Spaniards are recognized for being relaxed and laid again individuals. To some foreigners Spanish society can, at occasions, appear to maneuver at a slower tempo than elsewhere, although many view that as a appeal.
Whether or not it’s the timekeeping habits, consuming schedules, the (more and more timeworn) cliché of siestas, and even simply having fun with a properly deserved day without work, Spaniards have a repute for realizing the right way to take it simple.
Throughout the day in cities and cities throughout Spain, you’ll usually see teams of colleagues having fun with a protracted espresso break or lunch collectively earlier than heading again to the workplace. Although much less widespread than they could’ve been twenty years in the past, customs like these contribute to the stereotype that Spaniards wish to take it simple at any alternative.
However is that this a completely honest characterisation? Or do the clichés and stereotypes about Spanish society really conceal the reality about work-life stability in Spain?
The fact may shock you. Spaniards work excess of many foreigners may assume (or consider they see) from their holidays, and there’s a cause that one Spanish politician stated in 2023 that “Spain is experiencing an actual work-life stability emergency. There are various individuals in our nation who can’t reconcile their private {and professional} lives.”
So, what’s occurring? Does Spain actually have a great work-life stability?
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Working hours
A wise place to start out when assessing work-life stability appears to be working hours. Although it could seem that Spaniards spend all their time on the terraza, in actuality they work extra hours on common than their European counterparts.
Apparently, the truth that Spaniards do take longer lunch and low breaks throughout the day may really give the misunderstanding that they work much less, when in actuality most Spaniards are returning to the workplace after these leisurely breaks and infrequently staying there till 7 or 8pm and even later.
The info backs this up: Spanish workers work extra hours than these in each the Eurozone and the EU: a complete of 1,658 hours per employee in 2023, based on European Fee information, in comparison with 1,556 hours in Euro nations and 1,610 hours within the EU, respectively.
But OECD figures present that simply 3 % of workers in Spain work “very lengthy hours”, roughly a 3rd of the OECD common (10 %), so the work-life stability is actually higher than in lots of nations.
In January, Spanish Labour Minister Yolanda Díaz has stated her ministry will quickly scale back Spain’s working week by two and a half hours to 37.5 hours (half an hour much less a day) a choice which is able to enhance the work-life stability of 12 million workers throughout the nation.
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Productiveness
However the further hours Spaniards work on common don’t essentially translate into productiveness in Spain. If something, it appears to be the other.
Although every Spanish worker works 6.6 % extra hours on common than their European counterparts, Spanish firms produce 13.8 % lower than the EU common.
This unfavorable correlation between productiveness and hours labored isn’t an indictment on Spaniards themselves, quite the construction of the Spanish financial system and work tradition within the nation, the place some bosses nonetheless consider within the antiquated philosophy that extra hours behind the desk equates to extra work finished.
“The issue of Spanish productiveness is extensively recognized and structural to our financial mannequin”, Valentín Pich, President of Spain’s Consejo Basic de Economistas (CGE), informed Enterprise Insider.
When you have been to measure monetarily how a lot one hour labored in Spain is value when it comes to manufacturing in that point (i.e. productiveness when it comes to GDP per hour labored, which is the most typical method of measuring productiveness amongst consultants), the distinction is stark: in Spain it’s $53/per hour, in comparison with $61/per hour within the Eurozone, based on OECD information.
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Paternity and maternity depart
On this regard, Spain’s work-life stability is a little bit higher, as paternity depart rights have been boosted in recent times. It now stands at 16 weeks, according to maternity depart.
Each paternity and maternity depart is totally paid in Spain, and an added perk for Spaniards is that they preserve 100% of their wage with out paying revenue tax on it, which means that they really earn more money than they usually do.
How does this stack up in comparison with different nations? Effectively, Spain is one thing of a frontrunner in the case of parental depart. If we take Spain’s Mediterranean neighbours Italy, Italian fathers get simply 10 days paternity depart (totally paid) whereas Italian moms have a little bit greater than Spanish moms at 5 months (20 weeks) however at 80 % pay.
In France paternity depart is a little bit longer (28 days) however nonetheless nowhere close to Spanish ranges. In Germany the usual paternity depart is simply 2 weeks.
Of the key European nations, the one parental depart insurance policies that rival and even surpass Spain appears to be Sweden, the place the federal government doesn’t differentiate between paternity and maternity depart and as a substitute permits {couples} to share 480 days (paid) between them.
