More companies rely on a four-day week
Even the Salzburg Raiffeisen Association offers the four-day week
to its employees from next spring. And more and more tourism companies are practicing them – as a measure to combat the shortage of employees.
More and more applicants are asking
In the banking sector, too, it is no different than in other sectors. The search for good specialists is becoming increasingly difficult. From now on, 36 instead of 38.5 hours per week can also be written at Raiffeisen, says HR manager Markus Winkelmeier: “We see the increasing shortage of workers. At the same time, applicants are increasingly asking about it.”
The offer for a four-day week at Raiffeisen is aimed at around 3,000 people: “We don’t yet know how many will take advantage of it. We estimate about 20 percent for the time being.”
Mixed trends in gastronomy
Change of sector to tourism: Even here there are now companies that have moved away from the classic five or six-day week. In the Brückenwirt in St. Johann (Pongau) there is a four and a half day week – owner Petra Nocker-Schwarzenbach is convinced that this is a recipe for success for keeping or getting employees: “All of our positions are occupied. It is a comfortable situation today.”
Ernad Kanuric is the manager of the restaurant at the Brückenwirt: “It’s very interesting to get more employees. For me, too, this is one of several reasons that I work here.”
Hoteliers in Obertauern not very enthusiastic
The four-day week is not an issue in Obertauern. This also has to do with the fact that there is far too little accommodation for the staff for such a working time model.
Walter Veit runs the Hotel Enzian in Obertauern: “It can’t be implemented everywhere – like here with us, where the employees are almost all accommodated in the houses themselves. We need a lot more accommodation options. But we don’t have that. That’s why we’re only sticking to the six-day week.”
However, the demand for a four-day week is very much there: “There is also the opposite trend that employees are asking us whether they can work full-time again because they have to bear more costs and more money due to inflation want or need to earn.”
Solution for production better than for trade
Industrial companies are also approaching the subject with mixed feelings. Manager Sonja Jacoby says there are 500 employees at Jacoby Pharmaceuticals in Hallein: “We introduced the four days in a subsidiary a year and a half ago. That was a need of the employees, which fits quite well with the needs of the company. The staff are very happy. It’s a production facility there. It’s more difficult here in pharmaceutical wholesale because we depend on the opening hours of the pharmacies.”
According to business people, the lack of skilled workers and good workers will remain a major issue for the coming years. Many of the baby boomers are retiring. More and more weak cohorts are entering the labor market.