Background information

Employers' groupings (AGZ) provide participating firms with an additional instrument for managing cyclical and seasonal variations in demand. It provides workers with employment security and guarantees the same wages as those of core staff in the member companies. A feasibility study to be conducted prior to implementation or during the start-up phase is recommended.

The scheme provides companies with skilled and continuously trained workers. In contrast to temporary work agencies, the AGZ does not aim at making a profit, hence companies only have to cover wage and administration costs, but no agency fees.

Content of measure

Several employers (private, public or NGOs) may form an employer group (AGZ). The new entity will then be able to:

• provide participating firms with qualified and reliable staff at a reasonable cost;
• jointly finance vocational training and further training;
• secure employment of workers at risk of dismissal because of poor economic prospects of a member company;
• improve the economic development of the participating firms and that of the region by helping to provide better flexibility, anticipation, strategy and innovation skills, expansion and diversification potential (AGZ Infozentrum, 2013; Osthoff et al, 2011).

Workers are recruited on the basis of an assessment of the needs of each member company, taking into account individual working hours. Member companies have to guarantee these hours and pay for these. In general, each worker has between two and four jobs per year, either on a seasonal or continuous basis. Contractual relations with the employer remain intact, and wages (which are guaranteed to be of the same level as those of core staff) continue to be paid.

In addition to the provision of workers, the AGZ might also aim at sharing other services between member companies such as the financing and organising of further training measures, of vocational training or the administration of core staff.

An model partially similar to AGZs is the collectively agreed employee leasing as a result of a regional, sectoral collective agreement concluded by a union and several regional employers of a sector (labour pools).

Use of measure

As of March 2019, there is only one AGZ in Germany, with 4 participating firms and 3 shared workers (latest available data). While there were six AGZ with 142 participating firms and 69 shared workers in May 2018, all but the AGZ Harz-Weser have ceased operations (AGZ information 2019). The change is due to the implementation of the EU Directive on Temporary Agency Work into national law as of 2011 (Arbeitnehmerüberlassungsgesetz 2020), which is applicable also to AGZ and has substatially changed the environment for AGZ. The law specifies that a temporary work agency may not assign the same temporary agency worker to the same user undertaking for more than 18 consecutive months. The law is now also applicable to non-profit organisations (Weber 2011).

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Employees in standard employment	Applies to all businesses	Does not apply to citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government Trade unions Company / Companies Local / regional government	Companies Employer

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	Agreed (outcome) incl. social partner initiative	Agreed (outcome) incl. social partner initiative
Form	Unknown	Unknown

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• Social partners jointly
• Main level of involvement: Regional or local level

Involvement

Normally an AGZ is a private initiative of private companies and there is no social partner involvement. In some special cases, regional employers of the same branch use an analogical model but based on a collective agreement. In this case, the employee leasing is a result of regional, sectoral collective agreements concluded between sectoral union and employer organisations.

Views and reactions

Unknown

Sources

• 01 April 2010: Bundesverband der Arbeitgeberzusammenschlüsse Deutschland, e.V (BV-AGZ) (2010), Arbeitgeberzusammenschlüsse von A-Z, Kurzinformation über Arbeitgeberzusammenschlüsse, Berlin. (arbeitgeberzusammenschluesse.de)
• 01 December 2011: Weber, W. (2011), Arbeitnehmerüberlassung nach der Reform des AÜG, Bayerischer Kommunaler Prüfungsverband, Geschäftsbericht 2011. (www.bkpv.de)
• 01 March 2019: Employer groups information [AGZ information] (arbeitgeberzusammenschluesse.de)
• 13 March 2022: 2020_Arbeitnehmerüberlassungsgesetz (www.gesetze-im-internet.de)