4 ms·

Bit of both, I think. German winters are nasty, cold, and damp, it has the third-highest median age behind Japan and Italy, kids universally go to kindergarten

by lores 2y ago

Bit of both, I think. German winters are nasty, cold, and damp, it has the third-highest median age behind Japan and Italy, kids universally go to kindergarten to bring germs home, and it has a culture where you don't show up if actually ill - it's worth noting that a non-sick day does not mean a productive day, especially if your colleagues catch your illness. But also, Germans are pretty intense, despite their image of relaxed, easy-going people*. In my experience, they're very dedicated, but also take no shit. I can well see that if they think the work balance is not right, or they're not treated like human beings or getting a fair deal in some manner, they'll take it upon themselves to make it fair. If your company acts like a typical American one, I can well see a culture clash. Anecdotal, of course. *it's a joke. I love you, Germans.

FirmwareBurner 2y ago
>German winters are nasty, cold, and damp Worse than Nordics/Scandinavia or neighboring Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, Poland? They don't have winter clothing in Germany? > If your company acts like a typical American one, I can well see a culture clash. Most of German workers work for German companies following German laws and German culture, not American companies. So why twice the sick days versus EU neighbours?
- stnikolauswagne 2y ago
  >Most of German workers work for German companies following German laws and German culture, not American companies. So why twice the sick days versus EU neighbours? Which EU neighbours are we talking about? A cursory check shows them to be up by like 20ish% compared to czechia and poland, (which have decent sick pay) but up immensely compared to France and the UK (which do not). If #of sick days scales with % of sick pay it would make perfect sense for germany to be on top, do you have a decent dataset on #sick days by any chance? I was unable to find consistent data on this.
  - FirmwareBurner 2y ago
    >but up immensely compared to France and the UK (which do not) Do not what? >do you have a decent dataset on #sick days by any chance? I mean just google. For example: https://www.nzz.ch/english/why-europes-appetite-for-work-is-declining-with-germany-in-the-lead-ld.1857939 https://www.nzz.ch/english/why-europes-appetite-for-work-is-...
    - stnikolauswagne 2y ago
      >but up immensely compared to France and the UK (which do not) Have decent sick pay, france seems to pay 20%, UK like 10ish%, makes complete sense that such countries would have less sick days. >I mean just google. For example: This is the kind of mediocre dataset I dislike, going to their datasource ( https://gateway.euro.who.int/en/indicators/hfa_411-2700-absenteeism-from-work-due-to-illness-days-per-employee-per-year/#id=19398 https://gateway.euro.who.int/en/indicators/hfa_411-2700-abse... ) half of germanys neighbours have not reported data for 2022, the graph they use for "EU" seems to just use the data from 2020 and stretch it over to 2022 because thats where the WHO dataset ends. For example if you check out slovenia in the dataset they have a huge spike in 2022 (similar to germany) but went down a lot in 2023, Germany has no 2023 data so we can't say whether germany went down based on the WHO dataset. Two papers linked in the article show germany going down to at least 2021 levels in 2023, yet this does not seem represented in the graph.
      - FirmwareBurner 2y ago
        In France you only get 20% pay while sick? WTF, I thought France was a socialist worker's paradise.
        lores 2y ago
        It's legally 50% for the first 6 months - but French work benefits are very largely defined by collective conventions agreed between unions and industry, which grant rights to employees above legal ones across entire sectors. Most employees will have a higher sick pay, but I can't find statistics about it.

by lores 2y ago

FirmwareBurner 2y ago

>German winters are nasty, cold, and damp Worse than Nordics/Scandinavia or neighboring Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, Poland? They don't have winter clothing in Germany? > If your company acts like a typical American one, I can well see a culture clash. Most of German workers work for German companies following German laws and German culture, not American companies. So why twice the sick days versus EU neighbours?

stnikolauswagne 2y ago
>Most of German workers work for German companies following German laws and German culture, not American companies. So why twice the sick days versus EU neighbours? Which EU neighbours are we talking about? A cursory check shows them to be up by like 20ish% compared to czechia and poland, (which have decent sick pay) but up immensely compared to France and the UK (which do not). If #of sick days scales with % of sick pay it would make perfect sense for germany to be on top, do you have a decent dataset on #sick days by any chance? I was unable to find consistent data on this.
- FirmwareBurner 2y ago
  >but up immensely compared to France and the UK (which do not) Do not what? >do you have a decent dataset on #sick days by any chance? I mean just google. For example: https://www.nzz.ch/english/why-europes-appetite-for-work-is-declining-with-germany-in-the-lead-ld.1857939 https://www.nzz.ch/english/why-europes-appetite-for-work-is-...
  - stnikolauswagne 2y ago
    >but up immensely compared to France and the UK (which do not) Have decent sick pay, france seems to pay 20%, UK like 10ish%, makes complete sense that such countries would have less sick days. >I mean just google. For example: This is the kind of mediocre dataset I dislike, going to their datasource ( https://gateway.euro.who.int/en/indicators/hfa_411-2700-absenteeism-from-work-due-to-illness-days-per-employee-per-year/#id=19398 https://gateway.euro.who.int/en/indicators/hfa_411-2700-abse... ) half of germanys neighbours have not reported data for 2022, the graph they use for "EU" seems to just use the data from 2020 and stretch it over to 2022 because thats where the WHO dataset ends. For example if you check out slovenia in the dataset they have a huge spike in 2022 (similar to germany) but went down a lot in 2023, Germany has no 2023 data so we can't say whether germany went down based on the WHO dataset. Two papers linked in the article show germany going down to at least 2021 levels in 2023, yet this does not seem represented in the graph.
    - FirmwareBurner 2y ago
      In France you only get 20% pay while sick? WTF, I thought France was a socialist worker's paradise.
      - lores 2y ago
        It's legally 50% for the first 6 months - but French work benefits are very largely defined by collective conventions agreed between unions and industry, which grant rights to employees above legal ones across entire sectors. Most employees will have a higher sick pay, but I can't find statistics about it.