I have worked at the company for more than 4 years without one
What are the next steps to take to get one?
Despite several requests to my employer to provide a zwischen arbeitszeugnis they continue to delay and delay.
Go to court, or put pressure on your employer and tell him politely that if you do not get one you'll go to court.
If nothing has changed in your job like a functional or position change and you just want to know how you perform than this can also be done during an employee assessment.
Write your own and ask them to sign it? Worth a try.
Tricky situation. If you want to keep working there you probably want top avoid threatening with the courts.
Perhaps something like the following might work (do everything in writing):
Send a request for a Zwischenzeugnis, mentioning the fact that you're already requested one multiple times. Remind them of their legal duty (code of obligtions ยง330) and give a date by which you expect a Zwischenzeugnis (say, by June 30). Also request confirmation of receipt within 5 days.
Failing confirmation, remind them again after a few additional days (this time by registered mail) and request confirmation again. Meanwhile contact the Arbeitsamt/Arbeitsgericht and request an official letter stating in no uncertain terms the employer's duty, preferably mentioning that after four years there can be no doubt about the duty (or something to that end), and supplement the 2nd letter with that. Take similar steps if you get confirmation but no Zwischenzeugnis in two months.
That would allow you to not drag them to court but still make good use of the 800-pound gorilla's power.
Even at the end of all of this, it would not guarantee a glowing reference.
I would probably go for writing my own and hope that your manager is just being lazy - then he just has to sign it.
My wife hassled her boss for 2 months and eventually ended up with a non descript zeugnis. She had to complain to HR to vamp it up to reflect the 18 years she had worked in the company.
As mentioned before - a big question is - why do you need this? Are you thinking of leaving?
This may not be in the best short term interests of your manager. Hence the reticence.
It is your legal right to get one.
It is always good to get one while everybody is still happy. Should things go sour after a few years, the credential over the entire time turns out accordingly.
It is normal to get one after several years. Even if you don't plan to leave.
Write your own (be careful, what/how you write ). Hand it in telling them you a) asked for one since xx.xx.18 and b) you want it until xx.xx.18. The telling you obviously do in writing.
They might sign it as it is, they might adapt it (still done quicker than writing it themselves). If they do the latter, check it well when you get it back.
You can do all this friendly but firm. You're not asking for anything unusual/presumptuous.
Best practice on Zwischenzeugnis:
Get one every year or every second year (as a kind of habit) - they'll have hardly any work (updating the date) and if it's a yearly-thing, no matter what, no questions will be arised.
Alternatively, ask for one for every change of boss, or slight adjustments of your work area.
Good companies know that you might just want to document everything, and that good workers tend to change jobs once in a (long) while, and that it won't bode well if they try to fight that (it's entirely possible you might stay with them for years, and just want to have everything documented, but eventually lose motivation if they play stupid from the start..)
Find a new job and then get a Zeugnis.
I agree with Yuropflyer and 3wishes. Any time I got a new boss, new responsibilities I have asked for a Zwischenzeugnis. And wrote them myself most of the time.
If only to track what you have done and how, you never know what the next boss/task can be and if that works out.
A couple of times, when applying for a new job, they asked for that