Employers across Sweden are shifting to six-hour work days as a way to increase productivity and make people happier.

Businesses making the change include an app development company, a nursing home, a Toyota service centre and a range of small businesses.

University of Tasmania business and economics lecturer Simon Fishwick, who specialises in work-life balance, said the state would need fundamental things to be put in place from a practical and economic point of view, before it could consider shifting from a 38-hour working week.

"Sweden's overall standard of living is a bit higher than Australia so there is an economic argument," Mr Fishwick said.

He said if a person's working hours were to drop to about thirty a week, more people would need to be employed, which would mean additional costs for businesses.

"It's going to need some fundamental changes and I can't see employees or unions lining up to support it," he said.

"What's going to happen to superannuation? What kind of impact is that going to have to people's entitlements and government payments?

"But in a way of having a serious conversation about what is good for organisations, employees and for something like the state of Tasmania, I think it brings up some really interesting points."

Treasurer Peter Gutwein said he understood the importance of a work-life balance.

"However, the government doesn't support this idea," Mr Gutwein said.

Launceston Chamber of Commerce chief executive Maree Tetlow said you could argue that many Tasmanians were already working six-hour days.

"We have the highest level of people who work the least hours in the nation," Ms Tetlow said.

"There's a lot of part-time workers in Tasmania, whether that is voluntary or involuntary.

"Our productivity is lower than the rest of the country, so maybe we are after a laid-back lifestyle. That's the attraction of coming here."