Three days of 12-hour work, remaining days off: Mercedes adopted a flexible work schedule
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz highlighted the advantages of a model involving working 12 hours a day for three days a week and taking the remaining days off. He favors accelerating the drafting of a bill aimed at setting the maximum working hours limit on a weekly rather than a daily basis.
Three days of 12-hour work, remaining days off: Merz has applied a flexible working schedule
According to DW, Merz spoke on October 13 in Berlin at the "Employers' Day" event organized by the Confederation of German Employers' Associations (BDA).
The Chancellor emphasized that organizing working hours flexibly opens up new opportunities for both enterprises and employees.
"There are international companies where they work for 12 consecutive hours. Three times a week, and then — that's enough," Merz said.
In his opinion, such a routine allows employees to spend more time with their families. The Chancellor stated that working more than eight hours cannot always be assessed as exploitation, as it can allow enterprises and employees to distribute working hours more conveniently.
Merz noted that the government should already have prepared a draft law providing for a flexible approach to working hours. According to the plan, the document will establish a maximum weekly, rather than daily, limit on working hours. This is expected to pave the way for creating various work schedules.
The Chancellor also expressed support for providing enterprises with broader opportunities to conclude fixed-term employment contracts with employees and simplifying the procedure for dismissing senior managers.
The final revision of the draft law is expected to be handled by Germany's new Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, Alexander Schweitzer. President Frank-Walter Steinmeier appointed him to this post on October 13.
Schweitzer, who previously headed the government of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, also faces the task of implementing pension reform.
The previous minister, Bärbel Bas, stating that she could not fully perform her duties in the government and the party due to difficult personal circumstances, announced that she would leave the posts of Minister of Labor and co-chair of the Social Democratic Party starting October 12.