The 35-hour workweek in Poland has moved from an announcement to a concrete legislative process and real-world testing. A private member's bill is currently before the Polish parliament (Sejm), proposing a gradual reduction of the statutory working time norm from 40 to 35 hours a week. At the same time, since 1 January 2026, the Polish government has been running a nationwide pilot of shortened working time, covering close to 100 companies and more than 5,000 employees. This article looks at where both initiatives currently stand, how Poland compares with other European countries, and how companies can reliably check whether a shorter workweek affects team productivity.
1. 35-hour workweek in Poland compared with other European countries
Poland has long ranked among the most overworked countries in the European Union. Under current regulations, the basic working time norm set out in the Polish Labour Code is 40 hours a week, which in practice means 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. The Polish Labour Code does allow for other working time systems — equivalent, continuous, interrupted, task-based or weekend — but for most people working in Poland, the workweek still comes down to the basic model.
Shortening the statutory working time norm in Poland is being justified by the need to meet the expectations of younger generations entering the labour market and by a broader push for a better work-life balance. It is also a direction that a large share of European countries have already taken.
2. The draft law on a 35-hour workweek – current status in Poland (2026)
In 2026, the discussion about a 35-hour workweek in Poland moved from announcement to an actual legislative proposal. A private member's bill submitted to the Sejm proposes a gradual reduction of the weekly working time norm, spread over three years, from an average of 40 to an average of 35 hours, without reducing current wages. Under the bill, the norm would drop to 38 hours a week for the first two years, before reaching the target of 35 hours in the third year.
The proposed new wording of Article 129 § 1 of the Polish Labour Code states that working time may not exceed 8 hours a day and an average of 35 hours in an average five-day workweek, within a settlement period not exceeding 4 months. The bill covers not only the Labour Code itself but also amendments to 32 other Polish acts regulating working time, service duty, and vocational training or internships.
The bill's explanatory memorandum cites health-related evidence: the risk of stroke rises by 10% at a weekly working time of 41–48 hours, and by as much as 33% for those working more than 55 hours a week. The proposal has gained the backing of part of the Polish trade union movement, including the All-Poland Alliance of Trade Unions. The bill is currently at the consultation stage, so it's worth following its progress closely — if the new norm is adopted, it will require virtually every company operating in Poland to rework its working time settlement systems.
3. The Polish government's shortened working time pilot – how it works
Independent of the draft law, since 1 January 2026 Poland's Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy has been running a separate government pilot of shortened working time, with participants keeping their current pay. The application window, which closed in September 2025, drew almost 2,000 applications from companies and public-sector bodies, ranging from tech startups to manufacturing plants. The pilot, running throughout 2026, ultimately involves close to 100 companies from the private and public sectors and more than 5,000 employees.
The programme does not impose a single model. Participating companies could choose from several options:
- a classic 4-day workweek, keeping the full weekly hour count,
- an actual reduction of the weekly hour norm, for example to 32 hours,
- intermediate solutions, including flexible compression of the workweek tailored to individual team needs.
Early months of the pilot suggest that shortening working time works best in organisations that had already streamlined their processes and increased automation beforehand. A full evaluation of the results is expected in spring 2027.
4. 35 hours or less – where in Europe people work the shortest
France was the first country to shorten the standard workweek, introducing the so-called "Aubry law" back in 2000, which cut the standard workweek to 35 hours. According to Eurostat data, Norwegians (34.2 hours a week) and the Dutch (31.6 hours a week) work even fewer hours. Belgium has offered a 4-day workweek option since 2022.
It's also worth looking at countries that, like Poland, have tested shortened working time through pilots. Iceland ran one of the most widely cited experiments between 2015 and 2019, covering around 2,500 public-sector employees. Productivity mostly stayed the same or improved, while employee well-being improved markedly — after the trials ended, most Icelandic workers negotiated a permanent right to a shorter workweek. Spain has been running a three-year pilot programme since 2023, covering around 200 companies, with the government partly covering the costs of reduced working time; early signals are mixed, with some companies reporting efficiency gains and others facing organisational problems. Germany has taken a more bottom-up approach, with individual companies — including Volkswagen, Audi and Deutsche Telekom — testing their own shortened working time models without government support.
5. A bit of history
The idea of shortening the workweek has a long history, dating back to the late 19th century, when labour movements fought to limit working hours to 8 hours a day. At the peak of industrialisation, the working day could stretch to 18 hours. In Poland, the five-day workweek still in place today became a reality after the political changes of 1989. Free Saturdays were introduced gradually — in 1973, employees were granted two paid Saturdays off a year, later increased to six, and from 1975 onward, Polish employees gained 12 Saturdays off a year, or one a month. Today, a free Saturday is taken for granted in Poland — everything suggests that, over a longer timeframe, Friday could follow the same path.
6. Challenges for Polish employers and the role of technology
Shortening working time also raises legitimate concerns among Polish employers, mainly around rising costs linked to adapting processes and, in some cases, hiring additional staff to maintain production or service continuity. The challenge is particularly acute in sectors already facing labour shortages. The Polish Economic Institute, in a study on shortening working time, found that 51% of companies in Poland consider a shift to a 4-day workweek impossible given the specifics of their industry. Supporters of the change argue that new technology, automation and process robotisation could offer a way to meet these challenges.
7. Will the benefits outweigh the challenges
Available research — both international studies and early observations from the Polish pilot — suggests that shortening working time can bring a range of benefits: a better work-life balance, more time for recovery, better sleep quality, lower stress levels, less burnout, and improved physical health.
The scale of the problem facing Polish employees today is significant. According to a June 2026 study by UCE Research and the ePsycholodzy.pl platform, 78.3% of working Poles report at least one of 14 recognised burnout symptoms — up 13 percentage points in just three years. It's worth bearing in mind a risk flagged by labour market experts, though: employees may fill an extra day off with additional paid work and, as a result, lose most of the positive effects of a shorter workweek. That's another reason to track the real impact of any change using hard data, rather than relying on assumptions.
8. How a time and attendance system helps measure productivity in a shorter workweek
The biggest concern around shortening working time is always the same: can a company maintain its current level of productivity if employees spend fewer hours at work? That question shouldn't be answered by guesswork — it requires reliable data, and that's exactly what a time and attendance (T&A) system provides.
Regardless of whether the 35-hour workweek bill is eventually adopted, the Polish Labour Code will continue to require accurate working time records, correct overtime calculation, and compliance with rest-period rules — including in companies currently testing shortened working time as part of the government pilot. A T&A system paired with an activity and productivity tracking module, such as Time Harmony, allows companies to:
- compare actual working time before and after introducing a shorter workweek, broken down into standard hours, overtime and absences,
- combine working time data with activity and performance analysis, showing whether a shorter week actually reduces — or in fact improves — team efficiency,
- identify unproductive stretches of working time that can be eliminated instead of being offset with extra overtime,
- prepare the reports needed to evaluate the pilot or decide whether to permanently adopt a new working time model,
- stay fully compliant with the Polish Labour Code, whichever working time system a company uses — basic, equivalent, or task-based.
A shorter workweek changes the number of hours on the schedule, but it doesn't change the need to reliably measure what happens within those hours. Companies that already have solid data on working time and team productivity will be in a much stronger position once a change to the working time norm becomes reality in Poland — whether through new legislation or growing labour market pressure.
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