Company makes the dream come true: "Every Friday is a day off for us"
Created: 07/16/2022, 18:00
By: Sebastian Tauchnitz
The countdown is on: From September 1st, the employees of the Osenstätter company will work less for the same money - and have every Friday off.
© Photo: Hans-Helmut Herold
In view of the growing shortage of skilled workers in the region, companies are outdoing each other when it comes to paying new employees.
And in the end, hardly anyone applies.
Nico Osenstätter, managing director of the wood and veneer company of the same name in Schongau, is no longer involved and is launching a radical attempt.
District
– In the past, everything was different.
Since you bucked, pushed overtime - the salary increase lured, maybe the company car, a company cell phone.
That was earlier.
"If we're being completely honest: Especially in Upper Bavaria, the salaries are high enough.
They cover the costs of accommodation, of life, of the car, of vacation.
The true luxury is free time,” says Nico Osenstätter.
You can tell he's been thinking about the subject for a long time.
The competition between companies for skilled workers is now becoming increasingly absurd.
More money, more allowances, subsidies for bike leasing or the gym - all of this already exists.
In the workshops you build furniture for super skyscrapers in New York
"I can't pay higher wages than industry," says the 31-year-old, who took over the family business a few years ago as operational director.
Business is going great – the fine veneers that are manufactured on the company premises in Schongau are in demand worldwide.
Tables, buckets and trays made of precious wood are currently being made in the workshops for the new skyscraper “The Spiral”, which is being built in New York.
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But the traditional company lacks employees - like almost every company in the region.
Osenstätter lists all the things he is looking for: "An assistant, a skilled worker in production, a salesperson...".
As he pondered how to find new employees for the company, this one thought kept popping up.
Not a hip IT company, but a medium-sized company
It has been reported for several months that companies are introducing the four-day week for their employees.
A large-scale model project started in Iceland.
The results speak for themselves: employee motivation increases, productivity increases, people are less stressed and burn-out is actually no longer an issue.
Sure, in a hip IT company or an advertising agency, you can easily introduce the four-day week.
But in a large company with expensive machines?
Osenstätter calculated and talked.
With his friends, who work at large business consulting firms, his parents, who are no longer operational but still managing directors of the company, and his team.
The idea grew and was developed.
“No one I asked was against it”
Last week there was the memorable works meeting.
Osenstätter presented his new model.
So far, the 45 employees in the company have worked 41.5 hours a week – from Monday morning to Friday afternoon.
In the future, they will only work 38 hours a week for the same salary.
They work half an hour more every day.
So they have every Friday off.
"Not one person I asked was against it," says the company boss,
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Short breaks on Lake Garda without having to take a vacation
It's no wonder when you hear him raving: "That's nice.
We work from 7 a.m. to 5:15 p.m., with a 45-minute lunch break.
Just imagine: you finish work on Thursday at 5.30 p.m., then jump into the car.
At 10 p.m. they are at Lake Garda.
And then they have three full days of short vacation without taking a single vacation day.”
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Sure, "if you just look at the numbers, it's a disaster," admits Osenstätter.
Less work for the same money, "that corresponds to a salary increase of nine percent".
His mother Sabine was nevertheless enthusiastic, but his father Othmar was rather skeptical.
Finally enough applicants to have a choice
Because there are definitely risks.
The order books are full, work is endless, and then people work less.
"I'm sure that we will initially accumulate overtime," admits the managing director.
How else should it go?
But he's banking on finding the button he needs to press to get people excited to apply to Osenstätter.
“Of course I also spoke to the service provider who is looking for employees for us.
When I told him about the model, he just said, 'When can I start with you?'”.
A joke, of course, but an expected reaction.
This is exactly what Osenstätter is hoping for.
If people apply because they are convinced of the new working time model, then – finally again – he has a choice, can select those who fit into the team, who are motivated to bring the company forward.
The more new employees can be hired, the faster the overtime accounts melt away.
And the more orders the company can accept.
Orders that flush more money into the coffers.
The starting signal will be given on September 1st, then the test phase will begin
It starts on September 1st.
Then times will change at Osenstätter GmbH.
The company will be the first major employer in the district to introduce the four-day week – with the same salary.
For the time being as part of a test phase: "Of course we have to gain experience, see whether we can do the work and whether the successes we are hoping for really come about," says Osenstätter frankly.
But he's confident he's heralded the future of work.
