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Time off and a healthy lifestyle are driving some young Americans to Europe: 'You are a person first and a worker 2nd'
(www.businessinsider.com)
this post was submitted on 07 Jul 2023
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It's a thing I like about Germans. They tend to be more strict about working hours than other EU countries, let alone somewhere like America.
I worked in the Netherlands for a while, and we'd get loads of German visitors. When we were nearing closing time, we'd often have German visitors going "It's his 'Feierabend'(end of day). He can't help you anymore". Especially when they had a problem that would last till after closing time to solve. And then when you told them "no, no. It's fine." they were genuinely grateful. They didn't expect you to work, when you were no longer being paid to.
You shift starts. You work. Your shift ends. You are no longer working.
The unsurprising result: experts often say German workers outperform American workers. Turns out strictly enforcing working hours, allowing workers to recuperate when they're not on shift, means they end up working harder when they are on shift.
I worked for the US division of a German company and found that the culture even for the US workers was very respectful of time off and appropriate working hours. I hated the job because I was customer facing and our customers were typically large US companies, but the German company was a great company to work for.