Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 6 October 2021

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation

Four-Day Working Week: Discussion

Photo of Paul MurphyPaul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their presentations. I thank, in particular, those who are campaigning for a four-day week. I really think it is an idea whose time has come. It brings together the interests of workers as workers, the interests of those who are unemployed, the fight for gender equality, and the need to tackle climate change. The benefit of the demand is that it can bring together the interests of the big majority in society in terms of transforming people's lives and society for the better.

I will start with some questions for Ms McElwee. In her opening statement, she referred to the four-day week or compressed work schedule. I ask her to expand on what she means by "compressed work schedule". Does she mean fewer hours overall in the week or is she talking about, as a potential alternative to the four-day week, an IBEC proposal to squeeze the same number of hours into a smaller number of days, for example, a person working 40 hours over four days, as opposed to over five days? Is that what she is getting at with the compressed work schedule model?

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