The reality of working time in German companies has massively moved away from the expectations of employees. According to the representative survey carried out as part of DGB index Good work 2025 Only 40 percent of employees are satisfied with their current working hours. More than half (53 percent) would like shorter working hours. This discrepancy between desire and reality results primarily from rigid operational structures that 63 percent of the interviewees as an impediment.
For HR managers and managing directors, this raises the strategic question: Which working time models make it possible to combine operational requirements with employee needs? This article provides a practice-oriented overview of the various working time models in Germany, their areas of application and the factors that are decisive when choosing.
What are working time models?
Working time models are contractual agreements on the working time of employees, which are regulated in the employment contract on the basis of legal and collective agreement provisions. They determine on which days, how many hours, at which times and where work takes place.
The legal basis can be found in Working Hours Act, which defines maximum working hours, rest periods and rest periods, as well as in the respective collective agreements, which contain industry-specific regulations. The statutory normal working time in Germany is 40 hours, but can be reduced to up to 35 hours by collective agreement.
Distinction: working time models vs. work models
While working time models regulate the time dimension of work, work models relate to the place where work is delivered. Strictly speaking, remote work and hybrid forms of work are therefore not working time models, but work models that can be combined with various working time models.
Classic working time models: structure and predictability
Classic working time models are characterized by fixed structures and a high degree of predictability. They are particularly suitable for areas with continuous operation or precise service hours.
Full time: The standard working time
Full-time employees work normal working hours as defined by law or collective agreement. In Germany, this is regularly 40 hours per week, although collective agreements can provide for between 35 and 40 hours. Full-time is not so much an independent working time model as the reference for all other models.
Typical fields of application: All industries and sectors, particularly where continuous presence is required.
Part-time: Flexible reduction of hours
Parttime employees work less than normal full-time employees. The exact number of hours is agreed on an individual basis and is often given as a percentage of full-time work. Since 2001, this has regulated Part-time and Fixed-Term Employment Act the legal right to part-time work for employees with more than six months of service in companies with over 15 employees.
A special form is Part time bridge, in which employees reduce their working hours for a limited period of time and then automatically return to previous working hours.
Typical fields of application: All sectors, particularly relevant for employees with care responsibilities or in the life phase before retirement.
Shift work: continuous operation
In shift work, working time is divided into shifts, with several employees working on a fixed schedule on a Change workplace. Common Shift models include two-shift systems, three-shift systems, and fully continuous models.
Typical fields of application: Manufacturing, healthcare, public transportation, retail, customer service centers.
Special features: Surcharge requirements for night, Sunday and public holidays as well as extended documentation requirements.
Flexible working time models: More self-determination with clear rules
Flexible working time models enable employees to organise their own working hours within a defined framework. However, they require precise regulations and transparent time recording.
Flexitime: Flexibility with core time
With flexitime employees can determine the start and end of their working hours themselves within a flexitime frame. Core working time is typically defined, which includes compulsory attendance.
How it works: A flexitime frame could range from 6:00 to 20:00, with a core time of 10:00 to 15:00. Employees can plus and Minus hours collect on a working time account and pay off within a defined compensation period.
Typical fields of application: Office work, knowledge work, IT services, consulting, agencies.
Success factors: Clear regulations on maximum limits for plus and minus hours, transparent time recording and defined core times for team coordination.
Trust-based working time: focus on results instead of presence control
With Trust-based working time Employers and employees agree on a weekly or monthly volume of working time without the employer checking attendance. Employees document their working hours independently.
Compliance reality: Despite the name, since the BAG ruling of 2022, there has also been a trust-based working time Time recording obligation. The model therefore requires complete documentation of the start, end and duration of daily working hours.
Typical fields of application: executives, project management, strategic consulting, research and development.
Risks: Ohne systematic time recording There is a risk of dissolution of borders and health-damaging working hours. The DGB index 2025 shows that employees without complete time recording are more likely to work excessively long hours.
Annual working time: Seasonal flexibility
In the case of annual working time, the distribution of working time is not determined on a weekly or monthly basis, but for an entire year. The hours can be spread unevenly over the year to compensate for seasonal fluctuations or project peaks.
