New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has suggested that employees benefit from additional vacations and a four-day work week to revive the economy, hit by seven weeks of con fi rmation due to the coronavirus.
Ardern said he wants to encourage creative ideas and offer "flexibility," with the goal of fostering recovery after a strict lockdown that has kept the coronavirus at bay but has taken its toll on the economy.
Among the proposed initiatives is the transition to the four-day week and the granting of more holidays to stimulate spending in the tourism and hotel sectors, particularly affected.
"This is an exceptional moment and we should be ready to consider extraordinary ideas," the prime minister told reporters, assuring that she had "not excluded any possibility."
According to Ms. Ardern, there are "many options available and we have to be open" to them.
After meeting Tuesday with representatives of the tourism industry, the prime minister said that the experience of teleworking during the closure has shown how workers can be productive in exchange for greater flexibility.
According to her, the four-day week could be an option , as long as employers are willing to try it.
"See if it could work ... because it would certainly help tourism across the country," he told them.
New Zealand, which has a population of five million people , has so far managed the epidemic relatively effectively, thanks to very strict containment imposed since the end of March.
The new coronavirus has killed 21 people in the archipelago. The country's borders remain closed, but the inhabitants are free to travel within the country.
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