Rushing a four -day work week. The Labor Inspectorate says directly: This is the beginning of the new era

The recruitment of companies for shortening working time is underway for several days. This is the first such project in this part of Europe, which – as the labor department emphasizes – responds to the needs of employees and employers. According to the Chief Labor Inspector, pilotage is a great idea that will check the results of shortening working time. Such a step was also considered in the National Labor Inspectorate, but in the face of the reform awaiting her, it was considered too many changes at the same time.

– The pilot program in the field of shortening working time, prepared by the Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Policy, is in my opinion a brilliant solution. I like it very much that for the first time we have had such a thing for 100 years – because we have been dealing with about 100 years in Poland and Europe, in the world, with an eight -hour working time, to which we are used to. I am very happy that the ministry has proposed such a pilot program that we will check and verify within a long time what consequences are associated with shortening of working time – says Newseria Marcin Stanecki, the Chief Labor Inspector.

As he emphasizes, this may be the beginning of a new era, in which we will actually work less. Minister of Work Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-Bąk during a recent conference announced that the pilot is a new era in labor law and a response to the real needs of employees and employers. This will allow more to take care of the balance between professional and private life. Changes taking place on the labor market force the search for new organizational solutions that facilitate the reconciliation of professional and family life. In turn, for employers is a chance to compete for qualified staff.

– regardless of how we assess this idea, today many companies advertise that they have a four -day work week, but They have a small maczek written at the end of such an advertisement that this means work four times a week for 10 hours. But this shows that this four -day working time week has broken very much and becomes today the most desirable benefit and an incentive to work with a given employer – says Marcin Stanecki. – Very widely local governments implement a four -day working time week. They have trouble acquiring professionals, because the fork of salaries of local government employees is not very high, so local governments want to compete in this way and ensure that this work is becoming more and more efficient. I support this idea very much.

He admits that PIP considered joining the pilot, but this is not a good time for further changes.

– Let's remember that this pilot is not money for freeyou need to fill in the headings, reports, you need to assess employee performance. Due to the fact that we currently have a reform of the National Labor Inspectorate, imposing a new obligation on directors in the form of checking employee performance and verifying whether the four -day system works or not, it would be a duty that would hinder our reform, so for now we are not able to join. But if there were such a pilot, and we would be after the reform and organize internal issues, why not? – says the Chief Labor Inspector.

The PIP reform is one of the milestones provided in the KPO. The inspection will gain new powers, including The possibility of transforming civil law contracts into employment contracts under certain conditions or the possibility of conducting remote controls. Organizational changes will also take place. The new regulations should start to apply from January 2026.

Recruitment for a shortened work time started on August 14 and will last until September 15, and the selection of entities participating in the program will take place in the next month. The interest of companies and institutions is very high. Only in the first week 116 applications were received from employers, and another 661 were in the process of completing. The pilot of the shortened working time while maintaining remuneration is research, and is financed from the Labor Fund. The employer will receive financial resources to cover expenses related to employee training and introducing organizational changes that he would have to bear on his own. One entity may receive an amount of up to PLN 1 million, but no more than PLN 20,000. PLN per employee. The total budget of the program is PLN 50 million. The pilot program will last over a year.

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