Iceland’s financial system grew greater than all however one different wealthy European nation and its staff reported increased well-being, decrease stress, and higher work-life stability after the nation lowered its customary work week from 40 to 36 hours, analysis printed Friday affirmed.
The research—launched by a pair of assume tanks, London-based Autonomy Institute and Alda (Affiliation for Sustainability and Democracy) of Reykjavík, Iceland—”provides new perception into this system of working-time discount that has taken place in Iceland, following profitable public sector trials within the nation.”
“After profitable pilot schemes within the Icelandic nationwide authorities and Reykjavík Metropolis Council between 2015 and 2019 which discovered enhancements to worker well-being in addition to productiveness, historic labor agreements between Icelandic commerce unions and employers ’embedded’ the best to shorter hours for tons of of 1000’s of staff,” research authors Guðmundur Haraldsson, Jack Kellam, and Rowan Trickett famous.
The brand new report analyzed the outcomes of research carried out by the Social Science Analysis Institute on the College of Iceland, the Icelandic Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor, and Occupational Security and Well being Administration “to grasp job patterns,
work surroundings, and the explanation why people left paid employment” in 2021 and 2022.
Key findings embrace:
- 62% of individuals working lowered hours reported being extra glad with their schedule;
- 97% of staff thought that shorter working hours had made it simpler to stability work with their personal life, or a minimum of saved the stability the identical as earlier than (with greater than half, 52%, considering it had improved); and
- 42% of those that had moved to shorter hours thought that it had decreased stress of their personal life, vs. 6% who felt it had elevated.
“This research reveals an actual success story: Shorter working hours have develop into widespread in Iceland… and the financial system is powerful throughout plenty of indicators,” Haraldsson stated in a press release.
In 2023, Iceland’s financial system expanded by 5%, a progress charge second solely to that of Malta amongst wealthy European economies, in response to the Worldwide Financial Fund’s newest World Financial Outlook, printed earlier this week. That’s a lot increased than the nation’s common progress charge of virtually 2% within the decade between 2006 and 2015.
“General, the Icelandic financial system has remained robust submit the introduction of a widespread shorter working week,” Autonomy Institute analysis director Will Stronge stated in a press release. “The proof we have collected means that when staff have a greater work-life stability and are higher rested—the financial system advantages too.”
“The Iceland story provides a really totally different imaginative and prescient to nations throughout Europe which might be grappling with low productiveness however attempting the identical outdated failed strategies,” he added.
