Is less working time the logical step into the future – or the downfall for economically successful companies? In a Viennese company, the employees work 32 hours a week – with full wage compensation. Her boss is convinced: Such a reform of the Working Hours Act is long overdue.
Like many companies in Germany at the moment, Europa-Park is having problems finding staff. The 72-year-old boss Roland Mack admitted this in an interview. At the same time, he criticizes that this is not only due to the lack of skilled workers per se in Germany, but that there is also a connection with the sense of entitlement among young people, which he believes is inappropriate.
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The word “work-life balance” worries him. In the conversation, which caused a lot of furore, Mack says: “There are 25-year-olds who only want to work for three days – they still have their whole lives ahead of them, could become something here, take on responsibility, make a career.”
While some agree to settling accounts with the work ethic of the younger generation on social media, others attest to Mack’s conservative thinking, which hinders any – in their eyes – necessary change in the world of work towards more efficiency.
One thing is certain: the interview sparked a debate about new working time models with fewer working hours. FOCUS Online spoke to entrepreneur Thomas Meyer. With his agency “Büro für interaction” he advises companies on social media matters and four years ago, when he founded his company, he introduced the 32-hour week for all his employees. Nevertheless, Meyer’s company grows. We spoke to him about how this works and why he believes fewer hours can actually make companies more commercially successful.
FOCUS Online: When you founded your agency four years ago, you decided to introduce the 32-hour week for all employees. Going in such a direction right from the start seems pretty daring. Why did you still take the risk?
Thomas Meyer: In my opinion, the decision was not courageous or even risky, but a logical step. First, I knew I was starting my business in an industry that relies heavily on skilled workers – and where there is a competition for the best talent. I needed a unique selling proposition for my company that would convince potential applicants of the agency as an employer.
And secondly, it was and is incomprehensible to me that in times when companies have so many tools and options such as sales management systems, automation or efficient internal communication to increase productivity, we as a society should continue to work on the 40-hour hold week. In my opinion this is antiquated. I’m convinced that if we have so many options for shortening processes, it must be possible to achieve the same performance with fewer working hours.
Let’s do the check. So what does the concept of the 32-hour week look like in reality for you? Let’s start with the hours: how are they divided up over the week?
Meyer: In most cases, it is up to the employees how these hours are divided up. You can split the hours into four or five days. That always depends a bit on the reality of life of the individual person. Experience has shown that parents in particular prefer to split their hours over five days, for example to pick up their children from school or kindergarten on time. The majority of the childless colleagues are in favor of working 32 hours over four days so that they have a long weekend, for example.
And is there a full-time wage for that?
Meyer: Exactly. What is paid in other agencies as full-time wages, our employees get for 32 hours of work per week. On average, they all earn 3,000 euros gross per month, which is even higher than the industry level.
In theory, this all sounds good. But the agency landscape in particular is known for the fact that employees here sometimes have to work overtime. How about that?
Meyer: Of course, it’s not true that we don’t have any overtime. If a project is in the final phase and the customers still have requests for changes, for example, then one or the other of us will of course stay longer. But we compensate for this extra work.
Unfortunately, these all-in contracts have become established in Germany and Austria. This means that overtime is often compensated with the salary. That’s not the case with us. There is time off if there is overtime. All in all, we get along well with the 32 hours.
How can you still be as productive as companies that work longer hours?
Meyer: Of course we are under a certain competitive pressure and have to assert ourselves against other agencies that work at least 40 hours; if not even 45 to 50 hours. I can sell at least eight hours less per employee per week. If I extrapolate that to our now twelve colleagues, that’s 96 hours a week and around 400 hours a month. At first glance, that’s a chunk of money that we’re leaving on the street.
But there are other effects that have a positive effect on the bill and make our company profitable: Shorter working hours mean better quality work. People are fitter and happier. This can even be measured by sick leave, which we hardly ever have.
And the efficiency is also higher compared to other companies. Those who work in the 32-hour week model want it to be maintained and therefore do everything to ensure it. None of my employees want to go back to the 40-hour week.
You have now founded a company in the creative sector. Do you think that the 32-hour week can also work in other sectors?
Meyer: Yes. This is possible without any problems, especially in the service sector. I am convinced that this system can work out if you want to and if you want to leave the traditional way of doing business. The question is also: How do I judge performance? Do I judge them according to the principle “working a lot is cool” or according to the work that has resulted from the work. In my experience, working a lot isn’t cool, and working a lot doesn’t mean you’ve done a good job.
In the manufacturing sector or in industry, it is admittedly not that trivial to reduce the number of hours because machines have to run through. But if you look at the profits of the big companies, it would certainly be possible in many cases to hire more workers.
Employers would probably object to your philosophy that this is too ideologically driven – and would ask where the additional workers should come from in times of a shortage of skilled workers. For his part, industry boss Siegfried Russwurm recently even brought a 42-hour week into play in Germany to solve the shortage of skilled workers – instead of reducing working hours, increasing working hours. How do you counter that?
Meyer: In my opinion, the argument “We don’t have enough skilled workers, so those we have have to work longer” falls short of the mark. The extension of working hours is purely symptomatic treatment. There are enough studies that show how many hours employees can actually work productively a day. What is the point of extending working hours?
I would therefore argue from exactly the opposite direction: the 32-hour week is not left-wing nonsense, but can even solve the shortage of skilled workers.
You have to explain that.
Meyer: A nationwide 32-hour week would make Austria or Germany extremely attractive as a business location for many skilled workers from abroad. If we were to strive for and implement the path of reducing working hours with political motivation and across the board, in my opinion we would no longer have a shortage of skilled workers within a very short time. For me, more flexible working models with fewer weekly working hours are a clear locational advantage that would attract many well-trained people.
Did this “lock method” work for you as you imagined?
Meyer: Yes. The 32-hour week has had a positive effect on recruiting on several levels. I have little to no trouble finding capable people. The model offers tangible advantages for many realities of life.
Let’s take the example of the working mother who has a very good education and wants to start working again after a two-year break. Unfortunately, there are still major hurdles for them in the private sector.
Of course, it can refer to the legal regulations on protection against dismissal. However, it is not certain that she will be able to do the same job at the company that she did before she became a mother, for example if she comes back part-time or has to reduce her hours. Here, obstacles are put in the way of women with children as skilled workers and so much potential is wasted.
However, if companies per se offer reduced working hours for all employees, working mothers – or of course fathers who take on the care work – have enough time to take care of the children and at the same time can have a fully respected and full-fledged job because they work as many hours per hour as everyone else. Reducing working hours in companies therefore contributes greatly to the fact that we finally really live equality in our society – and it is not just an empty phrase from companies.
As a boss, do you stick to the 32-hour week yourself?
Meyer: No, not yet, but I’ll be ready soon. Every new colleague helps me manage a 32-hour week as boss.
What is your impression: Is our society ready for the reduction in working hours?
Meyer: There’s still a lot of work ahead of us. Our society is still framed in such a way that more working hours mean more profit. This is a misconception that is still widespread. At the same time, there is a lack of political forces in Germany and Austria that would strongly promote a reduction in working hours.
We have to realize that it’s perfectly ok if the job is a means to an end. That we can only find self-fulfilment at work is an old wives’ tale. In these times, which will become increasingly challenging in the future, we also need enough time for ourselves to reflect and develop further.
