The 4-day week in the German economy

Based on a representative survey of more than 830 personnel managers and HR experts, this report by the IW-Personalpanel attempts to provide a systematic and differentiated overview of the attitude of German companies towards the 4-day week. A distinction was made between the company perspective, the industry perspective and the economic perspective.  

First of all, it should be noted that the 4-day week is not a widespread phenomenon in the German economy. The vast majority of companies (around 80 percent) have so far refused to address the issue or have explicitly decided against the introduction of the 4-day week. Smaller companies, crafts and the IT sector have an above-average number of 4-day weeks in test or regular operation, which can be attributed to greater flexibility and special features of work organization in these areas.

At company level, the 4-day week is viewed skeptically by HR managers despite the presumed positive effects such as increased employer attractiveness or employee satisfaction. Many HR managers see considerable challenges with the introduction, such as rising personnel costs or more difficult processing of orders. The majority of companies consider it almost impossible to consolidate work processes or leverage existing productivity reserves to compensate for shorter working hours.

From an economic perspective, the companies surveyed also believe that the negative effects outweigh the positive ones. For example, they fear a decline in international competitiveness and an impairment of prosperity in Germany.

The survey makes it clear that a nationwide introduction of the 4-day week - without taking sector-specific and company differences into account - would have far-reaching negative consequences for the German economy. The study therefore calls for a differentiated view and assessment of this working time model.