As of: February 5, 2024, 1:58 p.m
By: Marco Blanco Ucles
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After several other countries, Germany is now testing the four-day week with 50 companies.
Experts explain the advantages and disadvantages.
One more day off per week?
What has been a dream for many employees for years could actually become a reality in the future.
After other countries such as Iceland, Spain and Great Britain, 50 German companies are now testing the four-day week for six months.
The results are then examined by the University of Münster.
The desire for this is definitely present among the population.
In a survey by the union-affiliated Hans Böckler Foundation, over 80 percent of people said they would like a four-day week.
Expert explains: People long for more free time
Laura Venz is a professor of work and organizational psychology.
In an interview with
tagesschau24
, she emphasized that people are particularly longing for more time for things outside of work: “We don't actually want to sacrifice our entire lives to work, but there should also be something beyond that.” According to a long-term study, many German employees think so about a job change.
50 German companies are testing the four-day week, which is intended to ease the burden on employees in the future.
© Pond5 Images
The four-day week is practiced in two different models.
In Belgium, for example, the 40 hours of working time can be divided into four days instead of five - ten hours a day instead of eight.
The second variant is to reduce working hours from 40 to 32 hours per week, usually with the same salaries.
It was largely tested in model tests in Spain and Great Britain.
On the island, 61 companies with around 2,900 employees tried out the new system for six months - 56 of them kept it after the test phase.
According to the study, employees were more balanced and healthier.
Even productivity has increased.
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It is precisely this increased productivity that Laura Venz sees as the biggest problem in some industries when it comes to the four-day week: “Let us think of the desired reduction in working hours for train drivers, which the GDL has now demanded.
Of course, a train driver can still only drive or lead one train on a certain route.
And accordingly it is not possible to precisely maintain productivity there,” she said in an interview with
tagesschau24
.
Another example is nursing careers.
Venz can understand the fundamental skepticism in many companies: “I completely understand that all the alarm bells are going off.” At the same time, the expert emphasized: “We have a market in which the range of jobs is very large, for example in the field of nursing .” A four-day week could of course make these jobs more attractive.
In the future, it could well be that employers will try to stand out from the competition on the labor market by offering a four-day week.
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Part-time work possible as an alternative
What applies to part-time employment?
The model has been firmly integrated into the German working world since 2001.
Employers are generally obliged to advertise vacancies as part-time positions if it is possible to complete the respective tasks part-time.
Of course, part-time workers have to make compromises on their salary compared to full-time employees.
How much less you earn depends on several factors.
If it is a company with at least 15 employees and the employee has already been employed there for at least six months, the employer must accommodate the request for part-time work.
The wish for this must be expressed to the company in writing at least three months before the start of the new working model - for example by email.
This is reported by the online portal
“Haufe”
.
To reject the request, the employer must cancel within one month and provide operational reasons for doing so.
These could be: Reducing working hours significantly affects the organization, workflow or security of the company.
Incurring disproportionately high costs can also be cited as a reason for rejection.
Often, however, employers cannot adequately substantiate these reasons: “In my experience, the chances of winning a lawsuit against the rejection of your part-time application are very good,” emphasizes Tanja Ruperti, Berlin labor law attorney.