Hundreds of thousands of people across Europe don't consider the weekend as free time.
According to the latest Eurostat data, more than one in five workers across Europe (.3) He regularly works shifts on Saturdays and Sundays.
And in some countries, especially the Balkans and the Mediterranean ’, the average is well above that.
GreeceEmployees and self-employed in ’ ’i is dramatically active on weekends; Bosnia and Herzegovina’te and Malta, Cyprus and North Macedonia’da is ’.
At the same time, the north and east of the continent show much lower rates. LithuaniaOnly workers in ’ %4’ü, Hungary’da %7 and Poland’da %7.5’i works on weekends.
It's probably no big surprise that business owners take fewer weekend vacations than employees: the Employees ' %Compared to 18.5’ine ’ needs to be at work.
Greece, Cyprus and North Macedonia only when it comes to employees While ranking first with rates above ’, Slightly below ’ followed by Switzerland and Malta.
Greece again on the self-employed/employers front %It shows the highest rate at a staggering 75. the Belgium (Belgium) and France (’) The table changes slightly in the lower rows where it takes place.
Working often on weekends doesn't mean working more in general. But in the case of Greece’, the figures are consistent. Other Eurostat dataIt shows that Greeks tend to work more hours than anyone else at AB’.
Which sector is most likely to work on weekends?
Working shifts also depend heavily on the business sector.
For example, almost half of service and sales employees (.6) in agriculture, forestry and fishing (.2) employees work regularly on weekends.
It is also called “ basic professions” (.7) is also a norm for many people; This means routine manual labor, which often requires considerable physical effort.
Which countries are trying the four-day work week?
The current trend in Europe’ seems to be geared towards compressing rather than extending the working week.
The last country to try this was Poland’, a fast-growing economy. Problems with burnout.
In the summer of 2025, he launched a pilot project aimed at reducing the weekly working time from 39 hours to 35 hours without salary cuts.
Employees could choose one of three options: working six hours a day, spending three days on the weekend, or taking extra vacation days.
The experiment, launched by the Ministry of Labor on 90 public and private workplaces and 5,000 employees, is planned to be evaluated in 2027.
Each participating workplace was compensated up to 210,000 Euro’ to help cover any workflow disruption caused by the reduced work schedule.
Other European countries that tried the four-day work week were the UK, Germany, Portugal, Iceland, France and Spain.
If you've used an app to order late-night food delivery or call a plumber, you've probably benefited from the platform's economy. This is one of the most important new transformations in the business world. And right now the biggest discussion in Europe’ is on working conditions.
Digital platform studies, also known as gig economy, have increased five-fold in the last decade.
It is where individuals offer specific services organized through a digital platform that connects them with customers.
This can be a location-based app that allocates jobs such as food delivery, taxi or plumbing services, or web-based platforms that outsource jobs such as translation or graphic design.
Platforms create new business opportunities. But there are challenges in ensuring good working conditions and algorithms treat workers fairly.
‘Concert economics’ or ‘platform studyHow has ’ grown over the past decade?
The platform works: To edit or not to edit?
This new model of platform work has left governments undecided on how to regulate it. Spain became the first EU country to pass a law classifying food delivery passengers as employees with social protection.
Fanny Gauret went to meet some food distributors in Barcelona’ to get their opinion.
Fanny met two young deliverymen who knew the streets of Barcelona by heart, one carrying food or packages on a scooter and the other on a bicycle. Both are self-employed and their situation is expected to change in the coming months.
The new law, submitted to the Council of Ministers, will classify all passengers working on distribution platforms as employees. They will have access to benefits such as unemployment benefits, vacation or sick leave. It was a relief for this young South American rider who wanted to keep his name a secret.
The self-employed driver, who did not give his name, explains: “What the government recommends to these companies is that they give us minimum wage, sick leave, life insurance, and a tool so that we can work properly.” “Because sometimes we work up to 12 hours a day to get less than the minimum wage.”
This young man is paid by delivery according to the prices set by the platform. He says that because he can't afford to buy a motorcycle, the fact that he works on a bicycle is a big disadvantage.
