Under plans endorsed by the country’s finance ministry, financial aid would be given to companies that reduce the working week to 32 hours with no loss of pay.
The pilot, which has a price tag of about 50 million euros, is relatively limited in scope but may pave the way to embracing the coverage on a more extensive basis.
It was suggested by little left-wing party Más País, whose service the socialist-led authorities needed in congress to pass a bargain on EU recovery funds.
Maria Alvarez, who is a businesswoman and founder of the 4 Day Week Campaign in Spain, noted that the pilot represented a sensible idea which ought to be in each government’s toolbox coming from this crisis.
The programme is similar to the one being chased by the regional government of Valencia, which was announced last year.