Typical fields of application: Agriculture, tourism, retail with seasonal peaks, project business.
Requirements: Long-term planning, clear agreements on settlement periods and transparent time account management.
Work on demand: capacity-based flexibility
KAPOVAZ (capacity-based variable working time) describes a model in which employees work their agreed working hours on demand. that Section 12 TzBfG regulates the framework conditions and protects employees from being called up too quickly.
Typical fields of application: Retail, catering, event industry, call centers.
requirements: At least four consecutive hours per call, notice period of four days (unless otherwise agreed), fair distribution of working hours.
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Working time account: The operating system for flexible models
that Working time account is not so much an independent working time model as the technical and organizational instrument that makes flexible models controllable in the first place. Plus and minus hours are posted to the time account, which must be settled within a defined compensation period.
Types of working time accounts
Short-term account: Compensation within a maximum of 12 months, typical of flexitime and moderate flexibility.
Long-term account (lifetime account): Saving working time or pay over several years for Sabbaticals, time off, or early retirement.
Traffic light account: Visualizes the account balance in three areas (green, yellow, red) and shows when action is needed to balance time.
Work models in Germany: Remote and hybrid as an additional dimension
Remote work and hybrid forms of work are work models, not working time models. They regulate the place where work is delivered and can be combined with almost any working time model.
Combination options
A IT service provider For example, can combine flexitime (working time model) with hybrid work (work model): Employees work from home for three days and in the office for two days, each with a flexitime frame of 6:00 to 20:00 and core time from 10:00 to 15:00.
challenge: The combination requires precise Documentation of all working hours, regardless of where you work. The planned electronic time recording from 2026 must be able to record all work locations.
Working time models in practice: Three scenarios
Scenario 1: agency/IT service
Initial situation: 45 employees, project business with variable workload, high demands on flexibility and work-life balance.
Model implemented:
- Flexitime with core time 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
- Flexitime frame 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
- Working time account with compensation period of 3 months
- Plus/minus limits: +30/-10 hours
- Hybrid work model: 40% home office share
Rulebook:
- Weekly team meeting mandatory during core time
- Project times are recorded parallel to working time
- Quarterly account review and time adjustment planning
Scenario 2: Production/Technical Service
Initial situation: 120 employees, continuous operation with a three-shift system, critical machine load.
Model implemented:
- Fully continuous shift model (24/7)
- Fixed shift schedules with rotating changes
- Supplement rules for working at night, on Sundays and on public holidays
- Springer pool for short-term outages
Rulebook:
- Shift change with 30-minute handover
- At least 11 hours of rest between shifts
- Annual shift plan coordination with works council
- Separate time accounts for additional hours
Scenario 3: Consulting/Professional Services
Initial situation: 60 consultants, project-based business, local customer projects, high travel activity.
Model implemented:
- Trusted working time with complete time recording
- An average of 40 hours/week over a 6-month period
- No fixed core time, but team availabilities defined
- Project and customer times recorded separately
Rulebook:
- Weekly time recording mandatory
- Automatic alerts for over 48 hours per week
- Monthly feedback call for account balances over +40/-20 hours
- Travel time is counted as working time according to clear criteria
Decision-making aid: Which working time model suits whom?
The choice of the appropriate working time model depends on several factors:
Evaluation criteria
Mix of several models
In practice, companies often combine several working time models in parallel:
- By locations: Shift production, flexitime administration
- By teams: Customer service with fixed times, development with trust-based working hours
- By roles: Managers in trust-based working hours, clerks working flexitime
This differentiation is legitimate as long as it is objectively justified and is communicated transparently.
Implementation and compliance: What companies need to plan for organizationally
Put regulations in writing
Working time models must be clearly documented:
- Employment contract: Basic agreement on working hours, model, working days
- Works agreement: Detailed regulations on flexitime, time accounts, compensation modalities
- Service agreements: Specific regulations for individual areas or teams
Participation: When introducing or changing working time models, the works council has the right of participation in accordance with Section 87 BetrVG.
