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Don't believe everything you see on TV. I don't think any of those points are true. Social media use is definitely not forbidden at work as a rule. Not sure if

Don't believe everything you see on TV. I don't think any of those points are true. Social media use is definitely not forbidden at work as a rule. Not sure if there are companies that forbid it, and if that would be legal. But it is certainly not the norm. Don't know about the bonuses. Mortgages: many Germany buy houses, but perhaps fewer than in the UK. Renting for life is certainly common. Childcare: what does "heavy taxation" have to do with it? Taxes are the same for everyone. There is a huge push to get mothers to work earlier by providing more childcare and so on (personally I think it's a stupid idea, but it's the sentiment the common media outlets want us to have). Kindergarden: nature kindergardens exist, but they are rare. Most kindergardens have their own playground.

Tomte 12y ago
> Not sure if there are companies that forbid it, Today probably most companies disallow any private web surfing. Inofficially it is often tolerated if you don't overdo it. > and if that would be legal. It is. > But it is certainly not the norm. Believe me, it is. The reason is simple: As soon as you're allowing private surfing you have to respect your employees' privacy. That means that you must not use software or equipment to track web use (apart from special agreements with the works council). Same goes for private email. If you allow that, you cannot have your admins look into emails anymore. You cannot easily backup mails without telling your employees all the details. You cannot simply reject mails. And so on. It's a huge hassle.
- facepalm 12y ago
  I think tracking employees is definitely illegal. I worked on a program for a larger company where employees could enter stuff into a system, and we had to take extra care to make tracking impossible or at least difficult (thinks like "how much does employee x work").
moconnor 12y ago
I grew up in the UK and have lived in Germany for almost ten years. When compared to the UK each of those points is broadly true.

Tomte 12y ago

> Not sure if there are companies that forbid it, Today probably most companies disallow any private web surfing. Inofficially it is often tolerated if you don't overdo it. > and if that would be legal. It is. > But it is certainly not the norm. Believe me, it is. The reason is simple: As soon as you're allowing private surfing you have to respect your employees' privacy. That means that you must not use software or equipment to track web use (apart from special agreements with the works council). Same goes for private email. If you allow that, you cannot have your admins look into emails anymore. You cannot easily backup mails without telling your employees all the details. You cannot simply reject mails. And so on. It's a huge hassle.

facepalm 12y ago
I think tracking employees is definitely illegal. I worked on a program for a larger company where employees could enter stuff into a system, and we had to take extra care to make tracking impossible or at least difficult (thinks like "how much does employee x work").

moconnor 12y ago

I grew up in the UK and have lived in Germany for almost ten years. When compared to the UK each of those points is broadly true.