Work-life balance in Germany - don't believe everything you hear!

Hi, my name is Jörg, which is German for George, here at Find a Job in Germany Berlin. One frequently mentioned reason we hear from people interested in working and settling in Germany is that there is supposedly a good work-life balance. Now, what does that really mean? Where does this issue come from? How is it being discussed here in Germany at the moment? And does this really, really apply to all jobs in all companies? Let's dive right in. The relationship between how much time we spend with or at work and how much free time we have. These things are really subject to constant debates here in Germany at the moment. A lot of features on social media, on the radio, on TV, of course. And especially since people, I would say mostly under the age of 35, have been actively pushing this. Let me tell you, there are a lot of trend studies here in Germany that have also been looking at the hopes and the wishes of young people who are a new entry in the job market and also those who have already gained their number of years of experience. And before I go deeper here, let me share something up front which is really important. If you are only and exclusively interested in the salary aspect of coming to Germany, then yeah, that is totally legitimate. It's your choice. But you're definitely not up to speed. Again, I know salary is important, but here in Germany discussions have evolved beyond salary. Salary is only one component out of many. Yes, you want a good life for yourself, for your family. I get it. It goes without saying. But you also need to know that here the debates are not focused on that as much any longer. They are focused more towards work-life balance. There is this shift and salary is a part of that. It's not the overarching measure anymore. And I'm going to get why I'm stressing this aspect so much here already in a couple of minutes. Coming back to work-life balance and what it means for our work lives really. What's interesting is that it's not only younger people that want to work less. Studies have also found out that older people would also like to work less. They're just not saying it as loudly. Young people demand needs like that much more strongly in that regard. And they can demand them stronger because when in doubt, they would just look for a new job. Older people, let me say it like that, are more stuck also in their routines, in their obligations, also in the social structures at work. That's why they wouldn't just change jobs that easily again. But in general, there's really little difference and no generational gap or anything here if you thought about that. And with that change of attitude throughout all generations really, comes a change in the German labor market in general. And I would say this really applies to many other European countries as well at the moment. What does that relation between work and life really mean though? It's not that easy to separate free time from working time from another. In many professions, working time is probably over when the computer is shut down and your phone is turned off. If they are closed and turned off at all, they're actually constantly present in our daily lives, right? So where are the boundaries? Are they maybe perhaps impossible to draw on? Is this a consequence of our digital lives? So you can find tons and tons of content about this already being discussed, made it up to the highest level in politics, the labor minister, everybody's talking about it, paper, TV, radio, I mentioned it. What we know though, and what I can say with certainty, is that the vast majority of companies here in Germany won't ask you to work on weekends and won't necessarily ask you to stay longer than, I'd say, an additional 10% of your prescribed working time. That's considered a no-go unless you're working, I would say, for a large law firm or for one of the big consulting firms. That's where that change has not yet really been implemented yet as much, but that's also because the people who are working for these organizations are maybe also more career-driven, so it may not be expressed as that as much in these industries, in these types of organizations. Anyway, let me take you back in history quickly, also to understand where Germany really is coming from. Again, you can draw some parallels to other European countries, of course. Naturally, discussions about work and working conditions began in the late 1800s with industrialization in Germany, when people started working in factories and then employers and companies were basically allowed to do whatever they wanted to because there was simply no legislation to protect anyone who would come to work. People would work 12 to 14 hours per day and only get one day off during the week. People would really live on-site right next to the factory and that would include parents and their children, so living conditions and life expectancy in general were really, really low. Only slowly but surely were there labor laws protecting employees and the main protagonists of this movement are the unions. Until today, in Germany, you'll have strong unions that will negotiate on behalf of their members and may even affect you even though you're not a member because it covers your contract. For tech and IT, that's not the case, but it's the case in the metal industry, for example. Anyway, in the 1900s, Germany introduced the 10-hour workday and this would entail a six-day work week. They also introduced a national