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The six-hour day is a schedule by which the employees or other members of an institution (which may also be, for example, a school) spend six hours contributing. This is in contrast to the widespread eight-hour day, or any other time arrangement. It has also been proposed as a better alternative to the four-day week, another proposed way to reduce working time.[1]
In Australia, the six-hour day and four-day week is supported by the Australian Greens.[2]
In 2020, the Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin advocated for a change towards implementing a six-hour working day.[3]
The result of a Finnish study showed positive effects.[4]
The Red Party (Norway) has advocated for a six-hour workday.[5]
The 6 hour workday has been subject to reoccurring debate since the early 70's after the sociologist and politician Alva Myrdal proposed to implement it to Sveriges socialdemokratiska kvinnoförbund.[6] Today there is more than a few examples of companies which already have a 6 hour workday in Sweden.[7][8][9][10][11] Since 2002 there is a workplace with a 6 hour workday in the small town of Mölndal.[8] Several small-scale implementations of the concept have been trialed in Sweden, including the private and public sectors.[12][13] In Gothenburg, an experiment with 70 nurses over 18 months found decreases in sick leave, better self-reported health as well as an increase in productivity, with a cost of 1,3 million USD.[14] Two major parties support cutting the working hours in Sweden as of 2022. The party Vänsterpartiet (the left party) is advocating a 6 hour working day without decreased pay.[15][16] Miljöpartiet de gröna (The green party) has the goal of a 30 hour workweek.[16] About half of swedes would rather have to work fewer hours rather than getting paid more, with women being more positive towards more free time.[17]