Today is Friday, all 400 employees at Weleda’s headquarters in Arlesheim BL are on vacation. Also 1000 colleagues at the Schwäbisch Gmünd plant near Stuttgart (D) in Germany. But almost no one is happy with the beach holidays in November. No one is planning a short trip to the mountains either. Because holidays are nothing more than volunteers.
The natural cosmetics company stops its operations for 12 days. Nothing happens in Weleda every Friday in November and December and during Christmas and New Years. Employees continue to receive their regular wages. But they all have to sacrifice vacation days or work overtime.
Problem: Weleda feels crisis. The company sells fewer products as consumers pay more attention to price when shopping. And switch to cheaper products. With mandatory holidays, Weleda saves on wage costs. And energy costs when operations stop. And they’re really giving right now.
“Long weekend guaranteed”
But how is exercise received by staff? Will there be layoffs due to the holidays applied at the end of the year? There were many questions regarding the reasons and concrete implementation. “As a company, we have of course carefully clarified this measure and are confident we have struck a good balance between the interests of the company and the employees,” said a spokesperson for Blick.
All legal requirements have been met. “We decided on Fridays separately as it provides a long weekend every time and operations are interrupted as little as possible,” he says. And: “In our view, this should help ensure a mutually acceptable practice.” There were no layoffs or departures in this context.
several days at a time
But is the procedure legal? The weekly newspaper St. “If the employer feels bad, he can arrange company holidays,” says Thomas Geiser (70), an employment lawyer at the University of St. Gallen. Company holidays must be announced three months in advance. And it serves the purpose of recreation. This will require several days at a time.
His view on the Weleda case in Arlesheim is therefore clear: “It is not permissible to order employees to take a day off every Friday to shut down operations for four days.” Weleda therefore relies on the goodwill of its employees. And it wouldn’t stand a chance if a lawsuit were filed against mandatory holidays.