Debate about working hours: The Left Party discovers the four-day week

Work less for the same pay? Crazy idea. There are pilot projects for a four-day week in several countries, and employers in Germany are also trying this out. Left boss Schirdewan takes up the topic.

The Hotel Oswald in the Bavarian Forest is an oasis. Not only for the hotel guests, but also for the 110 employees. Because there has been a four-day week here for almost three years. If you want, you can have three days off a week – with full wage compensation. “It works great,” says senior manager Alfons Oswald.

“Again and again new applications”

Word has gotten around that in the small village of Kaikenried there is the opportunity to work only four days a week and still earn decent money. The hotel had to hire at least 15 additional people and pay significantly higher wages.

On the other hand, the employees usually stay with the company for many years, new people do not have to be trained all the time and everyone is happier. All in all, a clear plus for the hotel manager: “We have no problem with skilled workers and we keep receiving new applications.”

About 500 km further north, in Berlin, Left Party leader Martin Schirdewan would probably be happy about the good experiences from the Bavarian Forest. Because Schirdewan wants to start a broad social debate about the four-day week.

Retire later, work more?

In his opinion, demands for longer weekly working hours are going in the completely wrong direction in view of the shortage of skilled workers. Or Chancellor Scholz’s recent criticism that too many people retired too early. Or the calls for teachers to work more to compensate for the lack of schools. “Does anyone really believe that you can find more committed skilled workers by further worsening working conditions?” asks Schirdewan.

From his point of view, increasing the workload is completely the wrong way to go. The number of days employees are absent due to stress-related illnesses has almost tripled in the past 20 years. He proposes a new “vision of a sustainable working society”. And from Schirdewan’s point of view, that would be a four-day week with full wage compensation.

With this, the party leader underscores his demands for a new left-wing economic policy. From Schirdewan’s point of view, this is a contribution to how society should develop, especially in times of crisis. A template for the Bundestag should not be made of it – for the time being.

In many places, pilot projects for a four-day week

The idea of ​​a four-day week is not new. In fact, there are more and more companies in Germany that rely on this offer in order to be more attractive to employees. And the idea of ​​a long weekend is catching on in other countries as well. In Spain, the government is promoting a pilot project to reduce working hours, in Lithuania parents of small children who work in the public sector are entitled to a four-day week, in New Zealand a corresponding pilot project is underway and in Belgium this has also been in place since 2022 Right to a four-day work week for all employees.

Some of these models allow the working time of the fifth working day to be added to the remaining days, so instead of eight hours a day, nine or ten hours are then worked. However, some companies simply reduce the working hours per week and rely on lasting productivity because everyone works in a more concentrated and better structured manner.

A panacea? Rather not

Various studies show the positive effects: People have more time for family or voluntary work, call in sick less often and work is divided more fairly between men and women. So far, there have been significantly more women working part-time because they also take care of most of the family work. But this results in lower wages and ultimately lower pensions for many women.

So is the four-day week a panacea? No, says labor market expert Karl Brenke from the German Institute for Economic Research. If the weekly working hours were reduced, the four-day week actually meant an increase in wages, i.e. higher costs for companies and, in the end, possibly galloping inflation. “I’m very skeptical because ultimately these wage increases would have to be achieved through additional productivity.” In addition, you would need additional workers for this model – and they are currently a problem.

Linke boss Schirdewan, on the other hand, is certain: “If the work were distributed more fairly, around one million jobs could be created in this country in short full-time hours with 30 hours a week instead of overtime and constant stress.” In addition, from his point of view, a shorter working week due to less travel time and energy costs would also make sense in terms of climate policy.

Hotel manager Oswald has not regretted the decision to work shorter hours. The people in his team work nine hours a day – and that’s no longer five, but four days. And: If you want, you can also come on the fifth day and then get more money. But most don’t want that.