Germans & Their Efficiency At Work | Germany In A Nutshell

Efficient, punctual and rather aloof. These are THE clichés about German work culture. But what is the real state of the German work ethic? What aspects are important to young people in their working lives? And what cultural idiosyncrasies can expats adapt to? Hannah Hummel takes a closer look at German working life.

CHAPTERS
00:00 Intro
00:24 Work 101
02:17 Deep Dive: Is Gen Z work-shy?
04:08 Very Brief History: Guest workers
04:37 Ein bisschen Deutsch
05:30 Outro & Outtakes

#Germany #work #Germans
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CREDITS
Report: Hannah Hummel, Shaheen Welling
Camera & Edit: Neven Hillebrands
Supervising Editor: Mirja Viehweger

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[lenaspb]

I've been living and working in Germany for 10 years. German efficiency is a myth, and the lack of it is especially notorious in public and government sectors. Spice it up with German resistance to change and inflexibility.
Also, there is plenty of overtime (incl. unpaid) in private companies, and it's not limited to international companies like amazon, etc. I have friends who do regular overtime in a very well known German manufacturing company.

Upd: What I mean is that it's not all roses for working class here. It's better than in some parts of the world, but not ideal.

[patrickfitzgerald]

Just this week Germany passed new laws to try and attract skilled/educated workers from outside the country, and make it easier for them to find jobs and remain there. However, the language is still an issue. English will only get you so far. If you decide to stay you'll need to learn Deutsch.

[alsosprachzarathustra]

German worker: "I've been doing this for 20 years that way and if it doesn't work for you anymore it's your problem not mine."

[emperortomoto]

I have been working in Germany for the past 5 years, and I agree with most of the comments here. Germans are definitely not efficient but they pride themselves on being "precise". However, in my understanding, this often translates to following the rules rigidly and creating additional rules whenever a new problem arises

[tricatame]

No not at all. I worked as a foreigner in an all German Arbeitsplatz for 7 yrs and I was the most efficient one and thats why I got sponsored for a work visa in the first place. I was faster and more rational than the Germans, because Germans were super rigid about their procedures. I would find ways to skip from Shritt 1 to Shritt 5 and they were always stuck at the Order line like some kid with ocd. They hated and feared change and I had to always try so hard to convince them to try things in a different way. They were just not practical. They were simply robotic and linear thinking and yes even in a ""creative field""" they were more engineer brained than creative. They couldnt renovate, reinvent, recreate but did really well following orders.

[Doomsquad]

Where is Rachel? Is she safe?!? Is she alright!?!?!

[heinvogul]

When I was working in the UK, on Fridays, I would finish lunch with my colleagues around 1pm and then I would go to the local pub around 3pm and have a few pints of beer and then go straight home around 3-4pm, so I had a very flexible Friday afternoon, and my bosses didn't say anything about it. In contrast, in Korea, you can't leave the office until your boss leaves the office, so if it's 7pm on a Friday evening and your boss hasn't left the office, then of course you can't leave the office, which is really ridiculous.

[bellemx]

I have many skilled friends who work there, they face discrimination every single day and left Germany because of that and they learn German before go there.

[bravepretender]

From what I have seen in Germany there is hardly any balance between private life and work. Germans are so much keen on optimization that they cut employees whenever they can and put tons of workloads on them. No wonder rehabs are full with young people with burn out syndrome. The same with working mothers. Women are very often denied of any flexibility as their family life is „their own problem“ driving them into taking a sabbatical. Having worked in Finland for four years I can say that working employees are given much beneficial conditions, eg a working mother has a right to work 60% till her child reaches third grade at school. I am not saying about digitalization of working processes in Finland. Switching to English was also not a problem in Finland - I was the only employee who didn’t speak Finnish and the whole office of 30 people have switched to English in team-meetings and internal correspondence overnight. In Germany even educated people would not bother talking English to you in private conversation. Proclaimed inclusiveness and integration is also a myth. I have an acknowledged disability and struggle to find a job now for year. I have applied to work at three state institutions which by law have to employ a certain number of disabled. I was even denied a wardrobe job in a theatre, and I am not in a wheelchair. With private companies you are afraid to mention that you are handicapped. Immigrant, disabled, female - obviously enough reasons to fail in Germany.

[J_Lag]

I once worked with someone who was German. He told me many times that in Germany I would be liked and do very well, bcs of my work ethic. Probably the best complement I've ever gotten from a German 🤷

[d.j.j.g]

How beautifully organized! Every phrase and how you present each is done to a T. Even the way you look at the camera is done so well, every moment, every frame so well composed. What a fine, very brief introduction to deutsche Arbeiten! Thank you!

[Mr-Spork]

Working in Japan, Germany seems to have some similarities (adversity to change & paperwork), but it's definitely a much tougher grind in Japan ~ where unpaid overtime (service zangyo - サービス残業) is expected in many companies - especially in light of the communal culture pressure (i.e. everybody's doing it, so I have to do it too).

[datatypemusic]

I'm German and I left the country 11 years ago and never moved back, partially because of the work culture. I was underpaid and overworked. We never really go to the doctors because we want to get the job done even when ill.

[youtubekommentar]

One little error: The minimum amount of holiday is only 20 days per year, if you work 5 days a week (which is normal for a full-time job). If you like work only 3 days a week, of course the minimum holiday is 12 days. To avoid confusion already at the beginning, better says "4 weeks".

[ace]

Frankly I dread working with Germans. I have noticed an enormous attention to detail and efficiency, yes, but almost no thought seems to be given to overall timeline. Not every bureaucratic step is worth time and effort. Imagine rewriting an entire professional translation, not because there are objective errors, but because you like your wording better.

[DecadeofDecay]

5:24 : Internship in France is 4.05 euros/hour. You can end up with 500 euros the month to pay a 600 euros rent.
My last job didn't have work hours, but in reality because my position was like 2 jobs in 1, I mostly worked from 8am to 7pm... even to 8pm
I was born in the wrong country.

[guineapiig]

German efficiency is a total myth. Slow, ponderous, and utterly inflexible bureaucracy is more accurate.

[katharinajosephinemuller]

Technically overtime is more costly for employers, so most of it is done off the books. And people let it go through, because that's how it 'always was done'. That employers long ago stopped the (not by law orderd) benefits, which made this worthwhile doesn't get taken into account.

So statisticaly there isn't a lot of overtime. The workers don't see it as overtime, because it's only (around 30 - 45 min daily (I counted)) and the employer didn't lock it.

A lot of Hospital got rid of the electronic clock-in, because it became too much overtime.

[arshanabbas]

I work in two German companies as working student and both make Feierabend at 16. Working till 18 it's a big no no. Sometimes they start working at 6.00 - 7.00 in the morning, so they can make a Feierabend at 14-15

[Phoenix-jo]

This is only true if you are working in a cool modern Berliner start up with international colleagues. The typical german work culture is quite opposite and stressful. Why do you think people in Germany are suffering from Burnout?