Abstract
Within just a few years, politicians in Germany have made several course corrections in the orientation of basic security for job seekers, with direct consequences for the job centres, which must implement these reforms. Job centre employees were surveyed in two waves of the survey. The result: Employees share key criticisms of the public debate on the citizens’ allowance reform. This applies to both work incentives and the sanction provisions in the Social Code (SGB II). For example, 84% of respondents believe benefit cuts are necessary to ensure the cooperation of benefit recipients. In this respect, the reform planned by the governing coalition appears to be a step in the right direction from the perspective of many job centre employees. However, compared to the public debate, job centre employees have a more nuanced view of the diverse challenges that benefit recipients face on their way back into the job market. Mental illness is cited as the biggest problem.