Divorced parents who share custody will be able to work four-day weeks when their children are with them under a scheme to be tested this year in France, reports The Times.
From September, in certain government ministries, civil servants who are in alternating residence arrangements will move to four days in the weeks that the children are in their homes, said Gabriel Attal, the prime minister.
Attal, 35, who introduced the system at the finance ministry when he was budget minister two years ago, wants to broaden the practice to the whole workforce as part of a drive to improve the quality of working life in France.
It has yet to be decided whether total working hours will be reduced or whether staff will compensate in their non-custody weeks to put in the same monthly average based on the standard French 35-hour week. Unions and employers are to be urged to negotiate the future four-day week arrangements.
Parents are expected to favour Wednesdays off because primary and most middle schools do not have classes on Wednesday afternoons.