The new federal government's 100-day program

The most important personnel policy challenge is the reduction of non-wage labour costs, which was seen by far as the most urgent task for the new federal government in the area of personnel policy. Other measures, such as increasing work incentives and making working hours more flexible, were mentioned much less frequently. Comparatively large differences can be found in the industry perspective when assessing whether an increase in the retirement age makes sense: service providers close to the economy find this important, while service providers close to society tend to find it unimportant.

The participants in the IW Personnel Panel cite similar aspects to the managing directors who were surveyed as part of the IW Future Panel at the beginning of 2025 when it comes to improving the operating conditions for companies: Reducing bureaucracy, deregulation and a reduction in labour costs. When it comes to measures to improve the framework conditions, there are only minor differences between companies of different sizes, sectors or degrees of digitalisation. Only the expansion of the digital infrastructure is prioritised differently: It is more frequently demanded by digitalised companies, while the trade and logistics sector group as well as skilled trades companies and companies in western Germany rate this aspect as less urgent. The state should nevertheless take action here, as a good digital infrastructure is just as important for the population as it is for the digitalisation of the administration. The latter can also help to facilitate the fulfilment of bureaucratic requirements and thus improve one of the most important framework conditions.