What the new coalition agreement means for our industry

The new Coalition Agreement 2025 brings some important changes to labor law that will also affect the temporary staffing industry. It is crucial for us to understand and actively support these developments.

The focus is on making working hours more flexible. In future, the maximum weekly working time of 48 hours will apply instead of the current daily limit of eight or ten hours. This gives companies and employees more leeway to adapt working hours to operational processes and personal needs. For temporary employment agencies in particular, this opens up opportunities to react more flexibly to customer requests and order peaks. At the same time, health protection is maintained: Rest periods and break regulations continue to apply.

Tax incentives for overtime will also be introduced. Supplements for overtime worked by full-time employees are to be made tax-free in order to increase the willingness to work overtime. This will help to counteract the shortage of skilled workers. However, part-time employees are not covered by this regulation, which is being discussed critically in the industry. It remains to be seen whether the regulation will stand or whether it will be improved.

Particularly relevant: Politicians want to strengthen collective bargaining. In future, public contracts are only to be awarded to companies that apply collective agreements or are based on them. This underlines the importance of collective bargaining structures in our industry and ensures greater fairness in competition.

To secure skilled workers, the coalition agreement plans a “work-and-stay agency” for the targeted recruitment of foreign skilled workers. This could help temporary employment agencies to reduce the shortage of workers – provided that the framework conditions are designed in a practical way.

Of course, the changes also bring challenges. Compliance with new regulations initially means more work. The tax regulations on overtime also raise questions about equal treatment. At the same time, however, the reforms offer the opportunity to further strengthen temporary work as a flexible and modern instrument on the labor market.

We believe we are well positioned to implement the new requirements. We are focusing on digitalization, collective bargaining standards and partnership-based cooperation with our customers and employees. The coming years will show how the industry makes use of the opportunities – we are ready to actively help shape this change.