Today we conduct research and listen to the voice of Poles. They say: we don't have time for family, we don't have time to start a family, we don't have time for love, friendship, for a walk, to meet a friend – said Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-Bąk, Minister of Family, Labor and social policy. This is how she referred to the idea of shortening the working week.
The guest of the “Fakty po Faktach” program was Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-Bąk, Minister of Family, Labor and Social Policy. She was asked about plans to shorten the working week to four days.
A four-day working week
– We immediately started analytical and research work. We want to look at natural experiments and pilots carried out by Polish companies. We also look at other countries and their experiences. Germany has introduced pilots of a shortened working week, Spain is doing the same. The arguments raised by these countries and the effects of these pilots clearly indicate that a more rested employee is often a more effective employee – argued the minister. She assured that she understood entrepreneurs' concerns about this change. – What good will it do them? Will this result in higher costs or higher profits? I would suggest that maybe it will bring them better-working, productive employees – said Dziemianowicz-Bąk.
Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-BąkTVN24
As the minister added, “I imagine that such serious changes require a pilot, spread over time.” – Today we conduct research and listen to the voice of Poles. They say: we don't have time for family, we don't have time to start a family, we don't have time for love, friendship, for a walk, to meet friends – she emphasized in the interview.
PLN 1,500 for parents under the “Active Parent” program
At the Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Policy, work on the “Active Parent” project is nearing completion and it will soon be included in further government work.
According to the information provided to the business editorial staff of the tvn24.pl portal, the project assumes three types of co-financing for care: in a nursery, at home and under the care of a person who is not a parent (nanny, grandparent, neighbor, etc.), the so-called “granny”.
“The program provides for an additional benefit of PLN 1,500 per month for parents who want to return to work. They will have choice – whether to leave the child in the care of, e.g., a family member, or leave it in an appropriate care facility” – submitted.
“The variant in which the child remains under the care of a person who is not a parent (nanny, grandparent, neighbor, etc.) is regulated in the project in the form of concluding an activation agreement, which will constitute a tool for project implementation,” we read.
Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-Bąk commented on the “Active Parent” program on TVN24, commenting that “any financial transfer system must be built responsibly.”
– On the one hand, we need to ensure that it reaches those who need it, and that public funds are spent as intended, i.e. actually on child care. The point is for them to fulfill their role, which is to return parents to the labor market, activate parents and enable safe care for small children. This requires building a system, she said.
She explained that “we do not want to give fifteen hundred zlotys to parents for care.” – We want to provide them with this money – she announced. – Conditions, of course, always have to be there. We will say what they will be in the end when the final form of the project is approved by the Council of Ministers, she said. She added that “the broad Active Parent program will consist of such components as to, on the one hand, meet the needs of parents who would like to benefit from the support of a family member, grandmother, grandfather, or the care of a nanny.”
– On the other hand, there are parents who prefer to send their child to a nursery, but need additional funding for this place. We also have solutions for parents who, for various reasons, stay at home with their children, noted the minister.
Main photo source: TVN24