According to a recent poll commissioned by “Stern” and RTL, a majority of Germans appear favorable toward abandoning the rigid eight-hour workday rule. The survey conducted by Forsa found that 57 percent of Germans support abolishing this regulation, instead proposing a weekly maximum working time. This model would allow individuals to work longer hours on certain days and compensate with shorter hours on others. Only 41 percent of respondents opposed this change, and 2 percent were undecided.
The current limit on daily working hours-a hallmark achievement of the labor movement-exists to ensure workers have enough recovery time. However, critics of this proposed reform worry that future workdays could stretch up to 13 hours, potentially increasing health problems among employees and further complicating the balance between work and private life.
Conversely, proponents argue that the current German working time model is outdated. They point out that the general European working time directive permits a maximum of 48 hours per week. Moreover, a poll of dependent employees indicated that 56 percent also favor reforming the daily working hour limits.
The exact question posed to the public was: “Do you favor the abolition of the maximum working hours of eight hours per day and instead favor the introduction of a maximum working hour limit per week?” Forsa surveyed 1,004 Germans for this poll, which was conducted on May 14th and 15th.
Concerning the push for reform, the SPD insists that mandatory digital record-keeping of working hours must be implemented-a commitment derived from the ruling coalition agreement. Meanwhile, both East German voters and union members, alongside supporters of The Left party, predominantly express opposition to relaxing the existing working time rules.
