Finland’s Prime Minister Wants a Four-Day Workweek – Are You Ready to Pack Up by Thursday?
Sanna Marin, the Prime Minister of Finland, might just be the coolest leader in Europe. Forget debates about tax codes or international trade policies—she’s pushing for what the people actually want: a four-day workweek. Who’s in?
Marin isn’t your typical politician. She formed her coalition government in December 2019, leading a mix of centrists, greens, leftists, and basically every flavor in the political rainbow. Oh, and did we mention she’s the youngest PM in the world? Finland’s government hasn’t rolled out an official “Four-Day Workweek Act” just yet, but Marin’s definitely planting the seeds for it.
Work Less, Live More
In a conference back before she was PM, Marin casually dropped her belief that people need more time to chill with family, pursue hobbies, and, who knows, maybe finish that Netflix series. Her vision? Shift Finland to a four-day workweek with six-hour days, making “TGIF” an outdated phrase because, hello, we’ll be thanking Thursdays now.
Europe’s seen its fair share of labor movements over the past century, cutting workdays down to the 8-hour mark with weekends off. France even tried a 35-hour workweek, but it was full of loopholes. And the UK? Well, Labour Party tried to make a four-day workweek happen back in 2019, but after they lost the election, the idea got boxed up and stored away.
Check out her announcement here
Sweden’s Six-Hour Day Experiment
Meanwhile, Sweden’s been testing six-hour workdays, and productivity’s gone up. Makes sense—turns out people work harder when they’re not counting down eight long hours to clock out. Finland’s got an impressive 91% of its workforce in trade unions, which beats the EU’s 60% and blows the UK’s 29% out of the water. These unions guarantee solid working conditions and fair pay, and Marin’s on board with the trend.
Finland’s last government actually fell apart over labor issues, only for Marin to swoop in with a pay deal between employers and unions that improved working conditions across the board. Now, whether she can take the four-day workweek from “dream” to “law” remains to be seen. But if she pulls it off? Finland might just start a whole new trend in the 9-to-5 world.
So, who knows? Maybe soon we’ll all be saying, “Happy Thursday—my weekend starts now!”
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