Moreover, there are said to be two common myths related to the reduction of working time. The first myth consists in claiming that the hours released will be used for the sake of personal development - such as the family, reading, cinema or the opera. On the contrary, there is a risk that spare time might be used for undeclared work. The second myth is that work can be divided up like a pie. Field studies conducted in enterprises instead demonstrate that a reduction of working time tends to raise workers' productivity.
People work less but perform as much as they did before.
Second, and most notable, the way in which Minister Onkelinx developed and presented this bill was unexpected in many respects. A few months before the opening of a new round of intersectoral bargaining, the social partners are now being invited to undertake negotiations within a framework of which several main points have been defined by the Minister. In spite of this unfortunate experience for social concertation, she is again taking the risk of jeopardising a fundamental agreement by dictating her ambitions as regards the reduction of working time. Once again, it seems that the Minister of Employment and Labour underestimates the role played by the social partners in a field that traditionally belongs to social dialogue.