Taiwan evaluating proposal for Asia’s first 4-day work week, but manufacturers ‘won’t approve’
- A petition in Taiwan has attracted over 5,000 signatures, meaning four government ministries will now examine the proposal for a three-day weekend
- Several European countries, including Iceland, Spain and Sweden, already have schemes in place to allow three-day weekends
Taiwanese officials are evaluating a proposal to implement Asia’s first three-day weekend, but the plan is set to face opposition from producers that form the bulk of the export-driven economy.
Four government ministries are examining a petition that reached 5,736 signatures last week, above the 5,000 threshold that requires a government response, according to Huang Wei-chen, director of the Department of Labour Standards and Equal Employment within the Ministry of Labour.
Taiwan’s government-run Central News Agency said the three-day weekend would be a first for Asia.
Japan has previously tested the idea of a four-day work week, while a survey in 2022 by research firm Milieu showed employees in the likes of Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia were open to the idea.
Productively wouldn’t take a hit, but costs would go up
By the end of June, the Taiwanese ministries are set to release an initial appraisal on how the extended weekend would impact the work of schoolteachers, government offices and private enterprises, Huang said.
“Friends in the workforce will welcome it, but there may be other impacts,” he said.
Taiwan’s technology firms, which make up around 30 per cent of the US$800 billion economy, would need to pay workers overtime to keep production going seven days a week, said Brady Wang, a Taipei-based semiconductor analyst with the Counterpoint market research firm.
“Productively wouldn’t take a hit, but costs would go up,” Wang said. “Industries that work in production won’t approve of this idea.”
Working overtime has long been commonplace in the tech sector, prompting calls from the public more than a decade ago for changes to labour laws, which currently require regular working hours to stay within 40 hours per week.
While [three-day weekends] may sound good, it would have a regulatory effect
Employers forced to pay more overtime or add shifts to accommodate a three-day weekend might also consider moving jobs offshore, former Taiwan legislator Joanna Lei said.
“While [three-day weekends] may sound good, it would have a regulatory effect,” she said. “This is advocacy rather than a practical plan.”
An extra day off every week for teachers may require separate legal changes to cut the number of school days required every year for students, Huang added.
He also said that too many people taking holidays in the retail sector could also reduce the workforce available to serve customers on long weekends.
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The petition does not specify whether the remaining four working days would increase to 10 hours each to compensate for the three-day weekend, Huang said.
The proposal highlights that work days now average nine hours plus commutes, and petitioners point to that time load as a reason to reduce the number of work days per week.
Several European countries, including Iceland, Spain and Sweden, have schemes in place to allow three-day weekends.
The Taiwanese petition, which was signed by individuals, rather than an organised group, was submitted on a cabinet website set up to accept proposals from citizens.
A separate petition last week, which attracted 5,140 signatures, asked for the number of working hours to drop to six or seven per day.