Time recording as standard
The recording of daily working time with start, end and duration has been around since BAG ruling 2022 mandatory. The step agreed in the 2025 coalition agreement to electronic time recording further specifies this requirement.
What companies should do now:
- Inventory: Which working time models exist? Where else are times recorded manually?
- System selection: Which time recording systems do all models represent?
- Regulatory update: Are all working time models documented in accordance with the rules?
- Staff information: How are employees informed about new processes?
Time recording in various working time models
Flexitime: Automatic calculation of plus/minus hours through target/actual comparison, warnings when limits are exceeded.
Trusted working time: Complete documentation despite a results-oriented approach, monitoring of maximum working hours and rest periods.
Shift models: Precise recording of shift times, supplements and handovers, integration with shift plans.
Working time account: Transparent presentation of the current account balance, automatic calculation of settlement periods.
Representing working time models in practice: This is how ZEP supports
The parallel management of several working time models in a company places particular demands on time tracking software. Project-based companies such as IT service providers, consulting firms and agencies need a solution that not only records working hours, but at the same time project-related services documented.
Parallel recording of working time and project time
ZEP combined working time tracking with project time tracking in a system. Employees record their working hours and assign them to specific projects, customers and tasks in parallel. This dual function makes it possible to:
- Ensuring compliance: Complete documentation of all working hours for legal requirements
- to ensure project control: Transparency about actual project expenses and budgets
- To simplify billing: Direct reconciliation of recorded times into invoices
For example, a consultant records his eight working hours and allocates six hours to customer project A, 1.5 hours of internal tasks and 0.5 hours of continuing education. The working time account is managed correctly, while the project evaluation receives precise data at the same time.
Flexible presentation of different working time models
ZEP covers all current working time models and combines them with intelligent testing mechanisms:
Flexitime: Definition of target working hours, automatic calculation of plus and minus hours, visualization of account balances in real time. Employees can see at any time how many hours they currently have on their account.
Trusted working time: Despite a results-oriented way of working, complete time recording with automatic warnings when maximum working hours are exceeded or rest periods are not met.
Part-time and individual models: Flexible storage of individual target times per employee, regardless of the overall company.
Shift models: Illustration of various shift schedules, assignment of employees to shifts, recording of surcharges.
Automatic compliance check
ZEP continuously monitors compliance with legal requirements:
- Warnings when maximum daily working hours are exceeded
- Review of minimum rest periods between working days
- Control of break regulations
- Monitoring of plus and minus hours limits on working time accounts
These automatic checks relieve HR managers and create legal certainty without manual control costs.
Integration into financial and payroll systems
For professional services in particular, the seamless interfaces, relevant to DATEV and Lexware, among others. ZEP transfers recorded working hours, absences and supplements directly into payroll systems. This eliminates media breaks and reduces sources of payroll errors.
For project-based billing, ZEP exports the records Project times with one click in invoices, which automatically takes into account different hourly rates, billing categories and customer projects.
Transparency for employees and managers
Employees always have insight into:
- Current status of the working time account
- Vacation quota and approved absences
- Assigned project times and budgeted hours
Executives and project managers receive:
- Real-time overview of project utilization and budget levels
- Team capacity for resource planning
- evaluations on the distribution of working time and overtime
Legally secure preparation for 2026
In view of the electronic time recording requirement agreed in the 2025 coalition agreement, ZEP already offers all the necessary functions. The software is ISO 27001 certified, GDPR-compliant and meets the requirements for an objective, reliable and accessible time recording system.
Companies that already use ZEP do not have to make fundamental system changes when new legal regulations come into force, but can rely on continuous updates and adjustments by the software provider.
Conclusion: Working time models as a management tool, not as a benefit
The discrepancy between desire and reality mentioned above cannot be resolved by choosing the right working time model alone. The DGB index 2025 clearly shows: 43 percent employees work very often or often longer than eight hours a day, although the vast majority (72 percent) would like a maximum of eight hours per day.
The cause lies not in the models themselves, but in three structural factors:
- Amount of work: The planned work cannot be completed within the time available.
