France trials four-day working week for divorced parents so they can have day off to care for their children

Divorced parents who have shared custody of their children will soon be able to work four days a week in France under a new experimental scheme.

From September, in certain regions, civil servants who look after their children in alternate residences will benefit from an additional day of leave if their child stays with them, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said on Sunday.

Parents are expected to set aside Wednesday as a day off because elementary schools and most middle schools do not have classes that afternoon.

Attal, 35, had already tested the four-day system two years ago, when he was Budget Minister.

Staff have not experienced any reduction in their working hours, resulting in slightly longer working days.

It remains to be decided whether total working hours will be reduced for single working parents or whether workers will make up the difference in the weeks the child does not stay with them – to bring them into the same monthly average as the French norm of 35 hours. week.

The government is urging unions and employers to negotiate the planned arrangements.

After 20 years of campaigns to encourage shared childcare and reduce the number of single-parent families in France, nearly half a million in the country commute, usually weekly, between two homes.

A bill before Parliament now aims to change the law to make shared joint custody the norm for divorce courts.

The French are fans of the four-day working week, even if it means working longer in the office.

In a poll last month, 77 percent of workers said they supported the idea.

France highlighted the success of a four-day trial in Britain involving 61 companies which took place over a six-month period in 2022.

Involving 3,000 private sector workers, the trial resulted in a staggering 71 per cent drop in the number of unemployed and a 65 per cent reduction in the number of staff sick days.

France’s maximum 35-hour working week was introduced by a socialist government in 2000 and was already being used by around 10,000 people by May last year.

Attal said it wanted to extend this practice to all staff as part of a desire to improve the quality of life at work in France.

The plan is expected to be discussed at a government seminar next week.