Germany has relatively strict employment and labor laws: Many provisions have a special emphasis on protecting employees. However, these laws also provide clear guidance for employers on individual employment contracts, employee benefits and entitlements, and rules around termination and dismissal.
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 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.
Salary and Job Security
Salary is still the top priority for Germans when choosing a job. More than two thirds of those surveyed (67 percent) see remuneration as a top employer characteristic. This is the result of a nationwide, representative survey by the opinion research institute Innofact on behalf of TARGOBANK.
This means that the topic of salary has gained even more importance compared to 2017 (2017: 61 percent) when the survey was first carried out. Job security came in second place among the most important employer characteristics this year – half of those surveyed stated that this was of great importance to them.
In 2017, however, it was even more important to those surveyed at 60 percent. The location of the company is also very relevant to those surveyed: around a third attach great importance to this when choosing an employer. Awareness or the size of the company, on the other hand, still do not play a major role (around 4 percent each).
Germany’s students are drawn to the civil service
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.
Jobsicherheit vs. Gehalt
Some graduates or applicants eventually reach the point where a decision has to be made: Am I looking for a job that is secure? Or one with a great salary?
Don’t be a slave
Jordan Peterson on the dangers of meaningless jobs and the importance of pursuing what is meaningful in work and life.
YouTube comments:
“One day I said ‘I don’t want to follow his stupid rules’ to my boss’s boss speaking about my boss who was also in the room. This guy didn’t even follow his own rules because he knew they were stupid. He was not stupid and I knew that. It was a smart play by him to take me out (fire me) because I had a different way of thinking that didn’t suit his vision. I had enough money in the bank at the time to act naturally like this though.”
