In the summer of 2021, Dmitry Medvedev instructed the Russian Ministry of Labor to consider the possibility of switching to a four-day working week. This is, in principle, feasible even without changing labor legislation: according to the Labor Code, a person should not Art. 91. Labor Code of the Russian Federation: work more than 40 hours a week, and less is welcome. But there were no further concrete steps or statements on this issue. Lifehacker decided to figure out why the standard working week is increasingly criticized and whether it should be shortened.
What is the standard working week length in Russia and other countries?
Apart from Russia, a 40-hour workweek is accepted as the standard in the United States, although it is often Backman M. Vacation time: 58% of workers would take a pay cut for this one benefit. USA. Today. violated: 40% of American workers work 50 hours a week. The working week is officially the same length in Japan, but the corporate culture and professional ethics of this country sometimes lead to incredible results. Japan has some of the longest working hours in the world. It's trying to change overtime - it can reach an additional 40 hours per week.
According to This is where people work the longest hours from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Mexico works the longest: the average Mexican works 43 hours a week, although the law stipulates only 40. In Europe, the Greeks have the longest average working week - 39 hours in Week.
In developed European countries, recycling is rare. All thanks to high labor productivity and a developed trade union movement. In Belgium and Norway they usually work around Cohut M. An 8-hour work week could be ideal for mental health. MedicalNewsToday. 38 hours. In France, the law requires a 35-hour work week, and shifts must not exceed 10 hours. However, this system has many nuances, and often the length of working hours depends on the workforce itself.
The shortest Working time in the European Union: the Netherlands The average Dutch resident has a working week of less than 30 hours (although The Working Hours Act allows for a maximum of 55 hours per week, but only for four weeks, no more). On average, Germans work less than this is where people work the longest hours in Europe - about 26 hours a week.
Commentary on Article 94 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation
1. The Labor Code establishes not only a limit on the duration of working hours for a certain period of time, but also regulates the duration of daily work. First of all, this applies to persons enjoying the right to reduced working hours due to age, health status, or due to work in harmful and (or) dangerous working conditions (see Article 92 of the Labor Code). The duration of a work shift (daily work) is also limited when recording working hours in aggregate (Article 104 of the Labor Code).
2. The duration of daily work (shift) for certain categories of workers is determined by the relevant regulatory legal acts. Thus, in accordance with the Regulations on the peculiarities of the working time and rest time regime for workers of floating vessels of inland water transport, approved. Ministry of Transport of Russia dated May 16, 2003 N 133, the normal working hours of sailing crew workers cannot exceed 40 hours per week. The normal duration of daily work (shift) for seafarers is 8 hours from Monday to Friday with two days off on Saturday and Sunday.
For female seafarers working in the Far North and equivalent areas, as well as for workers aged 17 to 18 years, a 36-hour work week is established, i.e. The duration of daily work (shift) is 7.2 hours from Monday to Friday inclusive, with two days off on Saturday and Sunday.
The maximum permissible duration of daily work (shift) of a crew member, including the time of keeping watches (works), performing, along with his duties, work for a short-staffed employee and performing additional work not included in the scope of his direct job responsibilities, should not exceed 12 hours.
The duration of the daily 12-hour work period in a two-shift work schedule for crew members of self-propelled vessels (except for high-speed vessels) should not exceed 30 consecutive days.
When the fleet operates on rivers with limited navigation periods and ensures the delivery of goods to the regions of the Far North and equivalent areas, a two-shift work schedule with a daily work duration of 12 hours can be established for the entire full-water period from the date of the official opening of navigation in this region, but for no more than 3 months.
The duration of the period of work in a two-shift mode and the procedure for changing teams is established by the employer, taking into account the opinion of the elected trade union body or other representative body of employees.
The duration of night shifts is not reduced.
3. Regulations on the peculiarities of working hours and rest periods for car drivers, approved. By Order of the Ministry of Transport of Russia dated August 20, 2004 N 15, for drivers working a five-day work week with two days off, the duration of daily work (shift) cannot exceed eight hours, and for drivers working a six-day work week with one day off - 7 hours ( item 7).
4. Article 94 of the Labor Code provides that the duration of daily work (shift) cannot exceed:
- for workers aged 15 to 16 years - 5 hours, for workers aged 16 to 18 years - 7 hours;
- for students in basic general education programs and educational programs of secondary vocational education, combining education with work during the academic year, from 14 to 16 years old - 2.5 hours, from 16 to 18 years old - 4 hours.
New edition of Art. 92 of the Labor Code eliminated the contradiction that existed in the law. In accordance with Art. 92 of the Labor Code, the working time for workers aged 16 to 18 years is not 36, but 35 hours. That is, a shift for them cannot exceed 7 hours (Article 94 of the Labor Code), and the law no longer contains shortcomings in the working time norm, because the specified employee will work during the week the standard time provided for them - 35 hours per week (7 x 5 = 35).
5. The duration of daily work (shift) for disabled people is established in accordance with a medical report issued in the manner established by federal laws and other regulatory legal acts of the Russian Federation. In particular, the recommended duration of daily work (shift) for a disabled person is indicated in an individual rehabilitation program, which is issued based on the results of a medical and social examination conducted by the institution of the state medical and social examination service for recognizing a citizen as disabled. An individual rehabilitation program for a disabled person is mandatory for execution by any organizations, regardless of their organizational and legal forms and forms of ownership (Article 11 of the Law on the Protection of Persons with Disabilities).
