Dubai: The Spanish Prime Minister has announced moves to cut the working day by two hours and end siesta, in an attempt to bring the country into line with its European counterparts.
Mariano Rajoy, the head of the centre-left coalition government, wants to scrap the universally observed three-hour afternoon break. Yesterday, Rajoy said: “I will find a consensus to make sure the working day ends at 6pm.”
Spanish workers currently tend to start work at 10am, staying until 2pm when they have a siesta up to three hours before leaving at 8pm.
The siesta was founded historically on the basis of allowing the country’s largely agricultural workers to avoid the searing midday heat. But former dictator General Francisco Franco introduced the siesta timing for office workers. Yet despite having more working hours, Spanish workers’ average productivity is far lower. And because many office workers go home on their siesta breaks, it means many Spanish cities have four rush hours during each working day.
— With inputs from agencies
