- The four-day system was first tested in France two years ago
- The government is urging unions and employers to negotiate the arrangements
- Gabriel Attal, Prime Minister, said he wants to improve the quality of working life in France
Divorced parents who share custody of their children will soon be eligible to work in France four days a week under a new pilot scheme.
From September, civil servants caring for their children under varying residency arrangements will be given an extra day off in some areas if their child is staying with them, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said on Sunday.
Parents are expected to designate Wednesday as a day off, because primary schools and most secondary schools do not have classes that afternoon.
35-year-old Attal had already tested the four-day system two years ago when he was Budget Minister.
The staff did not have any reduction in working hours, which meant that the days in the office became slightly longer.
Gabriel Attal, the French prime minister, said that from September in some parts of France, divorced civil servants with shared custody of children will have the right to work four days a week if their child lives with them, under a trial arrangement.
It remains undecided whether overall working hours for single working parents will be reduced or whether workers will make up the difference in the weeks when the child is not staying with them – to put them in the same monthly average of the standard French 35-hour work week.
The government is urging unions and employers to negotiate the planned arrangements.
After two decades of campaigns to encourage shared custody of children and reduce the number of single-parent households in France, almost half a million people per country travel between two homes, usually weekly.
A bill now before parliament aims to change the law so that alternating shared custody becomes the norm for courts dealing with divorce.
The French population is a fan of the four-day working week, even if this means that you have to work longer in the office.
In a poll taken last month, 77 percent of working people said they supported the idea.
France highlighted the success of a four-day trial in Britain involving 61 companies, which took place over six months in 2022.
The trial, which involved 3,000 private sector workers, resulted in a staggering 71 percent drop in the number of disconnections and a 65 percent reduction in the number of days staff called in sick.
The maximum 35-hour working week in France was introduced in 2000 by a socialist government and was already being used by around 10,000 people by May last year.
Attal said he wants to expand the practice to the entire workforce as part of a drive to improve the quality of working life in France.
The plan will be discussed at a government seminar next week.