Blanket four-day week would undermine jobs and competitiveness, employers warn

Introducing a blanket four-day working week would be impractical under Malta's current economic model and would risk undermining competitiveness and jobs, the employers' association has warned.

Malta Employers expressed its concerns on Thursday during a conference organised to launch its position paper on the four-day working week, amid growing public debate on reducing standard working hours.

The publication, Debating the Concept of a Four-Day Week in Malta, concludes that while a four-day week may work in specific company contexts, there is no one-size-fits-all solution and any economy-wide or legislated approach would carry significant risks.

Addressing the conference, Malta Employers president Ivan Refalo said decisions on working conditions should remain at the discretion of individual employers, stressing that even businesses operating within the same sector face very different commercial and structural challenges.

“Every employer should be free to offer working conditions that are suited to the organisation and the nature of its business. No two businesses are the same, even when they operate within the same sector. For this reason, there should be no blanket measures imposed,” he said.

Refalo also cautioned against the public sector introducing flexible working arrangements that are not viable in a competitive commercial environment, warning this could distort the labour market and undermine a level playing field.

Employers sceptical, survey shows

As part of its analysis, Malta Employers surveyed its members and found significant reservations within the business community. Preliminary results show that 56% of employers do not believe a four-day week is suitable for Malta at this stage, citing labour shortages, rising costs, competitiveness concerns and operational constraints.

While 31% of respondents said they would favour a compressed four-day week retaining a 40-hour schedule, only 10% supported a reduced 32-hour week with pro rata pay.

The association said these findings reflect the diversity of Malta’s economic sectors and the difficulty of applying uniform solutions across the economy.

The position paper analyses different four-day week models, including reduced-hours arrangements, compressed working weeks and productivity-linked schemes, assessing their potential impact on productivity, labour costs and competitiveness within the Maltese context.

It argues that Malta’s heavy reliance on high-contact service industries means that reducing labour hours could directly affect output, particularly in sectors where productivity is closely linked to time worked.

Malta Employers director general Kevin J Borg said any meaningful reduction in working hours would need to be preceded by a broader economic transition towards higher value-added activity, supported by investment in technology, digitalisation, automation, artificial intelligence and skills development.

While acknowledging the pressures faced by families, particularly dual-income households with young children, the association warned against legislating working time reductions. Instead, it called for social dialogue and targeted, family-friendly measures that do not undermine productivity or competitiveness, cautioning that once imposed, such measures would be extremely difficult to reverse.

'Technology is central to discussion' - Alex Borg

Speaking at the conference, Opposition leader Alex Borg, who has previously expressed support for the introduction of a four-day work week, said the debate on working hours was one of the most important discussions Malta should be having at this stage of its development. 

“I would suggest that the real value of this debate goes far beyond the number of days we work. The deeper question we are really asking is this: how do we build an economy that creates more value with less strain, in a way that is sustainable for businesses, families, and the country as a whole?” he said, adding that the Opposition believed the issue should be solved through data and evidence. 

Borg said the association was right to warn against shortcuts.“Productivity cannot be legislated. Flexibility cannot be imposed. One-size-fits-all solutions are economically dangerous.” 

Technology, he insisted, was central to the discussion. “Digitalisation and artificial intelligence are changing the relationship between time and output. They automate repetitive tasks, improve scheduling, and allow workers to focus on higher-value work.”