Mercedes-Benz is planning to return to the four-day requirement to be present in the office

Stuttgart. As standard, Mercedes-Benz employees should once again work in the office four days a week. A new group works agreement is intended to “enable managers to set up to four days of attendance per week for full-time employees without justification,” said a spokesman upon request. “The aim is for these four days to be the standard in the future,” said the spokesman. The previous group works agreement was terminated by the company accordingly. “Wirtschaftswoche” had previously reported on it.

The new agreement still has to be decided on by the works council committees at the locations. If they agree, the new regulation is expected to come into force on January 1, 2027. Otherwise, the locations would be without a corresponding agreement at the end of March.

According to Mercedes, the new agreement was preceded by negotiations with the works council. The previous agreement gave employees a relatively high degree of freedom in choosing their workplace.

The new agreement will “continue to allow flexibility, because special exceptional cases will be discussed and approved between managers and employees,” said a letter to employees that was available to the German Press Agency.

Mercedes-Benz also wants to reduce labor costs in Germany in order to become more competitive. Mercedes production director Michael Schiebe had threatened to close two plants in Germany if costs in Germany were not reduced. Recently there had been repeated protests against the management's plans.