The Workers' Rights Index: How does the Czech Republic stack up?

So how does the Czech Republic stack up in the 2019 Workers’ Rights Index? 

According to the survey, in the areas of life satisfaction and parental leave the country comes out on the higher end of the ranking; in terms of the gender pay gap, however, there is room for improvement.

European countries lead the way for workers rights around the world with Norway topping the leaderboard for gender and diversity overall, and Sweden taking the lead for parental leave.

Switzerland, Denmark, and the Netherlands have the lowest average weekly working hours at 35.7 and the highest life satisfaction scores.

According to the study, there is a direct correlation between average weekly working hours and life satisfaction scores.

Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Denmark were found to have the lowest average weekly working hours at 35.7 per week while maintaining a life satisfaction score of 7+ out of ten – the highest score measured. 

The Netherlands had the shortest working week, with only 29.2 hours.

Belgium, Luxembourg and the Czech Republic averaged around 38.5 working hours per week, following closely behind with life satisfaction scores of 6+ out of ten.

Over the years, increased discussion and activism around inequality and lack of diversity in business have led to countries addressing the very apparent gender pay gap present in their society.

Notably, Luxembourg had the lowest gender pay gap at 3.4%, while Korea had the highest at 36.7%. 

The Czech Republic ranked on the lower end of the spectrum when measuring the gender pay gap and the level of inclusion women have in both the boardroom and Parliament, ranking 29th out of 36 countries analyzed. Its gender pay gap is 16 percent; its score on the boardroom index 4.7/10.

The research also analyzed the countries with the best parental leave rights in the world. The Czech Republic ranked fifth in Europe for the length of leave but lagged behind in terms of percentage of wages covered during parental leave (16.8 percent).

Here, again, the Scandinavian countries came out on top. Maternity leave qualifies for 52 weeks in Norway, with fathers receiving up to 14 weeks in paternity leave. While having 17 weeks less than Sweden in maternity leave, Norway is just slightly behind with 52% of wages being covered during parental leave.