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In the Netherlands it's the law that you're always allowed to reduce your hours, while keeping the same (hourly) salary and benefits. If your employer disagrees

In the Netherlands it's the law that you're always allowed to reduce your hours, while keeping the same (hourly) salary and benefits. If your employer disagrees the burden of proof is on THEM to proof that your job would not be doable part-time. This (and to be honest also fiscal policy) has resulted in the largest part-time workforce in the world. In Dutch e-mail it's very common to find the days people work in the signature at the bottom. Even though it's not mandatory most people will start by taking Wednesday and/or Friday off. So over time the work culture here became to plan meetings on Mo-Tue-Thu, along with drinks on Thursdays in stead of Fridays. As someone who works 40h still this is such a net-positive for me as well, I love that people don't really plan meetings on Wednesday and Fridays and you can just work. 73% of all women work part-time, as do 23% of the men. Only half of all working Dutch people work fulltime. Part-time is anything between 12h and 32h a week. I hope this would become the norm everywhere as it truly frees up everyone to suit their needs.

nsgi 6y ago
That gender gap sounds rather concerning
- slimed 6y ago
  That so many just assume this to be the case, without understanding the preferences of the individuals involved, is concerning.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- apexalpha 6y ago
  You're getting downvoted, but you're right. Traditional family values still resonate in these numbers and many people blame women working part-time for a gender imbalance at the top of companies. So that gender imbalance is definitely on the agenda. Whether you think these numbers are concerning depends on your political stance.
  - nwienert 6y ago
    If women on average prefer to work less hours isn’t the concerning thing the people who seem to want to force them to work more? Especially when it’s oftentimes men that call this a “problem”? It seems unless you have some data showing their preference is to work more but they are limited by something externally forced on them, and you’d need data not opinion, you shouldn’t be concern-trolling. Women buy more dresses than men, is this a concern we should address?
    - ghaff 6y ago
      In general, I think the concern is whether it's a gender role that women are being forced into as opposed to something that they really are choosing voluntarily. Those two things can be hard to separate though. During the current pandemic, the data I've seen suggests that women are disproportionately dropping out of the workforce for childcare and other reasons. Of course if someone has to drop out of the workforce in a family, that may or may not be a "fair" response.
      - nwienert 6y ago
        If you look at the data, in the most liberal countries that rank highest on women's rights, education, equality of upbringing and lack of gender stereotypes, etc (nordic and some euro countries), women actually tend to choose more to work in less technical jobs and jobs that have less of a competitive career ladder. So if you're going on the data at least as far as I know it, this should be a good sign.
      - nec4b 6y ago
        Do you think taking care of children is a low status work that people have to do and not want to do? Do you think there is something wrong with a woman preferring raising children instead of pursuing a boring career?
        ghaff 6y ago
        Not at all. However, the fact that they're now doing so during a pandemic whereas they weren't before suggests that it's not entirely voluntary.
kace91 6y ago
That sounds awesome. Does the reduction have to be in blocks of days? or can you just work, say, 5 hours a day instead of 8 ?
- apexalpha 6y ago
  It's definitely most common to either work 14, 24 or 32 hours: so taking full days off in stead of less hours per day. It's also very common to stack hours. A lot of people will work 36 hours. But since 'half days' means you have to commute anyway people usually just take every other Friday off. The only exception to this is Wednesday, when some people work half days because Dutch primary schools are often half-day as well on Wednesday. But I don't think that's the law, just what people prefer. I know very few people who reduce theirs hours per day but still choose to commute 5 days a week. But I guess that might very well change now that a lot of people don't have a commute anymore.

nsgi 6y ago

That gender gap sounds rather concerning

slimed 6y ago
That so many just assume this to be the case, without understanding the preferences of the individuals involved, is concerning.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
apexalpha 6y ago
You're getting downvoted, but you're right. Traditional family values still resonate in these numbers and many people blame women working part-time for a gender imbalance at the top of companies. So that gender imbalance is definitely on the agenda. Whether you think these numbers are concerning depends on your political stance.
- nwienert 6y ago
  If women on average prefer to work less hours isn’t the concerning thing the people who seem to want to force them to work more? Especially when it’s oftentimes men that call this a “problem”? It seems unless you have some data showing their preference is to work more but they are limited by something externally forced on them, and you’d need data not opinion, you shouldn’t be concern-trolling. Women buy more dresses than men, is this a concern we should address?
  - ghaff 6y ago
    In general, I think the concern is whether it's a gender role that women are being forced into as opposed to something that they really are choosing voluntarily. Those two things can be hard to separate though. During the current pandemic, the data I've seen suggests that women are disproportionately dropping out of the workforce for childcare and other reasons. Of course if someone has to drop out of the workforce in a family, that may or may not be a "fair" response.
    - nwienert 6y ago
      If you look at the data, in the most liberal countries that rank highest on women's rights, education, equality of upbringing and lack of gender stereotypes, etc (nordic and some euro countries), women actually tend to choose more to work in less technical jobs and jobs that have less of a competitive career ladder. So if you're going on the data at least as far as I know it, this should be a good sign.
    - nec4b 6y ago
      Do you think taking care of children is a low status work that people have to do and not want to do? Do you think there is something wrong with a woman preferring raising children instead of pursuing a boring career?
      - ghaff 6y ago
        Not at all. However, the fact that they're now doing so during a pandemic whereas they weren't before suggests that it's not entirely voluntary.

kace91 6y ago

That sounds awesome. Does the reduction have to be in blocks of days? or can you just work, say, 5 hours a day instead of 8 ?

apexalpha 6y ago
It's definitely most common to either work 14, 24 or 32 hours: so taking full days off in stead of less hours per day. It's also very common to stack hours. A lot of people will work 36 hours. But since 'half days' means you have to commute anyway people usually just take every other Friday off. The only exception to this is Wednesday, when some people work half days because Dutch primary schools are often half-day as well on Wednesday. But I don't think that's the law, just what people prefer. I know very few people who reduce theirs hours per day but still choose to commute 5 days a week. But I guess that might very well change now that a lot of people don't have a commute anymore.