For newcomers and migrants, work culture in Germany is sometimes not so easy to navigate. What is important to know? What really counts? Euromaxx reporter Hannah Hummel answers these questions.
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00:00 Anna, it's 6pm, time to stop working.
00:02 I just have to finish a few things off.
00:04 No, no, you can do it tomorrow. Let's go home.
00:06 Did you ever stop to think that maybe the reason why Germans are so famous
00:11 for their work ethic and efficiency
00:13 is because they actually respect their working hours
00:16 and therefore their free time?
00:18 In my opinion, German working culture is actually pretty great.
00:22 Let me explain why.
00:23 Good salaries and flexible working hours are super important to Germans.
00:28 Salaries in Germany are typically higher than they are in the UK
00:31 or other European countries,
00:33 especially when it comes to public sector jobs like teaching.
00:37 Although this does of course depend on the sector that you're working in.
00:40 But talking about salary is still a difficult issue here.
00:44 Although there are hopes that this will change with a pay transparency law.
00:47 German bureaucracy is notorious
00:50 and the amount of paper used is astronomical.
00:53 The Germans print everything.
00:55 It's no wonder digitalisation is just limping along here.
00:58 The average German works for almost 40 years,
01:02 which is considerably higher than the European average.
01:06 The typical working day is 9 to 6 or 8 to 5.
01:09 The minimum amount of holiday is 20 days a year,
01:13 but most people get even more than 30.
01:15 You're fully expected to take all those days,
01:18 so you don't need to feel guilty or stressed about taking holiday.
01:21 The same goes for sick days.
01:25 You don't need to feel guilty about taking a day off work due to sickness
01:28 and nobody's going to ask you any questions.
01:30 You can normally have three days off before you need a doctor's note
01:33 and sick days are usually paid.
01:35 One thing office workers argue about most often
01:38 is whether to open or close the window.
01:41 Germans love fresh air at work.
01:43 OK, we need to talk about the gender pay gap.
01:47 Women earn on average per hour almost a fifth less than men.
01:51 Compared to the rest of Europe,
01:52 Germany has one of the highest gender pay gaps.
01:55 This is for multiple reasons.
01:57 Women are often more likely to work in part-time jobs,
02:00 work in lower paid jobs or negotiate less money.
02:03 Germany is actually one of the countries in Europe
02:06 where people work the least,
02:08 probably because they actually stick to their working hours.
02:11 But the desire for a better balance between gainful employment on the one hand
02:15 and private life on the other is definitely growing
02:18 and surveys show that more and more people
02:20 are feeling overwhelmed with their workload.
02:22 The Berlin Social Science Center is researching the issue.
02:26 And what is the younger generation's attitude toward work?
02:29 Is Gen Z really that work-shy?
02:31 Work researcher Lena Hipp can tell us.
02:34 I wouldn't say they are lazy.
02:37 I think they have somewhat different priorities.
02:40 They don't put paid work, employment above all else in the world.
02:47 And I think this can also have really beneficial elements.
02:50 If you think about democracy, people need to engage.
02:54 You also have to have time for raising kids,
02:58 for taking care of elderly people.
02:59 So I think there's also positive aspects of this.
03:02 And just because you don't want to work 40 hours plus
03:06 does not mean that you are a lazy person.
03:08 How has work culture in Germany actually developed over the last few years?
03:12 Twice as many people work from home nowadays
03:15 as they did in the time before the pandemic.
03:17 And of course this changes how people interact at the workplace,
03:21 how they organize meetings.
03:23 Overall, the labor market is doing pretty well.
03:26 It's easy for employees to find a new job.
03:29 Employers are looking for new personnel.
03:33 They are really having sometimes a hard time finding adequate employees.
03:39 And organizations try to fill this by attracting women,
03:44 in particular mothers, to join the labor force.
03:47 They also seek to attract workers from other countries
03:49 to fill these open positions.
03:51 All right, now you're all clued up on German working culture,
03:55 here's some vocab you need to know.
03:56 "Feierabend."
04:00 This directly translates to "celebratory evening,"
04:03 but it actually just means the end of the working day.
04:05 "Gehaltsfonds."
04:09 This is your salary request,
04:10 which is typically mandatory on job applications.
04:14 "Gleitseit."
04:15 "Flexi-time."
04:16 This means you have a fixed number of hours,
04:18 but you can choose more or less when you want to take them.
04:21 That's all we've got time for.
04:27 It's 6pm, which means it's Feierabend,
04:29 which often comes hand in hand with a Feierabend-Bier.
04:33 Personally, it took me some time to assimilate into the working culture here,
04:37 but now I really appreciate the work-life balance.
04:39 I appreciate the work-life balance.