Germany’s Work-Hour Shake-Up: More Flexibility on Paper, More Friction in Practice

The rules of the German workplace are shifting in multiple directions at once. A planned 2026 overhaul of the Arbeitszeitgesetz (Working Hours Act) will scrap the rigid eight-hour day in favour of a weekly cap of 48 hours, with daily shifts of up to 12 hours as long as the weekly average holds. The existing 11-hour rest period and mandatory break rules stay unchanged.

But the same reform also tightens tracking. Companies must log start, end, duration, breaks, and overtime to the minute on the day they occur. Records must be kept for two years. Digital time systems, experts say, will be essential to manage flexible models such as remote work or heat-related schedule adjustments.

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That legislative push toward flexibility collides with the strategy of at least one major employer. Airbus plans to sharply reduce home?office access from September at its Hamburg?Finkenwerder, Stade, and Buxtehude sites. Employees will be expected on?site at least four days a week, down from the previous two?day home?office allowance to just one.

Works council chair Sophia Kielhorn has voiced sharp opposition. She argues that the infrastructure at those locations cannot handle a sudden return wave — neither office space nor parking is sufficient. Unattractive conditions, she adds, make it harder to recruit young talent. The council has announced a legal review of the plans.

Not every company is moving in the same direction. Swiss, the airline, and Germany’s public sector are heading the other way. At Swiss, management and ground staff have agreed on a new collective labour contract starting January 2027 that cuts the work week from 42 to 40 hours. From 2028, premiums for shift, Saturday, and holiday work will also rise.

In the public sector, the TVöD (collective agreement for public employees) will introduce an expanded opt?in model in 2026. Workers can convert part of their increased annual bonus payment into up to three extra days off. Applications must be submitted by 1 September for the following year. Unused days are paid out for federal employees but forfeited for those working for municipal employers.

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Other experiments are emerging. The drugstore chain dm is widening paid leave for volunteer emergency responders — employees will now get up to six paid days off for deployment during major incidents.

At the same time, research on productivity and chronotypes is gaining traction. Without a statutory core?work?time rule, German firms are increasingly using digital shift?exchange platforms to let employees match hours to their natural rhythms.

Belgium offers a neighbouring example of flexibility. Its government approved a “accordion” model that lets working time be spread over twelve months — as long as the employee consents and a monthly minimum income is guaranteed. Tourism and horticulture, both seasonal, are seen as early adopters.

Back in Germany, the government is discussing tighter sick?pay rules. A coalition decision from early July would require a doctor’s note from the first day of illness and scrap the telephone sick?note option. Implementation, however, is tied to conditions such as better specialist?appointment guarantees. Separately, the pension commission is examining whether to phase out the special status of Minijobs — whose €603 monthly earning limit in 2026 would then shift toward full social?insurance coverage.

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