Germany recently launched a six-month trial period in which employees at 45 companies across the country will work four days, or one day less per week, for the same pay, Anadolu reports.

The initiative is being carried out by the consulting company Intraprenor from Berlin, together with the nonprofit organization “4 Day Week Global” (4DWG).

Jan Buhren from Intraprenor told Anadolu that the economic crisis in Germany has led to changes in the labor market, which is why it is necessary to test the experiment of a four-day workweek.

We are seeing changes in the labor market, changes in demand for labor, we are seeing a kind of economic crisis everywhere, but especially in Germany, and that requires new ways of thinking about work, said Buhren.

In Germany, during the past year, public sector workers held a series of strikes demanding higher wages and better working conditions.

Supporters of a shorter workweek hope that working four days a week will make workers happier and more productive at a time when Germany is struggling with declining productivity and a labor shortage.

“We have seen workers become very creative and find ways to be more flexible in the way they work and the time they spend working, so four-day work is not just four-day work, so far we have seen about 12 different ways of working,” added Buhren.

In this experiment, productivity is a major issue, and according to Deutsche Bundesbank, after reaching a high of 105.20 points in November 2017, German productivity has been in constant decline, although it is still higher than in other major economies in Europe.

Advocates of the four-day workweek argue that working one day less would increase workers’ well-being and motivation, and thus make them more productive.

Buhren added that this increase in motivation is also seen in industries suffering from a shortage of skills and staff.

“Industries are already facing a shortage of workers, it is almost paradoxical to say, do you want to work less? So, although these companies offer a new way of engagement, it actually works as an incentive, as an employer brand. In this way, the employer increases the value of its brand and records a 300 percent increase in the number of job applications it receives,” said Buhren.

One less day in the workweek also attracts into the workforce those who do not want to work the whole week, thereby helping reduce the current labor shortage affecting Germany.

In November last year, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DIHK) announced that half of German companies are struggling to fill vacant positions. Last year, thousands of unfilled jobs caused losses to the German economy of more than 90 billion euros.

Although it is not clear whether a shorter workweek will solve this problem in any way, Germans are excited to test this model.

A survey by the company Forsa showed that 71 percent of workers in Germany would like to work only four days a week. Slightly more than three quarters of those surveyed stated that they support a Government inquiry into the possible introduction of a four-day workweek. On the other hand, more than two out of three employers support the idea.

Tia Robinson, director of the Berlin language school Expath, says that work-life balance was the reason for shortening the workweek from five to four days.

“The COO (chief operating officer, editor’s note) and I had the idea for our personal wishes, but also for the employees. We wanted to better align our lives, the COO wanted to write a book, I have a child and I wanted more time for my daughter. “We wanted this for ourselves, but we could not justify doing it for ourselves and not for the employees, so we decided to do it for the whole company and everyone is really happy with the results,” said Robinson.

She explained that they measured employee satisfaction and well-being, as well as customer satisfaction and work efficiency.

Tzerkis, an administrator and teacher at Expath, said that his life has become more fulfilling and that he has more time for himself.

I exercise regularly more and more, I have a better weekend, more energy and time for myself, I am more focused on work and I take less sick leave, he said.

Speaking about his productivity, he said that with the preparations they made, he does the same volume of work.

“A system has been built that ensures that work is easily divided and does not depend on time. But yes, I have much more capacity to focus on the day when I work,” added Tzerkis.

Source: fenix-magazin.de