- Rigid structures: Operational processes leave little room for individual adjustments.
- Lack of control: Without systematic time recording, there is no data basis for targeted optimizations.
Working time models are not a feel-good measure, but control tools for professional personnel management. They only work if three requirements are met:
Clear regulations: Every working time model requires a precise set of rules with defined limits, compensation mechanisms and responsibilities. Vague wording leads to conflicts and legal uncertainty.
Complete transparency: Employees must be able to view their working time account balance, vacation entitlements and project utilization at any time. Managers need real-time overview of team capacities and overtime development.
Clean time recording: The complete documentation of all working hours is not only a legal obligation, but also the database for well-founded personnel decisions. Without reliable time data, working time models remain paper tigers.
Companies that consistently implement these three elements benefit measurably: greater predictability for projects, better compliance during audits, reduced overtime through early countermeasures and happier employees through fair, comprehensible organization of working time.
FAQs
Which working time models suit office, production and field service?
Flexitime with core working hours is ideal for office work, as employees can use their most productive phases, while core hours ensure team coordination. In production, shift models with fixed times are required to ensure machine utilization and handovers. For sales representatives, successful companies combine trust-based working hours with mobile time recording so that travel times can be recorded correctly and customer appointments can be held flexibly. The documentation requirement is decisive: All three areas require complete recording of working time, regardless of the chosen model.
Flexitime vs. trust-based work: Which is better for knowledge work?
Flexitime offers more structure through core times and clear time accounts, which makes coordination easier for team-oriented projects. Trust-based working hours provide maximum flexibility for results-oriented work, but requires greater self-organization and entails demarcation risks. Flexitime is usually more practical for knowledge workers with regular team contact, as it combines flexibility with predictability. Trust-based working hours work better with experienced employees with a high level of self-management and clearly defined project results. Both models now require complete time recording; the difference lies in attendance control and time account limits.
How does a working time account work and what rules do you need for it?
A working time account documents plus and minus hours that must be settled within a defined compensation period. Clear upper limits (typically: plus 40 hours, minus 20 hours), a defined compensation period (usually 3 to 12 months) and regulations for the turn of the year are essential. If the limits are exceeded, employers must order time compensation or pay out overtime. Employees need access to their account balance at any time, and the system must automatically warn when limits are reached. Without these rules, working time accounts become a liability risk in tax audits.
Part-time, bridging part-time, job sharing: What options are there and when is what worthwhile?
Classic part-time work is suitable for permanent reductions in hours, for example for parents or carers. Bridging part-time enables temporary reductions with automatic return to previous working hours, ideal for temporary life phases such as return to parental leave or continuing education phases. Job sharing means that two employees share a full-time position and coordinate their time independently, which enables high qualifications with reduced hours. Job sharing is particularly worthwhile for management positions or expert positions that cannot be shared. All variants require precise contract drafting regarding vacation entitlement, overtime arrangements and representation arrangements.
What are the working hours in shifts and how do you plan handovers fairly?
In the two-shift system, employees work early and late shifts; in the three-shift system, the night shift is added, and fully continuous models cover 24/7. Fair handover planning requires paid handover times of 15 to 30 minutes, during which both shifts are present. Rotating shift schedules avoid permanent discrimination against individual employees when working at night or on weekends. Forward rotation (early → late → night) and minimum staffing rules for each shift have proven effective. Supplement requirements for night, Sunday and public holidays must be automatically taken into account in the shift schedule, as must the legal 11-hour rest period between shifts.
How do companies combine remote/hybrid with working time models without chaos in billing?
The combination works through clear separation: The work model (remote/hybrid) regulates the location, the working time model (flexitime/full-time) regulates the time. Location-independent time recording that works equally well in the office, home office and on the go is crucial. It has been tried and tested: Definition of core times regardless of work location, automatic recording of all working hours via app or browser and separate recording of project times for correct billing. Chaos usually results from unclear regulations on availability, meeting duties and travel times. Successful companies explicitly document which appointments must take place during core times and how travel time is considered as working time.
