Reduction of weekly working hours to 34 hours or even 32 with the same pay and without compromising productivity. It is a hypothesis being examined by the Labor Commission of the Chamber which after a series of hearings has decided to set up a select committee to continue the discussion and arrive at a single text that brings together the proposals put forward.
The reduction of normal working hours can concern both the daily timetable be the number of working days weekly, up to 4 days.
Benefits for employers
Obviously some are expected benefits for employers, precisely to encourage the use of reduction of normal working hours for equal pay and to support companies that decide to resort to it. For example, employers are expected to be granted the exemption from the payment of contributions social security and insurance payable to them, up to a maximum limit of 8.000 € on an annual basis, also in the case of new hires related to the reduction of working hours.
The National Observatory on working hours is born
In order to evaluate the impact, the establishment of a National observatory on working hours, based at the National Institute for Public Policy Analysis. The Observatory will have the task of collecting and processing statistical and socio-economic data useful for a better future quality of legislation on the subject.
Normal working hours are currently set at 36 hours per week. In the absence of contractual regulations, working hours are set in 40 hours per week. The average duration of weekly working hours must not exceed 48 hours, including overtime. In Europe, employed people (which means both employees and self-employed, with employees or not, part-time and full-time) work on average 36,2 hours a week. There is a difference between employees and self-employed: the former work on average 35,3, the latter 41,7.
