A four-day week is hardly in demand at Siemens, says human resources manager Judith Wiese. picture alliance/Rupert Oberhäuser
According to Siemens Human Resources Director Judith Wiese, Germany cannot afford to discuss shorter working hours.
Wiese is critical of models such as the four-day week with full wage compensation – they would hardly be accepted at Siemens anyway.
According to Wiese, Germany needs to see more people working more and longer.
Can Germany afford the four-day week? No, believes Judith Wiese, Head of Human Resources Siemens.
In an interview with the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” said Wiese: “For a country like Germany, which is aging so quickly and in which there is a shortage of skilled workers, a debate about shorter working hours is of course quite sensitive. In Germany, people already work around 500 hours less per year than in the USA, for example.”
Four-day week at Siemens? “Very few people take advantage of it”
Wiese therefore questions a four-day week, especially with full wage compensation. “At Siemens we already have the opportunity to implement a four-day week,” she said. “But very few people take advantage of it. We don’t see a trend towards a four-day week at Siemens.”
Such a trend would be counterproductive for the Siemens HR manager anyway. According to their interpretation, people in Germany should work more and longer rather than less. “From an economic perspective, we clearly cannot afford a discussion about shorter working hours,” said Wiese. It’s more about “how we enable even more people to work – ideally full-time and with sufficient flexibility.”
Read too
I’m part of Gen Z and quit my secure job at Siemens to work in a startup – these are my reasons
jg