There are different views in the Bundestag parties about the meaning of a four-day week. However, there seems to be agreement that employers and unions should work out the best models.
Jessica Hansen is something like the face of the four-day week. The master painter introduced the concept in 2022 and was a pioneer back then. Since then, she has appeared on talk shows and welcomed politicians to her company who wanted to see how it works.
Labor Minister Hubertus Heil, for example, was already there. He was impressed and at the same time made it clear that this could not be a template for all companies. The four-day week is a sensitive issue for politicians. It polarizes. Many employees want them, many employers fear them.
When Hansen introduced the four-day week, she lacked skilled workers. She wanted to make work in her company more attractive and as a mother, she knew that flexible working, not rigid five-day regulations, was important, especially for women with children.
Increase productivity with fewer hours?
Friday was never a particularly attractive working day anyway, says Hansen: “Productivity has definitely increased for us. Nothing much ever happened on Friday. You’re already thinking about the weekend, do I still have to go shopping? What else do I have to do?”
Increasing productivity and working fewer hours at the same time – initial studies of pilot projects from the USA and Great Britain also suggest that this could work. Skepticism comes from CDU politician and spokesman for medium-sized businesses Christoph Ahlhaus: “That’s nonsense. You can also say, why not three days and 50 percent more productivity. At some point we won’t work at all and will have even more productivity.”
In general, the discussion is a “ghost debate, completely at the wrong time,” said Ahlhaus. You have to perform now and not move the so-called work-life balance even more towards “life”.
Open up the big questions
What some people call a ghost debate, others see it the other way around. Especially now, in the middle of the economic crisis, is the time to address the big questions, to completely restructure the economy and not to cling to old ways of thinking.
The equally controversial and successful businessman Carsten Maschmeyer sees in an interview with ARD capital studio The rigid five-day week is one reason why Germany remains in the economic crisis. We need to work more creatively and efficiently: “Many meetings in many professions last far too long; they could be made shorter or eliminated altogether. One method could be that we become more creative and productive. This requires balance. Athletes also need their rest days .”
Presence required in some areas
The debate has been simmering in politics for some time. The Greens generally have a rather positive attitude towards the four-day week. This is what the parliamentary group vice-president Andreas Audretsch explains to the ARD capital studio: “Especially if we want to make greater use of women’s great potential, flexible working hours that fit into their lives are of utmost importance. This can also include models in which people only work four days.”
The coalition partner FDP sees it differently: Their spokesman for labor market and social policy, Pascal Kober, does not see the four-day week as an option for society as a whole and also points to injustices, since the reduced working hours cannot be compensated for by an assumed increase in productivity in all areas , but rather the presence of the employee is required – for example in nursing or in the police.
“Law of Supply and Demand”
So far, however, there seems to be agreement that employers and unions are developing the best models and that politicians are staying out of it. Entrepreneur Maschmeyer believes that the four-day week will ultimately prevail anyway. “At some point the time has come and the dam will be broken. And then those who don’t have that will tell their bosses: Either we get a four-day week or we change. That’s a law of supply and demand. “
Master painter Jessica Hansen will definitely stick to the four-day week. But she also makes it clear that the concept is not a panacea. Because they too are struggling with the economic crisis and a poor order situation.