Based on the initiative of Gertrud Götze, Vice President of the Human Resources Department for the Austrian and Swiss subsidiaries of German digital services company, T-Systems, the Austrian entity has launched a four-day week pilot project affecting 10% of the workforce. The HR VP believes that the problem of recruiting qualified workers is perhaps more an issue of company general and job profile attractiveness. Furthermore, the shorter work week is an attractive dual solution to improving the recruitment situation and meeting work-life balance aspirations.
How did you come up with the idea of the four-day week?
The idea came from two considerations. The first was the lack of skilled labour. While this is an issue that is currently much discussed, I’m not convinced that the shortage is as great as people purport. When I saw the number of job candidates lining up to join Google, Microsoft, and Deutsche Telekom because they are ‘cool’ companies, I thought companies also have to learn to be more attractive and become ‘cool.’ The second was about worki
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Article authors
Thomas Schnee
Correspondent in Germany
As a Berlin correspondent for the French and Swiss press since the late 1990s, I cover a wide range of economic, political and social issues, with a particular focus on the German business and labour market. My areas of interest include co-determination, digitalisation, demographics and ESG/DEI policies.