As Malta debates the merits of a four-day workweek, it's worth revisiting a nearly century-old essay that feels startlingly relevant today. In 1932, British philosopher Bertrand Russell published In Praise of Idleness, a provocative argument that challenges the moral value we place on work. What is his central thesis? That too much work is not a virtue, but a problem.

Russell's essay, often dismissed as utopian, is in fact a sharp critique of how industrial societies glorify labour at the expense of leisure, creativity, and wellbeing. He argued that if work was more evenly distributed and technology used wisely, we could all work less and live better. This sounds familiar when civil servants work half days for four summer months and no extra staff are recruited to make up for any slack in productivity. The idea is simple: reduce working hours in targeted public sector departments, without cutting pay, and see what happens to productivity, morale and service delivery.

Fast forward to 2025, and Malta finds itself at a crossroads. With labour shortages, rising burnout, and a growing divide between public and private sector working conditions, the country is ripe for a serious conversation about how and why we work.

Belgium allows employees to condense their standard hours into four longer days. Trials have also taken place in Spain, Portugal and Germany. However, the Malta Employers' Association (MEA) was quick to criticise the proposal, calling it "unrealistic" and warning it could worsen labour shortages. By its nature, the public sector is not subject to the commercial pressures that drive efficiency and innovation in the private sector, but equally so all heads qualify for annual efficiency bonus. Yet, the MEA's reaction also revealed something deeper: a fear that rethinking work might unravel the very fabric of our economic model. And yet, Russell would argue that this fear is misplaced. In his view, the real danger lies in clinging to outdated notions of productivity that equate long hours with moral worth.

Russell's essay makes several points that feel tailor-made for Malta's current moment. Work is not inherently virtuous: Russell believed that the glorification of toil was a hangover from aristocratic and religious traditions. In modern economies and in the advent of AI, the goal should be to reduce unnecessary labour, not to celebrate it. Any extra resource in public sector can easily be trained to fill vacancies in private sectors. Leisure is not laziness: far from being idle in the pejorative sense, Russell saw leisure as the foundation of civilisation. It's in our free time, he wrote, that we create meaningful connections, pursue science, and build community. Technology should liberate, not enslave: Russell warned that machines would only benefit society if their gains were shared. Otherwise, they would simply make the rich richer and the poor more expendable. These ideas may sound idealistic even today, as they're increasingly backed by data. Malta's unique opportunity is its attributes of being small, agile, and already has a strong public sector. For a start, a well-designed pilot could offer valuable insights for selected government departments.

But for this to work, we need unions to move beyond slogans and focus on implementation. What does this mean?

• Measuring outcomes: this means a shift in organisational culture in the public sector by tracking hours to evaluating results. This requires clear KPIs tailored to each role, regular feedback loops, and digital dashboards that help teams monitor progress. Government agencies can lead by example, publishing transparent performance metrics and sharing lessons learned. Government shall lead by creating forums for cross-sector dialogue, where government, unions and businesses can share data, challenges, and success stories. This will ensure equity and avoid resentment between sectors.
• Investing in automation wisely: management shall identify AI software that work can be streamlined, such as data entry, scheduling, and reporting and deploy tools that reduce manual workload. Training programmes should accompany automation rollouts to ensure staff are empowered, not displaced.
• Protecting leisure time: enforce the right to disconnect through legislation and workplace norms. This includes setting boundaries on after-hours emails, limiting mandatory overtime, and promoting mental health days. A cultural shift toward valuing rest must be supported by policy.
• Rethinking school schedules: in a four-day workweek scenario, schools would also operate on a four-day schedule, but with extended hours each day. This ensures no reduction in curricula, while helping parents avoid midday pickups: reducing stress and easing traffic congestion during peak hours.

Perhaps the biggest challenge isn't logistical but cultural. Malta, like many countries, still equates busyness with importance. But as Russell warned, this mindset can be corrosive. It leads to burnout, stifles creativity, and leaves little room for the kind of reflection that drives innovation.

Imagine a Malta where people have more time to volunteer, pursue hobbies, or simply rest. Where parents can spend more time with their children. Where workers are judged by the quality of their output, not the length of their workday. This isn't a fantasy. It's a policy choice.

Russell's essay ends with a call to reimagine what a good life looks like. "A great deal of harm is being done in the modern world," he wrote, "by belief in the virtuousness of work". Imagine everyone at selected departments has an extra day off every week and there's no drop in productivity. As the future of work evolves, employees increasingly seek better control over their hours alongside compelling life, congested roads which delay commuting times, and increasing chances of burnouts. A thoughtfully researched four-day workweek programme in Malta, offers government employees a strategic means to choose Mondays or Fridays as their rest day. Since the majority of transport runs internal combustion engine vehicles, the proliferation of carcinogenic fumes may be mitigated during certain hours. Research shows the four-day week model can indeed support productivity, cut costs from reduced absenteeism and turnover, and vastly improve worker morale, focus and loyalty through an improved work-life balance. Malta has a chance to lead by example. By piloting a shorter workweek, we can test whether less really can be more. And in doing so, we might just rediscover the value of idleness: not as a vice, but as a vital part of a balanced, humane society.

Dr Ovidiu Tierean is a senior advisor at PKF Malta