Medical reports in accordance with the law are issued by medical and social examination bodies in accordance with the Law on the Protection of Persons with Disabilities, as well as Order of the Government of the Russian Federation of October 11, 2012 N 310n “On approval of the procedure for organizing and operating federal state institutions of medical and social examination.”
6. For workers engaged in work with harmful and (or) dangerous working conditions, where reduced working hours are established, the maximum permissible duration of daily work (shift) cannot exceed:
— with a 36-hour work week — 8 hours;
- with a 30-hour work week or less - 6 hours.
The legislator abandoned the mandatory fixation of shift duration for workers engaged in work with harmful and (or) dangerous working conditions. Now the legislator has provided in some cases the possibility of increasing the duration of daily work (shift) for this category of workers, limiting this possibility to the following conditions:
— such an increase must be provided for by the terms of the industry (inter-industry) agreement and collective agreement;
- such an increase can only be made with the written consent of the employee, formalized by concluding a separate agreement to the employment contract;
- such an increase can only be made up to 40 hours per week;
- the employee must be paid a separately established monetary compensation in the manner, amount and on the terms determined by industry (inter-industry) agreements and collective agreements.
This addition will allow employers who engage workers in work with harmful and (or) dangerous conditions to more flexibly regulate the duration of daily work, taking into account the nature and specifics of production processes.
7. Duration of daily work (shift) for creative workers of the media, cinematography organizations, television and video crews, theaters, theatrical and concert organizations, circuses and other persons involved in the creation and (or) performance (exhibition) of works, professional athletes in accordance with the lists of jobs, professions, positions of these workers, approved by the Government of the Russian Federation, taking into account the opinion of the Russian Tripartite Commission for the Regulation of Social and Labor Relations, can be established by a collective agreement, a local regulatory act, or an employment contract. This norm will be fully put into effect after the Government of the Russian Federation develops and approves the relevant lists.
Why the 40-hour workweek is controversial
It is believed that our ancient ancestors, hunters and gatherers, “worked” Man in adaptation; the cultural present. Chicago. 1974. only two and a half days a week for 6 hours, or even less. Peasants worked 9 hours a day in the summer and much less in the winter. At the same time, the church forbade going into the field on numerous Christian holidays.
When the working class emerged during the industrial revolution of the 18th–19th centuries, the working hours of such workers were initially not regulated in any way Glaveski S. The Case for the 6-Hour Workday. Back then they could work 12–16 hours, six days a week.
For the first time, the idea of an eight-hour working day was voiced by G. E. Zinoviev. Works: Party and trade unions. M. 1929. in 1817 by the English entrepreneur Robert Owen: “Eight hours for work, eight hours for rest, eight hours for sleep.”
Since then, the fight for a 40-hour workweek and an eight-hour workday has become one of the main tasks of the labor and trade union movements. The first shifts in this direction occurred only in the 20th century. Often, when reducing working hours, business owners were guided not by concern for the well-being of employees, but by their own motives. For example, Henry Ford introduced a 40-hour workweek in his factories in 1922 to give workers more time to spend money. He considered Henry Ford on the Economic Value of Leisure. An interview with Henry Ford in 1926 when he put Ford workers on a 5-day, 40-hour workweek that it would benefit the emerging consumer economy.
Russia introduced the Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR dated October 29, 1917 On an eight-hour working day, the first in the world to have an eight-hour working day. This happened four days after the capture of the Winter Palace during the October Revolution of 1917. Before this, Russian men worked 11.5 hours and women 10 hours, six days a week.
Back in the 30s of the last century, economists predicted Keynes JM Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren. New York. 1930. significant reduction in the working week. It was believed that increasing living standards and automation would free up a lot of time for people. But there is heated debate about whether we have reached this point or not yet.
The idea of introducing an unconditional basic income also adds fuel to the debate about the length of the working week. This is an economic program according to which a person receives a certain amount from the state, even if he does not work at all. An unconditional income could be considered A shorter working week for everyone: How much paid work is needed for mental health and well-being? , help in shortening the working week: having a guaranteed livelihood, a person will have the chance to work less.
Some of the most radical proposals for reduction are four- The 4-Hour Workweek or eight-hour A shorter working week for everyone: How much paid work is needed for mental health and well-being? working weeks. A less categorical option - 21 working hours per week - is offered by 21 Hours. The case for a shorter working week British New Economics Foundation. There is also an opinion that the best solution would be a four-day or three-day workweek: 30, 32 Eisenberg R. It's High Time For The 4-Day Workweek. Forbes. or 33 Sheffield H. Mexico's richest man Carlos Slim says we may soon have a three-day work week hours a week.
However, there are also opposing points of view. Former Business Insider executive editor Joe Weisenthal, who himself even worked on Sundays, says Weisenthal J. Two Days Of Weekend Is Too Much, that two days off is too much. As an argument, he cites the fact that people spend this time uselessly, for example, scrolling through social networks.
However, there is plenty of research showing that excessively long work weeks are harmful to mental and physical health.
Find out more about the dangers of recycling