pension fund but could really only get retired at the age of 70 and hardly anyone became that old back in the days. Of course, life expectancy here is much higher now so everybody can enjoy their pension. And in the 1920s then came the eight-hour day plus health care plus accident insurance. In the 1950s, Saturdays became a day off for most people and in the 1960s, the 40-hour work week became the rule. So you can see how over the decades, over the centuries, there has been this transition and this shift. Until today, you know, work time has become more flexible and today we're debating about the four-day week. Okay, and it means that for more and more people, a four-day work week would be a reason to switch their jobs. Again, younger and more senior and older people have both shown their affirmation of this and on top of that, focus is no longer on efficiency like it was in the 20th century. So repetitive functional work because it would alienate people from work is being replaced and by purpose, by meaning. Remember what I said earlier, today this has largely changed. Purpose plays a key role. People here are looking for jobs with some kind of meaning, where the company is not destroying the world, where they're able to leave their mark either on people or in-house contribute to something that they find worth supporting. This will become important in your first round even when you're invited for an interview with HR because they may also ask you about your motivation to join their company and you better have something ready to say about these kinds of things that you can also derive as information from their website. So keep this in mind. Let me take you back to what this means for your life in Germany. When you get here, you will get to meet a lot of people your age that will say hey, my work-life balance doesn't happen sometime between now and retirement. It has to take place now. But does this mean that each and every company has already reacted to this trend? No, of course it has not. Does every company embrace this idea of providing people with a proper work-life balance? No, certainly not. But there is a transition towards that, a clear trend. And you can definitely still find a lot of companies adjusting to this, especially more traditionally run businesses, maybe not in Berlin as much, maybe more in rural Germany, in southern Germany where there's also a lot of family businesses, yes, with a lot of money, but also with a, let's say, more traditional point of view of how things are run. But here's the good news. It's for you to check out and it's okay for you to check out whether or not that's the case in your company. Ask your future colleagues in the interview rounds and if you find that your first job doesn't provide the work-life balance you've been looking for, then just look for a new one. Just don't switch too often and too soon or else your CB will be burned. That's what we call people in the tech recruiter scene who have had, let's say, 10 jobs over the last 10 years, so you get the picture. But in general, it's perfectly legit for you to ask these questions, not just in the first round, well, maybe not right away, but definitely when you're talking to the hiring manager, definitely when you're talking to team colleagues in the culture fit round, for example, you can ask them, hey, how would you describe the corporate culture? And then you could go deeper and you ask, okay, and what about work-life balance? Do you consider that to be good? Anything there? You want to maybe touch that subtly and then see whether or not they're opening up about it. And if they're affirmative of that and they were saying, yeah, we really have a good work-life balance, then that gives you a feeling of security that this company does have this transitional change already on their radar. That's what you want. So it's okay to ask. As I mentioned before, it's no longer just about salary. So let me get back to that, at least not to the majority of people. And if I were you, I would check my offer, not just for the salary, but for the number of vacation days. Ideally, you get 30 on top of which you get another six or seven public holidays, depending of where you end up living and depending on the company, of course, and that everything takes place from Monday to Friday. You want to check for perks and benefits and also contribute to things other than just work. Many companies offer, of course, gym pass, pizza Fridays, get togethers with the team a few days throughout the year for you to contribute to a local charity. Anything is possible really here. And I want you to understand that that's the part of corporate culture that is now becoming stronger and stronger. And I just don't want you to appear like an alien when you're claiming your salary, but you are leaving everything else aside because then they will be thinking that you are not up to speed on the latest developments here. Of course, you are not living here yet and in a certain way, they will forgive you for it, but it's always better to be prepared to know what's happening really on the ground, which debates there are. And that is what this video was about. It's really supposed to give you a bit of background to all the foreground, you know, that we usually share with you on CVs, interviews, tech rounds and whatnot. In any case, I really hope that this was useful to you. Use it for your interviews. Feel free to subscribe, of course, also to our channel and keep following us. Best wishes from Berlin and see you soon.