Under the epidemic, the economy of Europe and the world is not very prosperous, and there has been an unprecedented downturn. However, there is such a country that is still strong despite the economic downturn in Europe. This is Germany, which is known as the leader of the European economy.

 

Then Germans must be very diligent and hardworking. It takes a long time at work, it is difficult to separate work and life, etc. to achieve such an achievement, but all this is my imagination. In fact, this is not the case.

 

Some netizens even asked on Zhihu: Why Is Germany So Successful in Spite of Least Working Hours?

The working hours of Germans are so short that they are at the bottom, why can they be so successful?

 

what? Short working hours? How is it possible, but this is the case. This is the list of working hours in 36 member countries surveyed by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). With 1371 working hours per year, Germany has become the country with the shortest working hours of any country.

 

My goodness, the average Germans work six hours a day on a working day. What is the concept? Compared to my great days, I am forced to work overtime every day. It is not too happy.

 

This figure has been updated again. According to the Financial Times, after six rounds of negotiations, Germany’s largest industrial trade union organization, the German Metal Industry Union and the Southwest Metal Electrical Employers’ Association reached an agreement. The two sides agreed to give workers a 4.3% salary increase and allow workers. Our weekly working hours have been reduced from the standard 35 hours to 28 hours, that is, 5.6 hours a day, while retaining the right to return to full-time work.

 

Count the working hours of German workers together

 

In Germany, in addition to the 104-day weekend leave a year brought by the five-day work week, according to the German Federal Leave Act, each person is entitled to at least 24 working days of paid leave per year (usually within 30 days). Days or more), which excludes weekends and holidays. Adding statutory holidays, such as New Year's Day, Labor Day, German Unity Day and Christmas, Easter, Ascension Day, Whitsunday, etc., the total number of holidays exceeds 150 days.

 

According to the 5.6-hour work day and the lowest vacation standard, Germans work about 1,204 hours a year.

 

In addition, there is no China in the above table. However, it is estimated that Chinese workers work 2,000 to 2,200 hours per year. This is still based on the nine-to-five, two-day break system and no overtime. Taking the middle of it, the annual working hours in China are about 2,100 hours.

 

Moreover, as far as many Chinese companies are concerned, there are very few cases of not working overtime, and many Chinese companies do not pay for overtime work. On the whole, there should be no suspense that China's per capita working hours ranks first in the world...

 

Let’s do a small survey here, let’s talk about how long do you work each week?

 

Note: One year's working hours = weekly working hours * 52 weeks

 

Take a look at the GDP data of various countries in the world released by the World Bank in 2016. China has a population of 1.4 billion and a per capita of US$7,900. Germany has a population of 80 million and a per capita of US$42,000 , which is five times that of China and second only to China. United States.

 

In the "Best Countries 2016" list, Germany unexpectedly topped the list, and China ranked seventeenth.

 

Under such a high welfare system, what is the basis for Germany to create such an economic miracle and more than 2,300 world brands?

 

1. Don't blindly pursue high speed

 

Although German highways never have speed limits, there are frequent eye-catching words reminding you to drive slowly; a product takes 8 hours to complete, the Germans must work for 8 hours to produce the product, the Chinese is 1 The same work can be done in hours, but the quality is very different. However, this kind of behavior of not pursuing speed is regarded as "work hard" in the eyes of the Chinese.

 

German architects, the design drawings are carefully conceived, and there is no repetition, so the buildings show different styles. Because the same drawing plagiarism will be looked down upon by peers, it is difficult to mix in the industry. But similar buildings abound in China.

 

2. Do not rely on real estate

 

Compared with Britain and France, the lagging capitalist country, Germany, has never regarded real estate as a pillar industry of the national economy for 100 years, and has almost abnormally restricted the real estate industry and the housing rental industry. Germany regards real estate as a service industry with a welfare nature, rather than a pillar industry of the national economy. Machinery manufacturing, automobiles, electronic equipment, and chemical manufacturing are the four pillars of the German economy.

 

The German Criminal Law stipulates that buying a third house is considered a real estate speculation and is a crime. This is why the Chinese dare not wantonly speculate in Germany. The laws and policies formulated by the German government are "effectively" guaranteeing people’s housing rights. Even if the Chinese local tyrants have strong financial resources, they cannot profit from real estate speculation in Germany because they are very likely to pay high taxes and violate criminal law.

 

3. Do not rely on tourism

 

Germany has many tourism resources, even more abundant than France, but the development of tourism is far lower than that of European countries. This is precisely why Germans attach importance to the development of industry and do not like cultural bragging and pragmatic spirit.

 

Germany has the largest number of castles in Europe, and even the traditional industrial area of North Rhine-Westphalia has a large number of water castles. Only Munich is located in Bavaria. There are many gorgeous palaces, such as the Royal Palace in Munich. Not inferior to the Palace of Versailles in Paris.

 

4. Don't play with financial bubbles

 

After the war, Germany experienced 6 economic recessions, including two oil crises and the US subprime mortgage crisis, but each recession lasted no more than one year. Especially in the European debt crisis, it was “outstanding” and took the lead in recovering. Very strong ability to resist crisis. In contrast, the United States experienced 7 recessions after the war, and recovered for a long time during the oil crisis and subprime mortgage crisis in the 1970s.

 

All this is due to the fact that Germany does not play a financial bubble. German finance serves the real economy. In the developed western economies, finance is in an underdeveloped position.

 

Why does Germany have the lowest working hours and the economy is still so good?

 

From a personal perspective, there are three reasons:

 

1. The working hours of Germans can be arranged flexibly, and employees have a large degree of autonomy.

 

2. Germans concentrate on their work while they are working, and they are extremely efficient. When you chat and drink coffee with your colleagues in the company, they are also focusing on their work.

 

3. In contrast to the previous one, Germans attach great importance to their personal life. Once they leave the company, they will not allow work to erode their rest time.

 

And there is a very important point. Germans are very conscientious in their work, but they are also very serious about life, and they are very distinguished. This is also very different from the culture of our country. Overtime is in the eyes of Germans. It's not that you work hard and earnestly. On the contrary, your work efficiency is low, so Germans hate working overtime very much.

 

In fact, this kind of focus on life and work is very worthy of our study. We can’t help but think about whether our overtime is really necessary, or is it for overtime work?