4 days instead of 5: One in three employees would like a full-time job with a shorter working week

Two thirds of employees in Germany are in favor of significantly more flexibility in full-time work. Only 32.6% are still satisfied with the traditional working week. These are the findings of a recent Randstad study.
How will we work in the future? 4 days instead of 5? With 32, 40 or 42 hours per week? The debate about future-oriented working time models is not just a concern for employers, but has also long since reached the political arena and was one of the key topics at the World Economic Forum in Davos at the beginning of the year. In view of the serious labor shortage, more and more companies are experimenting with different working time models in order to attract applicants and retain existing staff – including a large-scale pilot project for a 4‑day week in the UK.
Women (42.1%) want a shorter week more often than men (29.9%)
But what do employees actually want? The latest Randstad Work Barometer 2023 shows: More than one in three employees in Germany would prefer a shorter working week in their full-time job. 36.1% of respondents would like to fulfill their current weekly working hours on fewer days – for example by introducing a 4‑day week. The desire for a shorter working week in a full-time job is particularly high among older employees: Among 45- to 54-year-olds, 42.4% are in favor of this; among 55- to 67-year-olds, the figure is 40.1%. At 42.1%, women express this wish more frequently than men (29.9%). In contrast, 32.6% of German employees prefer the traditional 5‑day week from Monday to Friday with working hours from 9 am to 5 pm. It is striking that employees with a high level of education (35.5%) in particular favor the 9‑to‑5 model. 10.7% of respondents would like their working hours to be completely flexible between Monday and Friday. 9.2% would like a 5‑day week that can flexibly include all days of the week and therefore also the weekend.
One in five has already resigned due to a lack of flexibility
„As you can see, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. There is no one solution that fits all employees,“ says Richard Jager, CEO of the Randstad Group Germany. „More and more employees want to adapt their working hours to their lives instead of the other way around. Companies are faced with the difficult task of maintaining productivity on the one hand and offering their employees flexibility on the other. However, the German-speaking labor market is still too inflexible and slow in many areas. Developing further here will be one of the major challenges facing the German economy.“ Time flexibility is one of the decisive criteria when choosing an employer: 77.0% of employees say it is important or even very important. This puts it well ahead of location flexibility (58.6%). 46.1% would not even accept a job that did not offer them sufficient time flexibility. 20.6% of employees have already quit a job due to a lack of flexibility – among 18 to 24-year-olds, the figure is as high as 38.2%.
Source: Randstad Work Barometer