SchichtSim
A planning tool for German Mittelstand operations managers that simulates the real cost of 35 vs 38 vs 40 hour weeks under IG Metall tariffs, including coverage gaps, overtime exposure, and the hiring math no spreadsheet captures.
Operations and HR managers at German manufacturing SMBs with 20-500 employees
- Tariff-aware shift planner that respects 35h, 38h, and 40h West/Ost variants
- What-if simulator showing coverage, headcount, and payroll deltas when hours change
- Compliance checker flagging potential IG Metall conflicts before they hit the works council
- Employee preference matching that ranks schedule options by retention risk
VW plant closures, IG Metall mobilizing, and 2,000+ DE searches on the 40-hour debate — Mittelstand owners are being forced to decide before the next tariff round
Real but niche: IG Metall is actively expanding 35h-week in East Germany and the 2024/26 tariff round just settled at +5.1%, while VW plant closures are pressuring the entire Mittelstand — confirmed but the specific '35/38/40 hour cost simulator' search demand is not directly verified.35-Stunden-Woche im Osten kommt weiter voran - IG Metall ↗Stellenabbau und Werksschließungen: Wie steht's um VW? - NDR.de ↗IG Metall Rechner - Gehaltsrechner & Tariftabellen ↗
The German shift-planning market is crowded (aplano, TimeTrack, ShiftJuggler, Mein-Schichtplan), but none publicly positions itself as an hour-reduction cost/capacity simulator tied to IG Metall West/Ost ERA tables — closest live offering is metalltarife.de's salary-only calculator, leaving the workforce-cost+coverage-gap niche genuinely underserved.Schichtplan Software: Die besten Tools im Vergleich ↗Die 7 besten Schichtplan Softwares im Vergleich ↗Mein Schichtplan - Der einfachste & kostenlose Schichtplan im Web ↗
Mixed: established Mittelstand SaaS like TimeTrack and aplano charge per-seat successfully, but free shift planners and DIY-Excel templates from IG-Metall-favored works councils set a low price anchor; the addressable 20–500 employee Mittelstand is wide but each deal is a slow B2B sale likely in the €2–8k ARR range.Schichtplan Software - Schichten digital planen | TimeTrack ↗Die 7 besten Schichtplan Softwares im Vergleich ↗
Strong: IG Metall metal/electrical tariff rounds run on a multi-year cycle (current deal to 2026) and the 35h-week West→Ost convergence is a multi-decade structural project — combined with permanent transformation pressure at VW/tier-1s, this question will keep recurring for years.Tarifrunde 2024 - Arbeitgeberverband Gesamtmetall ↗35-Stunden-Woche im Osten kommt weiter voran - IG Metall ↗
Average: core data (IG Metall ERA tables, West/Ost Stufenzuordnung, Zuschläge) is public and the model is essentially a parameterized spreadsheet, but handling coverage-gap simulation, overtime exposure forecasting and hiring-math requires domain logic that HR ops managers will scrutinize hard.IG Metall Tarifrunden - aktuelle Abschlüsse & Erhöhungen ↗Tarifrunde 2024 - Arbeitgeberverband Gesamtmetall ↗