Robert Abela pledges discussion on compressed four-day week

Prime Minister Robert Abela pledged to initiate discussions on granting workers the option to request compressed workweeks.

A compressed workweek is a flexi-work option that allows people to work their full-time weekly hours in  fewer than five days. This means that while workers will technically work a four-day week, they will work for longer hours during those four days. 

Dr Abela brushed on this topic when addressing a PL mass meeting last weekend. 

“We will open discussions with social partners on giving workers the right to request remote work, flexible hours, or a compressed workweek,” he said.

“We will also support employers whose staff opt for these arrangements by providing aid for each worker who shifts to remote working.”

Dr Abela’s proposal is similar to the four-day week model that Belgium had introduced late 2022, giving employees the right to compress their full-time hours into four days without a pay reduction.

However, uptake hasn’t exactly been widespread, with data from 2025 finding that only 0.8 per cent of Belgian employees had actually opted to compress their hours while fewer than 3 per cent of companies had employees who opted for this model. 

In Malta, the General Workers’ Union has come out in favour of a four-day week, but has explicitly said it should be a reduced 32-hour week with no loss of pay. 

PN leader Alex Borg said last October that a four-day week could be beneficial for Malta and should be tested in the public sector, but this proposal hasn’t featured in his election campaign so far.

In January, Malta Employers cautioned that a four-day week can only work in certain jobs and not across the economy. 

A survey among its members found that while 58 per cent of employers don’t believe a four-day week is suitable for Malta at this stage, 73 per cent already offer flexible working hours and 70 per cent offer opportunities for remote work. 

Moreover, 72 per cent of employers plan to increase or maintain their flexible options, reporting improvements in their employees’ work-life balance.

Photo: Partit Laburista