SA among countries with longest working hours in the world - could this change?

South Africans are known to be among the people who work the longest hours in the world.

Could our working hours change?

This is certainly under investigation says Professor Dieter von Fintel, development economist from Stellenbosch University.

"Currently the legislation suggests that the maximum working week is 45 hours, and there are talks to bring this down. There are obvious reasons for this, because working long hours places stress on our physical and mental health, and in the long run that could be bad for the economy as a whole."

"After 45 hours, overtime kicks in... We do have collective bargaining agreements in certain industries which set that maximum a bit lower. In many countries it's set at 40 hours per week, and in some cases even lower."

Prof. Dieter von Fintel, Development Economist - Stellenbosch University

Some companies in South Africa are already testing a 4-day work week, with some positive feedback.

With most of the pilot studies being done in industrialised countries though, it's not certain that this evidence will transfer exactly to us, says Prof. von Fintel.

"They suggest that if you cut a day off the work week, people can squeeze the same amount of productivity into a shorter amount of time. This is of course very possible; we just don't know enough about this in South Africa."

Professor Dieter von Fintel - Development Economist from Stellenbosch University

The one hypothesis with shortening the working week is that it could employ more people because more individuals are working fewer hours.

If less hours equal less pay though, this would have a negative impact on people's ability to earn a living of course.

"We would definitely have to compensate with higher wages if we were to shorten the working week....

Prof. Dieter von Fintel, Development Economist - Stellenbosch University

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