Reducing working hours: shorter days or fewer days per week? Insights from a 30-hour workweek experiment

Abstract

Recently, more and more experiments with a reduction in working time are taking place. Most experiments and introductions of shorter workweeks do not leave the choice of the type/form of reduction up to employees, but to employers. An experiment with a 30-hour workweek in a women’s organisation in Belgium was rather unique in the sense that employees were free to choose how to reduce their working hours on a weekly basis. Based on longitudinal survey and time-diary data as well as in-depth interviews and focus groups, this article investigates what form of working time reduction was preferred by the female employees and what factors influenced these preferences. The life course perspective is taken as a lens through which we analyse women’s preferences and choices. Results show that there was a clear preference for having one day off per week instead of shorter daily hours. This choice was mostly related to meso-factors concerning work and private circumstances and is not fixed but rather dynamic.