Shortened working hours. Minister Dziemianowicz-Bąk presented the details

- Today it is obvious that Polish employees and entrepreneurs deserve more. They deserve for the scope of working time to start matching their capabilities - said the Minister of Labor Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-Bąk at a press conference. The politician of the Left announced the launch of a pilot project on shortening the working time of Poles.

The Minister of Family, Labor and Social Policy presented a pilot program to shorten working hours at a press conference. She assured that such a procedure will bring only benefits to employees and the economy.

- This will be the first pilot of shortened working hours in our part of Europe - assured the Left politician on Monday, April 28. She added that this type of experiment has been successfully carried out in the countries of the western part of our continent.

Dziemianowicz-Bąk stressed that the shorter working week would be introduced without any reduction in remuneration.

- Poles are working more and more efficiently, more and more intelligently, more and more well. It is time for them to work less - said the minister. She added that "shorter working hours do not negatively affect the financial results of enterprises".

VIDEO: Shortened working hours. Minister Dziemianowicz-Bąk presented the details

The head of the ministry presented the outlines of the pilot, which is to lead to a reduction in the number of hours worked. Earlier, she told journalists that PLN 10 million would be allocated for this purpose.

- There are various paths to reducing working hours. You can reduce the number of hours on a given working day. You can spread it over many days and shorten the weekly working hours. You can reduce working days, but you can also effectively extend leave periods so that you can effectively shorten working hours on a larger scale. Analysis of the collected data will allow us at the Ministry of Labour to develop legislative solutions that will make it even easier and possible on an even larger scale. Ultimately, of course, we would like the reduction in working hours to apply to all employees - she explained.

The politician announced that the details of the project will be known by the middle of this year.

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Institutions that want to use the program will not be able to reduce employee salaries. Various models of shortening working hours will be tested, e.g. reducing working hours on specific days or reducing working days per week. The ministry's project is not only aimed at businesses. Local government units, foundations and trade unions will be able to participate in it.

Research and conceptual work on shortening the working week has been ongoing at the Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Policy since 2024. According to Dziemianowicz-Bąk, these analyses were very promising.

- The most basic conclusions are that this is an expected solution, that it must and will be based on maintaining the same level of remuneration. This means a shorter working week - yes, but with the same remuneration - said the minister on April 17 in the program "Graffiti" on Polsat News.

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Eurostat data shows that Poland is among the EU countries with the longest working hours. The actual weekly working time is 39.3 hours, while the EU average is 36.1 hours.

According to the Labour Code, working time may not exceed eight hours a day and 40 hours in an average five-day working week in an adopted settlement period not exceeding four months.