Experiences with the Four‐Day Week at the Volkswagen Company
Journal of Human Resource Costing & Accounting
ISSN: 1401-338X
Article publication date: 1 February 1999
Abstract
In 1993, an innovative working time agreement was achieved at the Volkswagen (VW) Company. Its major aim was to save 30,000 jobs in VW's six German plants, which were endangered because of a severe crisis of the car manufacturer. The 2‐year agreement included as its major point a reduction of the weekly working hours by 20% to 28.8 hours/week without complete financial compensation for the employees. In the years following, the original agreement was renewed and amended several times whereby the amendments mainly included a considerable flexibility of the working time structures at Volkswagen. This paper discusses the different agreements and presents some findings of a representative empirical study among the VW employees about the effects of the 28.8‐hour per week agreement. Finally, the question will be answered whether the VW model could serve as a general model to redistribute an existing volume of work among more employees in order to reduce unemployment.
Citation
PROMBERGER, M., SEIFERT, H. and TRINCZEK, R. (1999), "Experiences with the Four‐Day Week at the Volkswagen Company", Journal of Human Resource Costing & Accounting, Vol. 4 No. 2, pp. 27-43. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb029056
Publisher
:MCB UP Ltd
Copyright © 1999, MCB UP Limited