In most states within the U.S, paternity depart is simply 12 weeks and unpaid. At a federal degree, there isn’t a paid parental depart laws, so it’s protected to say Spain’s work-life stability actually beats out the Individuals.
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Steadiness for folks
Regardless of some fairly stellar parental depart choices, in the case of work-life stability for working dad and mom, Spain doesn’t accomplish that properly.
Survey information exhibits that issue in balancing work and household life is among the principal causes given by households for having fewer youngsters than desired, which not solely compounds Spain’s plummeting delivery fee, however can be one of many components contributing to the alarming threat of poverty or social exclusion of the kid inhabitants in Spain, which is a staggering 32.2 %.
READ ALSO: The actual explanation why Spaniards do not need to have youngsters
Equally, dad and mom struggling to discover a higher work-life stability additionally accentuates gender inequality within the labour market, largely as a result of it’s normally girls who’re pressured to sacrifice their skilled improvement to tackle childcare tasks, which regularly means lowered working hours, part-time employment, depart of absence for care, and a lack of revenue in lots of circumstances.
Polling from Spain’s Equality and Employment Observatory exhibits that 67.8 % of Spaniards really feel they’ve issues balancing their skilled and private lives, a determine rises to nearly 81 % amongst working girls.
64 % of Spaniards say that they arrive at work drained each day, whereas 73 % affirm that they really feel exhausted most days because of the double burden of labor and residential tasks.
For context, 81 % of Swiss and Belgian moms consider it doable to stability work and household life, and 75 % of Norwegian moms.
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Holidays
One factor that Spaniards do usually profit from is a variety of public holidays, that are organised on the nationwide, regional, and municipal degree.
As of 2024 Spanish staff get 14 public holidays in whole. There are 8 nationwide holidays, 4 regional, and one other 2 to be chosen on a municipal degree.
READ ALSO: COMPARE: Which nations in Europe have probably the most public holidays?
Round the remainder of Europe, Spain’s on par with the higher nations when it comes to public holidays. In Italy staff get 12 or 13, relying on the area, whereas in Austria it’s as much as 15 regionally.
Spain does higher than Norway (10 public holidays) Sweden (9) and France (12).
In Eire there are normally 9 public holidays and within the UK there are 8.
One Spanish customized that lends itself to a wholesome work-life stability is that of the puente (actually which means ‘bridge’) that Spaniards expertly use to create lengthy weekends on account of a public vacation falling close to the weekend.
When it comes to paid trip depart, most contract staff in Spain get 25 days, on a par with different European nations comparable to Austria, Finland, Denmark and Sweden, and solely surpassed by the UK (28 days) and France (30).
Due to this fact, Spanish salaried staff on common get a really first rate quantity of remunerated trip days all year long, with the primary setback being that many are anticipated to take the bulk off throughout August.
A special story for Spain’s self-employed
Autónomos because the self-employed are known as in Spanish work on common 9 hours a day (yet another than the usual 8 hours for contract staff), based on Spain’s Survey of Working Inhabitants (EPA).
READ MORE: Lengthy hours and little pay: What it is wish to be self-employed in Spain
It comes with the territory once you’re your individual boss, whether or not it is in Spain, the US or India, however in Spain self-employed staff additionally must cope with difficult tax submitting that leads to many paying a gestor (a sort of accountant/agent) to save lots of them time and complications.
In addition they do not get to get pleasure from any of the paid annual depart that contract staff (asalariados) do. In essence, no work means no pay. A minimum of in the case of parental depart, moms and dads are paid by the State for 4 months a median of their month-to-month earnings over the earlier six months.
Conclusion
It is actually true that the majority Spaniards’ perspective to work is completely different to that of the work-obsessed US for instance, valuing high quality time with family and friends over cash and job fulfilment, partly as a result of the low salaries and lack of job alternatives within the nation do not warrant the additional dedication to their jobs.
A beneficiant quantity of paid annual depart and parental depart actually add to the sense that Spanish staff (contract ones specifically) have a good work-life stability, however for the self-employed, working dad and mom and folks in sure fields of fields of labor this is not the case.
In truth, there’s at present a debate raging over whether or not individuals who work in bars, outlets and eating places finish work too late (many clocking off from 10pm to 1am).
Issues may very well be worse workwise in Spain, however it’s actually time to place to mattress the cliché that Spaniards do not work lengthy hours.