BERLIN - Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin recently suggested that the working week should be reduced from five to four days and this struck a nerve. European media went into overdrive, discussing if such a move was practical.

Reducing long working hours has been at the core of trade union activity on the continent. Most European workers now put in 40 hours a week on average, a far cry from backbreaking 70 hours in the 19th century. Yet, in the age of digitalisation and an increase of home-office work, the topic has returned to centre stage.