Chainsaw maker STIHL chief calls for longer hours without extra pay

In an opinion piece for Euronews, Dr Nikolas Stihl, chairman of world-leading chainsaw maker STIHL, calls for reforms including a 40-hour working week without extra pay to safeguard Germany's prosperity and welfare state. The family entrepreneur from Waiblingen in southern Germany does not mince his words: "The German economy has been stuck in crisis mode for years. The prerequisite for overcoming the persistent weakness in growth is better framework conditions," Stihl said. STIHL: €5.48bn in revenue and more than 20,000 employees In 2025, STIHL generated €5.48 billion in revenue and employed 20,246 people worldwide. Founded by Andreas Stihl in 1926, the company is celebrating its 100th anniversary. Nikolas Stihl is the founder's grandson. Family businessman Stihl takes a long-term view, and for him one thing is clear: "The situation of the German economy is serious, very serious. In the past eight years we have lost around 15 percent of our industrial output. Month after month Germany is losing around 15,000 industrial jobs." The industrial base, he warns, is at risk of eroding – and with it prosperity and the welfare state. According to the company, STIHL has been the world's best-selling chainsaw brand since 1971. Nikolas Stihl acknowledges that "the US tariffs, China's aggressive industrial policy and geopolitical tensions" are also weighing on companies like his. But he argues that it is mainly home-grown problems holding firms back: "an overregulated economy, high energy costs, high labour costs, high taxes and a declining level of education and qualifications." The Government's planned reforms fall short The federal government’s planned reforms – covering statutory health insurance, pensions, taxes and the labour market – are good compromises, but they do not go far enough to pull Germany out of its structural crisis. If these compromises were now to be "unpicked", it would have devastating consequences for business confidence in politics, the entrepreneur warns. Stihl says: "Now we need to muster all our strength for further reforms that will then generate tangible investment and growth impulses. For that, the governing coalition and the social partners must overcome their own reservations in order to live up to their responsibility towards Germany." The next steps, he argues, should include cutting red tape, increasing the overall volume of work in the economy, reducing labour costs and creating additional incentives for research and development. Germans need to work more to preserve prosperity Stihl is calling for "high-quality public administration" with clear rules, streamlined and swift procedures, reasonable reporting requirements, and processes that are digital and supported by AI. "Accordingly, statutory reporting requirements should generally be abolished and retained only where their necessity is explicitly justified. If public authorities act much more as service providers for citizens and companies, that increases trust in Germany as a business location and in politics." For Stihl, the key issue is increasing the volume of work – in other words, Germans need to work more again: "If we want to maintain our prosperity and keep social benefits at a high level, the total volume of work in the economy has to increase. A higher volume of work boosts economic output. In that sense, the debate about more work is a debate about preserving our prosperity, and by no means a debate about employees being lazy." 40-hour week without pay rises Germany must use every available option to increase the volume of work: by incentivising overtime, extending working lives with fair exceptions for physically demanding jobs, making better use of the existing labour pool – including unemployed and part-time workers – and attracting skilled workers from abroad. Stihl also calls for sick pay to be paid only from the second day of sickness and for phone-in sick notes to be abolished. Productivity gains from digitalisation and the growing use of AI will not offset the negative effects of demographic change. From October 2026, collective bargaining talks in the metalworking and electrical industries are due to begin between trade unions and employers. Stihl warns: "We no longer have the productivity advantage over key competitors that used to justify our high labour costs. That is why I advocate increasing weekly working hours to 40, without any pay compensation. Promoting AI, robotics, biotech, space and quantum technology He acknowledges that he is asking a great deal of employees, but says he does not want to take anything away from anyone. The aim, he insists, is to remain competitive, keep production in Germany and safeguard jobs. STIHL has production companies in eight countries, as well as 40 of its own sales and marketing subsidiaries and more than 50,000 specialist dealers worldwide. When it comes to non-wage labour costs – including contributions to pension, health, long-term care and unemployment insurance – he says a ceiling of 40% of gross wages is the maximum that can be accepted. Stihl is also calling for more attractive conditions for innovative companies, including regulatory breathing space, greater tax incentives and wider access to venture capital. "Overall, innovation and the granting of approvals must be given an even higher priority than at present and must not be held back by bureaucracy." Future-focused fields such as the industrial use of artificial intelligence, robotics, biotechnology, medical technology, space travel and quantum technologies should receive more targeted support. 'Germany has proved many times that it can reinvent itself' The conclusion reached by the head of the world's leading chainsaw brand and a global technology company is clear: "We must not waste any more time, because only a high-performance and competitive business location can secure prosperity and a strong welfare state. Germany has proved many times that it can reinvent itself." For the public to embrace the challenges ahead, "a ruthless stocktake of the current situation" is needed, followed by an overall plan setting out the changes people can expect. "The time has come to act with determination," says Nikolas Stihl.