On 20 May 2022, SAP introduced meeting-free Fridays for its employees in Germany. On Fridays the company does without conferences, phone calls and video calls. It calls this the Focus Friday. The head of HR, Cawa Younosi, explained that since the pandemic, meetings had become more and more crowded in employees’ calendars. According to the Tagesspiegel, there was too little time um runterzukommen oder wirklich fokussiert an Aufgaben zu arbeiten, to wind down or to work on tasks with real focus. Meetings with customers remained allowed.
Quiet for Concentrated Work
German workplace rules set noise limits according to the kind of work. The technical rule ASR A3.7, published in 2018, defines three categories. Category I is work that needs hohe Konzentration oder hohe Sprachverständlichkeit, high concentration or clear understanding of speech. Examples are scientific and creative work, translating and correcting complex texts, and meetings in conference rooms. For this work, the noise level may not exceed 55 dB(A). General office work falls into category II, which has a higher limit.
Interruptions as a Hazard
German employers must assess the hazards at their workplaces. In 2013 an amendment to the Occupational Safety and Health Act made it explicit that this assessment must also cover psychische Belastungen bei der Arbeit, psychological strain at work. The joint occupational safety strategy of the federal government, the states and the accident insurers lists Störungen/Unterbrechungen, disruptions and interruptions, as one area to examine. A checklist from the employers’ federation BDA names häufige und ungeplante Störungen/Unterbrechungen im normalen Arbeitsablauf, frequent and unplanned disruptions or interruptions in the normal flow of work. It also names the concentrated and simultaneous performance of several different tasks.
Interrupted at Work
German workers report many interruptions. In the federal Stress Report for 2012, almost 60 percent said they had to handle different tasks at the same time. 44 percent said they were interrupted at work, for example by calls and e-mails. In the 2025 stress report of the health insurer Techniker Krankenkasse, 58 percent named interruptions and disruptions as a cause of stress at work. In the trade unions’ DGB-Index Gute Arbeit of 2022, 46 percent said that multitasking had increased the demands on them. The DGB chair, Yasmin Fahimi, called the results ein Alarmsignal, an alarm signal.
Interruptions are common in German workplaces, and the surveys of the health insurer and the trade unions record them as a source of strain.
Avoid Multitasking
The Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, BAuA, publishes a guide for workers called Arbeitsunterbrechungen und Multitasking täglich meistern, Managing Work Interruptions and Multitasking Every Day. Its second edition appeared in 2019. The advice is direct: Vermeiden Sie nach Möglichkeit Multitasking, also die gleichzeitige Bearbeitung mehrerer Aufgaben. Avoid multitasking where possible, that is, working on several tasks at the same time. The guide explains that attention is always directed at only one step of the work. It recommends periods without interruption, agreed with colleagues and managers, for example quiet work behind a closed office door. It also suggests muting the telephone and hiding e-mail notifications.
The Vocabulary of the Calendar
der Termin — an appointment, or a fixed date. Duden traces the word to Latin terminus, a boundary mark.
einen Termin vereinbaren or ausmachen — to agree on a date.
der Terminkalender — the appointment diary.
Ich muss mal in meinen Kalender schauen. — I have to look in my calendar.
sich etwas vormerken — to note something down for later.
Der Termin steht. — The date is fixed.
einen Termin verschieben — to move a date.
jemanden vertrösten — to give someone hope of a later time instead of what they asked for.
der Termindruck — the pressure of dates and deadlines.
Sales on Fixed Dates
Until 2004, German stores held their seasonal clearance sales on dates fixed by law. The winter sale began on the last Monday of January, and the summer sale on the last Monday of July. Each sale lasted 12 days. The rules were part of the law against unfair competition, and a reform of that law abolished them in 2004.
Wedding Dates at Midnight
The registry office in Cologne releases its wedding dates online auf den Tag genau sechs Monate im Voraus um 0 Uhr, exactly six months ahead to the day, at midnight. In Fürth, couples can reserve special Saturday dates by telephone six months in advance. For the date 26.6.26, the registry office in Fürth extended its hours.
A Season of Dates
The Bavarian State Opera in Munich sells subscriptions for its season. The dates of the subscription performances are printed on the subscription card, although the opera reserves the right to change them. Under the terms for 2025/26, a subscriber can cancel during the running season only aus außerordentlichen Gründen, for extraordinary reasons. For the next season, subscribers are offered a renewal with the same seats.
Late Invitations
Frida Hummel’s etiquette book Lebensart has a chapter on the midday dinner party. It says that invitations should be sent out early. The guests need time to accept or decline. The hostess needs time to prepare, and to invite a replacement if a guest cannot come. Then the chapter adds a short sentence: Späte Einladungen werden übel vermerkt. Late invitations are taken badly.