The government will be assessing plans for a four-day work week, in both the public and the private sectors across Portugal, but has guaranteed that this will not be harmful to workers.

“At first, we will define the parameters and requirements in which the trial projects will be developed, then it will be on a voluntary basis by companies based on criteria that will ensure that the trials are able to draw well-rounded conclusions and analysis”, explained Minister of Labour and Social Security, Ana Mendes Godinho, during a press conference that followed the Council of Ministers in which the 70 amendments to labour legislation were approved.

The minister further stressed that the plan’s objective is to ensure there is no lack of protection for workers and that the proposal will not jeopardise anything that’s already in place.

In addition, the minister added that since the plans for the four-day week were first introduced, “several companies” have expressed interest in taking part in the scheme.