New article on the four-day workweek published in the journal “BMC Health Services Research.”

Katharina Hast recently published a paper titled ‘Exploring the different models of the four-day workweek as social innovations in Germany’s healthcare system’ in the journal ‘BMC Health Services Research.’ In it, she discusses various models such as part-time work, 10-hour shifts, and a 32-hour workweek as the new full-time standard. All three models can fall under the umbrella term “four-day workweek”—though often with very different meanings. The paper examines which stakeholder groups are driving these approaches, what potential and limitations are evident, and how the models can be integrated into the existing institutional structures of the healthcare system.

The analysis shows that this is less a matter of a uniform reform idea and more a matter of different, sometimes competing problem-solving strategies. While some models aim primarily at reducing workload and improving work-life balance, others focus on efficiency considerations or adjustments to work organization. A key factor here is the extent to which the respective approaches are compatible with existing frameworks for workforce planning, financing, and the mandate to provide care.

This paper is thus the second article from her dissertation.