The government would be required to respond to a request to instate for a four-day workweek by Dec. 7, after the proposal passed a signature threshold on the government’s policy participation platform.
More than 5,700 people have endorsed the proposal for a four-day work week on the Public Policy Online Participation Network Platform, obligating the government to respond by Dec. 7 according to the rules of the platform.
Speaking on a radio program today, Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) said that the government is considering opinions from all sides regarding the proposal.
Photo: Taipei Times
Taiwanese businesses and employment models come in many forms, so the ministry needs to review opinions from a large variety of parties, Hung said.
Considering that different employees and companies of different sizes have different views, the issue requires further reflection and understanding, he said.
It is understandable that many people hope working hours can be reduced, which is why the ministry has increased the minimum wage for 10 years in a row, Hung said.
Increasing the minimum wage helps low-income workers not to rely on bonuses or overtime pay to make ends meet, which inevitably leads to longer working hours, he said.
Raising the minimum wage is meant to ease the problem of long working hours, he added.
A similar proposal two years ago cited an experiment on a four-day workweek in the UK, with 69 companies and more than 2,900 employees participating.
Results showed that corporations’ revenue jumped an average of 35 percent during the trial period compared with a year earlier, while average worker turnover dropped to 57 percent, the proposal said.
Moreover, 92 percent of the companies in the six-month trial opted to continue the practice after the experiment ended, it said.
Additional reporting by Shelley Shan
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