News about Germany

[Beauty BeastParticipant]

Will a four-day work week solve Germany’s labour shortage?

Germany, Europe’s industrial powerhouse, is struggling with a critical labour shortage. By some estimates, two million jobs across the economy are vacant, and half of the country’s companies are unable to find enough workers.

Faced with this crisis, dozens of firms are testing a strategy that, on the surface, at least, might appear counterintuitive: getting workers to work fewer days.

In early February, 31 companies in Germany began a “four-day” work week pilot. The initiative is being led by not-for-profit company, 4 Day Week Global (4DWG), and management consultancy, Intraprenör. Another 14 companies are joining the initiative in March.

The German public research university, University of Münster, will carry out a scientific evaluation of the six-month-long trials, in which up to 600 employees are expected to participate.

The 4DWG, which has been conducting similar trials in many other countries, believes that reducing work days, while keeping pay at the same levels, would result in productivity gains for companies and improved wellbeing of employees, motivating a stretched workforce. The approach could also attract people to the workforce who can’t work five days a week, helping ease the labour crunch.

But how is the German experiment different from a series of efforts in other countries to test a shorter work-week? What have those previous trials shown – are workers more productive when they work fewer hours? Is it possible for the global economy to shift to a four-day work week, and will other countries follow the lead? Al Jazeera spoke to economists, experts and researchers involved in the study to find out.

The short answer: The German test uses more sophisticated techniques to compare more robust data than earlier trials in other countries, say economists, experts and researchers, though it still has shortcomings. Its results could offer the clearest picture yet of the gains and pitfalls of a four-day week. But even the staunchest advocates for the strategy concede that moving all jobs to a shorter work week may not be possible.

The long history of the short work week debate
The demand for a work-life balance emerged from the trade union movement in parts of the world in the 19th century that campaigned for eight hours of work, eight hours of recreation and eight hours of rest.

Then, the modern economy saw its first full test of a shorter work week. Timothy T Campbell, a senior lecturer in corporate social responsibility and business ethics at the United Kingdom-based De Montfort University, traced the origins of a reduced work week to the 1940s when drivers of fuel and gasoline delivery trucks in the United States worked four days a week.

In the decades that followed, especially since the 1960s, several four-day week experiments were conducted, Campbell concluded in a research paper.

https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2024/3/9/will-a-four-day-work-week-solve-germanys-labour-shortage

0

0

• This topic was modified 1 year, 1 month ago by  Beauty Beast.

[Author]

Posts