether it is viable for the employer, I doubt it,” commented the lawyer.

On the other hand, for Gerónimo López Sevillano, spokesperson for the General Confederation of Workers in Peru (CGTP), this new way of working could be applied and carried out successfully, as long as the workers have the support of the Peruvian Government. Despite this, he indicated that, currently, Peru is emerging from an economic recession, making it very difficult for this model to be considered.

“Everything could be done as long as there is the will of the Government and the businessmen. If there is not that, it will hardly work. Right now we are demanding that the working day be reduced from 48 to 40 hours a week. Obviously, we would agree if we worked 4 days a week, but I find that very difficult, because right now we are in an economic recession and we need greater productivity,” stated the CGTP spokesperson.