Germany eyes a four-day week to help prevent mass layoffs

Re:Germany eyes a four-day week to help prevent mass layoffs by nhkcode on Sunday August 30, 2020 @02:29AM (#24321769)

In many jobs you can easily work 4 or less days a week in germany because there is a law that gives you the right to part time work. Obviously your wage is reduced accordingly.

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Re:Germany eyes a four-day week to help prevent mass layoffs by yokaze on Sunday August 30, 2020 @02:40AM (#24321797)

Define easily. I bet, that while the law is there, the practice is quite different. There is still social pressure.

I bet, you won't see much part-time work in many fields and professions.

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Re:Germany eyes a four-day week to help prevent mass layoffs by papaf on Sunday August 30, 2020 @03:23AM (#24321927)

Define easily.

My colleague had a baby. He would like to spend more time with the baby. He asked to reduce his hours. The boss said yes because its the law and we no longer live in the middle ages.

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Re:Germany eyes a four-day week to help prevent mass layoffs by harpratap on Sunday August 30, 2020 @04:16AM (#24322101)

How does promotion work in that case? From what I've seen going part-time is essentially hitting a pause on your career goals, it's not sustainable for medium-long term.

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Re:Germany eyes a four-day week to help prevent mass layoffs by nhkcode on Sunday August 30, 2020 @05:40AM (#24322377)

It probably is a dead end promotion wise. But my impression is that there isn't much of a chance for promotions in most jobs here anyway. If you are trained in some craft in the vocational education system you get a job and do that job basically forever. Most common way to get higher up in that situation seems to be getting more formal education, either by becoming Master craftsmen (Meister) or by getting a college degree. Germany is very finicky about formal degrees. If you already have a college degree things might be different. Still it seems to me that in those cases your best chances to climb the ladder is to switch jobs from time to time. So if you realize there are no promotion for you in stock, or that you have to switch jobs anyway to progress your career, working part time is very much sustainable in the long run. Also if you are lacking the formal education to achieve your career goals you could start working part to have more time to get your degree while working.

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Re:Germany eyes a four-day week to help prevent mass layoffs by akvadrako on Sunday August 30, 2020 @04:35AM (#24322169)

The Netherlands had a similar law and I’ve done it - done to 3 days a week. It was easy but I had to give it up to get a promotion.

Lots of people I know do 4 days a week - there isn’t much social pressure to work 5.

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Re:Germany eyes a four-day week to help prevent mass layoffs by yokaze on Sunday August 30, 2020 @05:07AM (#24322291)

> It was easy but I had to give it up to get a promotion.

Which kind of implies a social pressure.

Would you claim that it is the same outside of line of work?

From what I understand, people who enjoy a large degree of freedom already, they can get those things relatively easy. Parental leave, working from home, part-time, all part of the privilege that comes with the job.

But that is a limited subset of society.

Middle-management or upper-management in IT? Outside of IT?

At least from what I hear from Germany, not working _overtime_ for middle- or upper-management, as a medical doctor at a university hospital, many research positions is considered "lack of commitment". Almost irregardless of what you deliver. Probably you won't get fired, but you have to be exceptionally good so it doesn't reflect badly on you.

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