A law came into force in Greece on Monday, July 1, that allows some companies to increase the number of working days for their employees in a week to 6. The law was approved by the center-right government in September 2023 amidst major protests from the opposition and unions. Previously, in Greece, the working days in a week were 5, as in many other countries around the world.
The government led by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis justified the choice by explaining that it wanted to further stimulate economic growth, which in Greece has reached rather high levels for the European average for years, and at the same time regularize the overtime hours – often unpaid – that Greek employees are forced to work. According to the most recent estimates by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, Greeks are already the first in the Union for actual hours worked per week. In Greece, however, labor inspections by state authorities are almost non-existent.
Opponents, however, point out that regularizing this condition risks making it permanent, at a time when several Western countries are experimenting with shorter work weeks, often 4 days, to ensure a healthier balance between professional and personal life.
The new law mainly concerns industries and companies that deal with services and cannot be applied to catering and tourist reception. It essentially provides that companies can agree with their employees weekly contracts of up to 48 hours, therefore 8 hours more than those allowed until now. The 8 additional hours must be paid 40 percent more than the weekday salary, while 115 percent more if the sixth day of work falls on a Sunday or during a holiday.
“The core of this law is both positive for the worker and deeply oriented towards economic growth,” Mitsotakis said during the parliamentary debate for its approval.
Mitsotakis and his government are very close to the country’s most important entrepreneurs and productive sectors, and in recent years they have focused heavily on Greece’s economic growth after almost fifteen years of crisis to build their consensus. In 2023, Greek GDP increased by 2 percent, in contrast to the general stagnation of the European economy, while in 2025 unemployment should fall below the psychological threshold of 10 percent and public debt should contract to reach dimensions comparable to Italy’s (which in the meantime is instead destined to increase).
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At the same time, Greece remains a deeply unequal country, where around a quarter of people are at risk of poverty and social exclusion, the fourth highest figure in the Union, and where wages are still very low. In April, the government decided to increase the minimum wage to 830 euros gross; in Italy, a worker earns more than double that, on average.
The Mitsotakis government stresses that the 6-day workweek will guarantee more money to male and female employees. However, several observers explain that the measure will not solve the structural problems of work, especially related to low productivity, and that it will worsen the living conditions of many workers. “Higher productivity is achieved with better working conditions, a better quality of life: and this last thing, we now know, means working fewer hours, not more,” he told Guardian Akis Sotiropoulos, a public sector trade unionist.
The analyst Jens Bastian, who works for the think tank German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), said that German wave that to stimulate growth in a sustainable way the Greek government should further increase salaries, expand opportunities for access to work and encourage professional growth within companies: “in these areas Greece still has a long way to go to catch up with other European countries. Working more hours, even on Saturdays, is like taking a road in the opposite direction”.
