The six-hour day is a schedule by which the employees or other members of an institution (which may also be, for example, a school) spend six hours contributing. This is in contrast to the widespread eight-hour day, or any other time arrangement. It has also been proposed as a better alternative to the four-day week, another proposed way to reduce working time.
By country
Australia
In Australia, the six-hour day and four-day week is supported by the
Australian Greens
The Australian Greens, commonly referred to simply as the Greens, are a Left-wing politics, left-wing green party, green Australian List of political parties in Australia, political party. As of 2025, the Greens are the third largest politica ...
. The
Communist Party of Australia
The Communist Party of Australia (CPA), known as the Australian Communist Party (ACP) from 1944 to 1951, was an Australian communist party founded in 1920. The party existed until roughly 1991, with its membership and influence having been ...
advocates for a reduced working week (35 hours).
Finland
In 2020, the Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin advocated for a change towards implementing a six-hour working day.
The result of a Finnish study showed positive effects.
The Communist Party of Finland is advocating for six-hour working day too.
Red Party (Norway)
The Red Party (; ; ) is a socialist political party in Norway. It was founded in March 2007 by a merger of the Red Electoral Alliance and the Workers' Communist Party. A Marxist party, it has been described as left-wingAlva Myrdal proposed to implement it to '' Sveriges socialdemokratiska kvinnoförbund''. Today there are more than a few examples of companies which already have a 6 hour workday in Sweden, and the notion of a trend towards a six-hour workday has also been mentioned. Since 2002 there is a workplace with a 6 hour workday in the small town of Mölndal. This led to higher profitability, implemented without any decrease in wages. One of the people who works at the company claimed that "You have more energy. You're more alert. More efficient. I promise: you perform 20-30% more in six hours than eight." ("Man orkar mera. Är piggare. Effektivare. Jag lovar: Man presterar 20–30 procent mer på sex timmar än på åtta.") Several small-scale implementations of the concept have been trialed in
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...
, including the private and public sectors. In
Gothenburg
Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...
, an experiment with 70 nurses over 18 months found decreases in sick leave, better self-reported health as well as an increase in productivity, with a cost of 1,3 million USD.
Two major parties support cutting the working hours in Sweden as of 2022. The party Vänsterpartiet (the left party) is advocating a 6 hour working day without decreased pay.''Miljöpartiet de gröna'' (The green party) has the goal of a 30 hour workweek.
Other parties advocating for 6 hour working day are: the Communist Party of Sweden and the Communist Party (sweden).
About half of Swedes would rather have to work fewer hours rather than getting paid more, with women being more positive towards more free time. The majority of Swedes are in favour of shorter working weeks, with the greatest support from women and people who are engaged in so called
blue-collar
A blue-collar worker is a person who performs manual labor or skilled trades. Blue-collar work may involve skilled or unskilled labor. The type of work may involve manufacturing, retail, warehousing, mining, carpentry, electrical work, custodia ...
jobs.
Switzerland
The Swiss Party of Labour advocates for the introduction of a reduced working day (even though they ask for 35 hours, not 30).
Four-day workweek
A four-day workweek is an arrangement where a workplace or place of education has its employees or students work or attend school, college or university over the course of four days per week rather than the more customary five-day workweek. This ...
Working time
Working time or laboring time is the period of time that a person spends at paid Wage labour, labor. Unpaid work, Unpaid labor such as personal housework or caring for children or pets is not considered part of the working week.
Many countri ...