On Fridays, three stay at home

Employers looking to recruit the best workforce have to offer employees and applicants something. At Aufzugsservice Steck, this is the four-day week at the same pay. The idea came from the four employees.

By Bernd Lorenz

Markus and Julia Steck are sociable employers. At the end of the workday, the two owners of Aufzugsservice Steck like to invite their four fitters to grill in the courtyard of the company site in Oberhausen when the weather is fine.

It may also have been at one of these get-togethers that the question first arose whether the working hours could be cut by one day. The entrepreneur duo then gave their employees some homework: coming up by themselves with a concept of what the four-day week could look like. "Getting those affected involved" is the name of this approach, which Markus Steck picked up from a lecturer during his business management studies majoring in personnel management.

And the employees came up with something. "They got together at our senior fitter’s home for a grill party, pooled their ideas and worked out a concept," explained the owner of the lift company. They then presented it on the whiteboard in the company. It was adopted without alterations.

Four-day week at Steck

At interlift, the employees of Aufzugsservice Steck promoted the four-day week in their company. Photo: © Aufzugsservice Steck

All of the four fitters work the first four days of the week from 7.00 a.m. to 4.00 p.m. On Fridays, only one of them is in the company between 7.00 a.m. and 3.30 p.m. The other three have the day off. Each fitter takes on the work on Fridays once a month and the standby duty at weekends. "Putting the four-day week concept into action is wonderfully easy with four employees," revealed Markus Steck. Outside of working hours, the company connects its telephone to the 24-hour lift emergency service "Notrufe24".

"If the fitter working on Saturday or Sunday has to repair a fault, the time is credited to his overtime account." The Stecks reduced the working hours by four hours with the introduction of the four-day week – from 40 to 36 hours. "It would have been in no one’s interests if we had distributed the 40 hours over four days because this would have made the working day extremely long," argued Markus Steck.

Since the employees continue to receive the same wages, the lowering of the hours is also a concealed pay increase. Not every fitter realised this and it had to be explained during the negotiations for more pay. "We should have communicated better in this regard," conceded the 49-year old.

Adjustment for the central monitoring bodies

The internal company processes underwent minimal change. "On Fridays we don’t perform any elaborate work, such as changing ropes. The fitter either takes care of faults or performs maintenance," explained Markus Steck. The customers had not noticed anything of the four-day week, assured Julia Steck. "After all, our fitters are available Mondays to Fridays; otherwise we are available via the emergency call centre."

Only the central monitoring bodies initially had to get used to being unable to arrange any appointments for lift inspections on Fridays with Aufzugsservice Steck. "But in the meantime they’ve got used to this," noted the company head.

Easing of the management burden

"Don’t you have enough to do?" Markus Steck is occasionally asked when other entrepreneurs hear of the four-day week at Aufzugsservice Steck. That is not the case. He has observed his employees use their working hours more efficiently and are more motivated to get their work load done in four days while delivering just as good quality.

The two owners of Aufzugsservice Steck are not part of the four-day week. "Markus and I continue to be in the company five to six days," explained Julia Steck. The fact that they can work uninterrupted on Fridays and for example write invoices in a more concentrated manner has had positive effects in her case. "As a result, I often finish earlier in the office and get more out of the weekend."

Positive verdict

Aufzugsservice Steck launched its four-day week in July 2023. After a year, the verdict is positive. The team was completely in favour the project, according to Markus Steck. He would also be surprised by anything else. "After all, they came up with it themselves," he pointed out with a twinkle in his eyes. Julia Steck evaluated the readiness of the employees to do voluntary overtime or fill in on their free Fridays as another indication of satisfaction.

The fitters appear to be especially proud that "their" company is one of the pioneers. This is the only way the 49-year old can explain the advertising initiative of his team at interlift 2023. "They had T-shirts printed with "4-Day week. Apply now" on them and walked around in them at the trade fair." Markus and Julia Steck think their company is on the right path in implementing the concept. "We’d do it same the same way every time."

Locally engaged: Aufzugsservice Steck is taking part in the "Master plan Oberhausen economy". The goals of the initiative include "drawing up a framework for a resilient and forward-looking economic location", according to the webpage of the Ruhr area city. Markus Steck suggested that entrepreneurs like him could communicate technical knowledge to schools.

"I can probably explain the principle of a lifting block as a lift builder far more graphically than a teacher," the trained electrician is convinced, who before establishing his own company worked for Otis, Niggemeier & Leurs and Aufzugs- und Elektrotechnik Richter. In addition, the company takes part in Girls’ Day to arouse the interest of girls and young women in the lift sector.

The aim is to become far more active in training too. Cooperating with an electric company is planned. "As entrepreneurs we are obliged to do everything we can to enable young people to develop career perspectives," Markus Steck stated.

Company portrait: Markus and Julia Steck established Aufzugsservice Steck in 2014. They are specialised in lift modernisation, maintenance and repair. The small company from the Ruhr area does not engage in new construction. According to the company, it services 240 lifts, most of them within a circumference of 30 to at the most 40 km around Oberhausen and Mulheim an der Ruhr. The Stecks also have some "outlier" lifts in Neuss, Xanten and Cologne from their early days when every new commission was welcome. The Stecks currently have four employees.

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