Security instead of risk: According to a survey by the management consultancy Ernst & Young, the public sector is the most attractive sector for German students. The main reason for this is the hope of finding a secure job.
Job security with a good work-life balance
Classic factors of employee motivation continue to play an important role. A new study shows that every second employee attaches great importance to a secure job. However, only around a third of those surveyed are willing to make sacrifices for this.
Job security is an important motivating factor for every second employee: 52 percent of women and 58 percent of men attach great importance to it, according to the results of the study “The future of work: A journey to 2022”. For the study, the consulting company PWC asked around 2,000 employees in Germany about their ideas about the future of work, 46 percent of whom were male and 54 percent female.
According to the study, however, only around a third of those surveyed are willing to sacrifice their work-life balance for a secure job: 36 percent of the male and only 32 percent of the female respondents say they would be permanent for the prospect of a secure job available to your employer.
Not climate protection
How important is sustainability in the workplace to people? The Bertelsmann Foundation had this examined and found out something amazing: The younger employees are, the more important they are about classic values such as job security, salary and collegiality. Environmental and climate protection, on the other hand, play a rather subordinate role.
Young workers in Germany take a more pragmatic view of their jobs than is often assumed. In a study by the Bertelsmann Foundation, for which 1,200 employees from various sectors were asked about what they considered to be the most important aspects of their work and their employer, 18 to 24-year-olds named job security most frequently, followed by salary and collegiality.
Job Security
Job security is for Germans the most important motivating factor. Germans strive for stability and predictability. Many, perhaps most Germans, prefer to work for one employer, in one location, over their entire career.
German Works Council — An Essential Guide For Employers
Germany has some of the strictest labor laws in the world, with a key focus on protecting the rights of employees. To ensure a balanced relationship between the employer and employees, two systems exist alongside legislation to bridge the gap that can exist in corporate systems. The work undertaken by a German Works Council within companies is the system that focuses on company-level matters for decisions that impact employees.
Key Takeaways
1. A German Works Council (‘works council’, or, ‘Betriebsrat’) is a group of elected employees that represent the interests of a company’s workforce. A works council collaborates with management on key decisions within the company.
2. Although it is formally mandatory for companies with five or more permanent employees to set up a works council, this does not mean that all companies do. Companies can operate without a works council until it is formally requested by employees to hold an election to set one up.
3. The Works Constitution Act grants elected members of a works council a range of rights to effectively conduct their purposed tasks: This includes a right to information, a right to consultation, a right to decline, and a right to co-determination.
4. There are various pros and cons to having a works council within any given company. The pros include that works councils protects employee rights, provide a unified voice for negotiation with employees, are free for employees, and increase productivity. The cons include the costs of operation and maintenance, arguably lesser employee freedoms, and longer decision-making timeframes.
Features of German Employment Law
Relations between German employers and employees are extensively regulated under German labor and employment law. German labor and employment law is strongly biased in favour of employees and is probably best referred to as the “employee protection law”.