Could the long Spanish working day be capped at 18.00?
Friday, December 16, 2016 @ 6:36 PM
THE drawn-out Spanish working day may be about to change now that employment minister Fátima Báñez has announced a real commitment to cutting it short.
She said in Parliament this week that MPs 'should clock off at 18.00 to set an example', and that she wants the rest of the workforce to be able to do so in order to 'bring it in line with Europe'.
For as long as most employees in Spain can remember, the day has always started anywhere between 08.00 and 09.30 depending upon the nature of the business, and finished between 20.00 and 21.30.
Typically, a 'breakfast break' of up to 45 minutes is taken at around 11.00, with all staff leaving en masse to go to a bar for coffee and croissants, then the long lunch hour can be anything from two hours (roughly 14.00 to 16.00) to four-and-a-half hours (13.00 to 17.30).
This means that although Spaniards are not actually working a 12-hour day, they are 'on the go' for this long and, with commuting where applicable, can mean 14 hours a day spent away from home five days a week.
And in most sectors, Saturday mornings – typically until 13.00 or 14.30 – are a normal part of the working week.
Despite this, numerous studies over decades has shown Spain is one of the least-productive countries in the western world, leading to an unfair stereotype of its workers being 'lazy' and 'needing to sleep all afternoon' – something which employees sorely resent as they practically never see the inside of their homes in waking hours except on Saturday afternoons and Sundays.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com