The four-day week is not very popular in German companies. According to a survey of HR managers conducted by the Ifo Institute for the HR service provider Randstad, only eleven percent of companies offer a shortened working week and only two percent plan to introduce it. Around a third (30%) reject it for operational reasons.
Verena Menne, Director Group HR at Randstad Germany, sees the four-day week as at least a benefit for a company’s employer branding. After all, 35 percent of the companies surveyed by Randstad With a four-day week, positive effects on employee retention have been seen, and employee motivation has also improved, say 32 percent.
However, concerns outweigh the benefits. 59 percent of companies fear that they will need more staff to implement the changes, that they will need a lot of organizational effort (52%) or that they will face a loss of overall sales (40%).
Menne can understand the concerns of companies, but suggests using the issue to generally develop “options for more flexibility and productivity” and to think about new shift models. These could include “flexible working hours, part-time work, but also job sharing and the annual working time model.”
Practical feasibility is important, as is an open and continuous exchange with employees, “in order to set the framework together” and to make working hours flexible.
Sven Schneider
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