In March, Upper Austrian automation specialist B&R introduced the two-day working week and brought on board 300 additional employees, who earn as much for 20 hours of work as for a full-time job. Condition: You only work on weekends at the Eggelsberg location, for a limited period of one year. How employees experience the model? We asked.
About 700 applicants, some from Linz, Vienna, Graz or Nuremberg: B&R boss Jörg Theis stirred the labor market with the offer to work 20 hours a week to earn a full-time job. The automation specialist from Eggelsberg can cope with the enormous increase in demand with 300 additional dedicated employees, who each work two ten-hour shifts during the weekend.
One of the employees hired for this purpose is Monika Drzewiecka. Before her daughter was born, she already worked as a temporary worker at B&R. Because she only works on weekends thanks to the two-day working week, she was able to return to work earlier than planned.
Balance between family and job
“Now I have time for my child during the week. My husband is with the little one at the weekend,” says the 38-year-old, for whom this working week starts on Friday at 10 p.m. On Saturday the first shift ends at 8.30 am, ten and a half hours later the second working day begins for the woman from Simbach in Bavaria.
“I sleep five hours in between and then I still have enough time for my family until I go back to work,” she says enthusiastically. The response to the working model has been very good, says Drzewiecka: “The shifts are also ideal for people who are studying or elderly people who are nearing retirement.”
Model expires after one year
What happens to you after the end of February? “I want to stay. I wish and hope that the weekend service will be extended.” Together with the works council and the unions, the company limited the model to one year.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
