In a representative survey by the digital association Bitkom in January 2021, one in four said they deliberately avoid showing their home on video calls. They use a background photo or a filter. More than half said they dress up for video conferences on purpose, even when working from home.
social media
The Boss’s Friend Request
In a Forsa survey for the digital association Bitkom, reported in January 2012, 56 percent of the employees among the respondents said they decline a friend request from their boss. Forsa had asked 1,002 German-speaking internet users. Bitkom’s Tobias Arns said: Die Privatsphäre der Mitarbeiter muss der Chef auch im Web akzeptieren. The boss must accept the employees’ private sphere on the web too. A later Bitkom survey, reported in 2014, found that only 5 percent were already friends with their boss online.
Earning the Right to Edit
On German Wikipedia, changes made by newcomers do not appear to readers at once. An experienced author first checks them and marks the new version as gesichtet, sighted. A user earns the right to have his own edits appear at once after at least 30 days and 150 edits, together with some further conditions. The right to approve the edits of others comes after 60 days and at least 300 edits. Both rights can also be granted on request.
Quiet Quitting Already Had a German Name
In August 2022, when “quiet quitting” spread on social media, the legal news site LTO asked the labor lawyer Michael Fuhlrott what it meant. Es lässt sich ins Deutsche am besten mit ‘Dienst nach Vorschrift’ übersetzen. It is best translated into German as work to rule. The aim, he said, is not to harm the employer, and the employer’s legal options are very limited. German case law ties the duty to the person. The Federal Labor Court ruled in 2003 that an employee may not set the level of performance arbitrarily, but must work with appropriate use of his personal capacity.
Teachers on Facebook
In 2013 several German states were drawing up rules for teachers on Facebook. Bavaria had already banned its use for school business. Privat dürfen sie aber auf Facebook aktiv sein, ebenso die Schüler. Privately, however, teachers may be active on Facebook, and so may their pupils. A draft in Rhineland-Palatinate said that schools should not use Facebook in an official context.
A Resignation on Facebook
On 27 November 2019, Jürgen Klinsmann was presented as the head coach of Hertha BSC. In January 2020 alone, the club invested a record 77 million euros. On 11 February 2020, Klinsmann announced on Facebook that he was resigning as head coach with immediate effect. The investor Lars Windhorst called the way he left unakzeptabel, unacceptable.
The LinkedIn profile
An American professional’s career is displayed publicly as a sequence of positions with dates, visible to their employer and to everyone else. Progression is a matter of public record, and its absence is equally visible.
Glassdoor and Levels.fyi
American employees publish their own compensation to public databases, by company, level and location. The market price of a role is crowdsourced and freely available to anyone considering a move.
Hustle culture
Rise and grind. Sleep is for the weak. The grind never stops. Team no days off.
American sayings in wide circulation, and a genre of social media built on them. The counter-movement exists and is loud, which tells you what it is arguing against.
Quiet quitting
An American phrase that went global in 2022, describing an employee who does their job and nothing beyond it. The phrase calls that quitting. Doing what you were hired to do is framed as a partial withdrawal.