As Western companies retreat from the Russian market and job openings shrink, talk has resurfaced about shifting to a four‑day workweek. Alexander Shershukov, vice-president of the Russian Federation of Independent Trade Unions (FNPR), argued that such a move could help keep unemployment relatively low by spreading work among more people without cutting take‑home pay.
“The situation is clear: fewer jobs, more applicants. It may make sense to shorten the standard workday so that several workers can share the same positions without a wage cut,” he suggested.
In February 2022, the Ministry of Labor reported a dip in registered unemployment by 22.6 thousand, or 3.2 percent. If January had 705.4 thousand unemployed citizens, February brought the tally down to 682.8 thousand. Yet officials stressed that mass layoffs were not on the horizon in Russia.
By contrast, the Center for Strategic Studies (CSR) warned that sanctions could trim Russian job opportunities by as much as two million by year’s end, with a potential structural decline in production and unemployment climbing to about 6.4–6.5 percent over the following years. (cite: CSR analysis)
Saving won’t work
The key condition many pundits point to for a widespread switch to a four‑day week is salary reductions. However, experts also caution that cutting wages in a shorter week could backfire. In conversations with Gazeta.ru, Anton Sviridenko, who heads the Expert Center under the President’s Office on Entrepreneur Rights, explained that a unilateral wage cut would hamper savings rather than strengthen them.
“Under Article 93 of the Labor Code, a part‑time regime with lower pay can be established only by agreement of the parties. The current discussion appears to assume agreement is unnecessary, which changes the dynamic entirely,” he noted.
He added that while a reduced work regime could be feasible amid a financial crisis and sanctions, it would be easier for employers to justify than for employees to accept.
Gennady Onishchenko, a former chief medical doctor and an academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, echoed the caution. He argued that a four‑day week could be viable only in sectors not requiring constant on‑site presence.
“Have you lost your mind? Have you considered the impact on schools and hospitals if the workweek shortened? Real growth would demand substantial retooling of production, which is highly unlikely in medicine. Scheduled exams, surgeries, and hospitalizations would be disrupted. Clinics cannot shut down from Friday to Sunday,” Onishchenko told socialbites.ca. He warned that staffing gaps and delayed procedures would undermine patient care and public health.
Can unemployment be prevented?
Economist Tatyana Kulikova emphasized that Western sanctions are serious and enduring, complicating the replacement of Western technologies in dentistry, mechanical engineering, and electronics with domestic substitutes. She noted that real incomes have been falling for years, and sanctions tend to squeeze consumer purchasing power further. This pressure extends across services, including hospitality, fitness, and other small and medium businesses, which are often the most vulnerable to shifts in demand. (cite: Kulikova analysis)
Western sanctions have already driven many foreign firms out of Russia, contributing to job losses. In such circumstances, some projected that unemployment could surpass 10 percent by spring 2022 if productivity and investment did not recover.
Valery Ryazansky, head of the Union of Pensioners of Russia, offered a pessimistic forecast for unemployment, suggesting monthly figures could align with pandemic peaks, around 5–6 million. He argued that a four‑day week might help cool the downturn by preserving employment and limiting wage erosion, provided task distribution is handled carefully.
“Many workers once earned in foreign factories; the option is to distribute tasks smartly so employment remains stable with minimal wage losses,” Ryazansky said. He added that freeing the rest of the week for part‑time or secondary work could provide a cushion against declining real incomes during a financial crisis.
Natalya Danina, chief labor market specialist at hh.ru, acknowledged a practical reason for considering a four‑day schedule. The country’s relatively low unemployment rate has often been the result of wage cuts, reduced hours, and trimmed social packages rather than outright layoffs.
“When production slides, a four‑day workweek can be a reasonable crisis measure to avoid downtime, retain staff, and reduce payroll costs,” Danina observed.
What are companies saying?
In 2022, hh.ru had not yet conducted a formal survey among Russian employers about a four‑day week. Still, last year’s findings showed notable skepticism about a broad labor‑market transformation.
Only 9 percent of surveyed company representatives believed their firms could shift to a four‑day week within the next one to two years. Some 77 percent rejected the option entirely. Yet managers seemed more open to the concept in principle: about two‑thirds supported a shorter week in practice, with larger firms more receptive (over 80 percent among those with more than 500 employees).
Among smaller enterprises, caution persisted, with roughly one‑third not backing the switch. The perceived benefits cited included reduced burnout (about 58 percent), more efficient use of working time (roughly 48 percent), and better employee health (around 38 percent). The main concerns were wage reductions (about 38 percent) and a drop in productivity (about 33 percent).