“I've never earned €1,000 a month. It's hard to do that on a bike. Because you have to work long hours, it's exhausting. If you do not connect to the platform, do something wrong, cancel many orders, they will cancel your account.”
Minimum wage, work accident insurance or checking for profile cancellations are what many drivers are hoping for with this law.
“Freedom and flexibility”
Spain’ already has some delivery platforms that use the fee model. But Jordi Mateo, who works 40 to 50 hours a week, prefers to remain independent:
Mateo, “When I look at what competitor companies are doing with employees, I think I'll have a 15- or 20-hour contract, which will hurt a lot, on the one hand, the freedom and flexibility I have today, as well as my income, which will greatly decrease, ” says.
Working on a scooter for various platforms, Spain is pleased to earn more than ’'s minimum wage (around €1,100 gross per month). However, it will welcome improvements such as being able to set its own prices.
What most freelancers believe is that we need reinforcements in our protections, but we don't have to resort to a contract that shows, as our experience tells us, that the government will make us precarious and unable to protect us as it tries to make us believe, insists “ Mateo.
This complex situation reflects the huge diversity in the profiles of people who use digital platforms to find customers in industries such as transportation, home services and online services.
Opening up to the job market
Laura is a graphic designer. After losing his job due to the health crisis, he turned to a platform that directly connected him to a wide variety of customers.
Laura Cardenas Corrales summarizes: You sign up for “Platform, create your profile, set your rate, hours, and availability.” “For me, this change is positive because it gives me the freedom to dedicate the hours I want to dedicate and do the projects I really love. I believe that platforms like this will help you expand into the job market.”
While more social protection is needed for some of these workers, the flexible work schedule and hours model is supported by others, including digital platforms defending their own models. According to the International Labour Organization, Europe earns just under 4 billion euros per year in ’.
So how can compliance with labor laws and quality of work be ensured? With the pandemic and the explosion in home deliveries, discussions intensified.
Brussels’den view
The European Commission has launched a consultation to improve the protection of workers on digital platforms, inviting unions and employers' organisations to reach an agreement. If they fail to do so, the Commission will draft legislation by the end of 2021.
EU Commission Director-General for Employment Joost Korte explains: “This highly promising sector has many good dimensions, such as a better work-life balance for people, greater flexibility, access to the labor market for people who are sometimes under very difficult conditions.”
“But it needs to be a sustainable model on which this is based. Otherwise, we would arrive at different solutions in different member countries, which would be negative in the context of the single market, ” adds.
For more information on this topic, Naomi Lloyd spoke to one of the Senior Economists at the International Labour Organization ’, the United Nations agency that sets international labour standards.
Naomi Lloyd – at Euronews
“European CommissionLet's start with the consultations of ’; Is this something you like? ”
Uma Rani – Senior Economist, ILO
“We must not forget that digital work platforms operate across borders, so the EU regulatory framework that will come out at the end of this year will be a very good step forward in improving the lives and working conditions of workers and platforms.”
Naomi Lloyd – at Euronews
We saw the driver there in Fanny’'s report saying that if he turns down any work, he'll be penalized by the algorithms, –, is that something you've come across a lot?
Uma Rani – Senior Economist, ILO
This is the experience of many employees on these platforms. Platforms actually use algorithmic management practices in allocating work and rewarding work, monitoring the entire process of work. If you start refusing to work, if you don't get up to speed, it will punish you.
Naomi Lloyd – at Euronews
But there we found that not all passengers actually wanted to be employees; Many enjoy the flexibility of working at the hours they want.
Uma Rani – Senior Economist, ILO
I think the reason why this driver wants to work very long hours is because of the gamification process these platforms have. That's why they have so many bonuses and incentives.
Then after a while, the amount of work you get really decreases, the pay you get goes down, and that's where the frustration comes in.
Naomi Lloyd – at Euronews
However, people from many sectors prefer to be self-employed; What is the problem with the platform?
Uma Rani – Senior Economist, ILO
The problem arises when being self-employed becomes the secret self-employment, where you are an employee, but you are asked to be self-employed and enjoy no benefits. There's no regulation. So they self-regulate and decide what the status of the worker is, what the price of a car or the price of a task is, which becomes very problematic.
