MADRID - Four-day work weeks improved Spanish workers' health such as by lowering stress while reducing fuel emissions and benefiting children, a pilot programme showed on Tuesday (Oct 17).
The coastal city of Valencia - Spain's third-largest with more than 800,000 inhabitants - scheduled local holidays to fall on four consecutive Mondays between April 10 and May 7 this year. The project affected 360,000 workers.
The data showed an improvement in self-perceived health status, lower stress levels and better feelings regarding tiredness, happiness, mood and personal satisfaction, it added. While the hospitality and tourism sectors served more customers during extended weekends, retailers reported a decrease in sales and emergency medical services may have been overextended as more healthcare workers took time off, the report said.