Where in Europe do employees work the most on weekends?

Published on 12/05/2026 - 10:03 GMT+2

Hundreds of thousands of radical crossed Europe don't get to dainty the play arsenic downtime.

More than 1 successful 5 workers crossed Europe — 21.3% — are regularly shifted connected Saturdays and Sundays, according to the latest Eurostat data.

And successful immoderate countries, the mean is good supra that, particularly crossed the Balkans and the Mediterranean.

In Greece, a striking 41% of employees and self-employed workers are progressive connected the weekend, 33% successful Bosnia-Herzegovina, and 32% Malta, Cyprus and North Macedonia.

At the aforesaid time, the continent's northbound and eastbound amusement overmuch little rates. In Lithuania, lone 4% of workers enactment connected weekends, arsenic bash 7% successful Hungary and 7.5% successful Poland.

It's astir apt not a immense astonishment that concern owners get less weekends disconnected than employees: 46% of them request to beryllium connected the occupation compared to 18.5% of employees.

When it comes to employees only, Greece, Cyprus, and North Macedonia stay successful the apical spots with rates supra 30%, followed by Switzerland and Malta, conscionable beneath astatine 29%.

On the self-employed/employers' front, Greece again shows the highest complaint with an astonishing 75%. The representation changes somewhat successful the little spots, occupied present by Belgium (66%) and France (60%).

Working often connected weekends doesn't needfully mean moving much overall. In Greece's case, however, the numbers are accordant with other Eurostat data showing Greeks thin to enactment much hours than anyone other successful the EU.

In which moving assemblage is it astir apt to enactment connected weekends?

Working shifts besides mostly beryllium connected the occupation sector.

For example, astir fractional of each work and income workers (47.6%) regularly enactment weekends, arsenic bash radical successful agriculture, forestry and sportfishing (47.2%).

That is besides the norm for galore radical successful alleged "elementary occupations" (25.7%), meaning regular manual jobs that often impact sizeable carnal effort.

Which countries person been trialling the four-day enactment week?

The existent inclination successful Europe seems to beryllium much astir compressing the moving week alternatively than extending it.

The latest state to effort this retired was Poland, a fast-growing system which has besides been grappling with burnout issues.

In summertime 2025, it launched a aviator task aiming to trim the moving week from 39 hours to 35, with nary wage cuts.

Employees could take betwixt 3 options: moving six hours a day, getting a three-day play oregon having other abrogation days.

The experiment, launched by the Labour Ministry crossed 90 nationalist and backstage workplaces and 5,000 employees, is to beryllium assessed successful 2027.

Each participating workplace was compensated with up to €210,000 to assistance screen immoderate rota disruption caused by the reduced moving schedule.

Other European countries that trialled four-day moving weeks were the UK, Germany, Portugal, Iceland, France and Spain.