Is it true that in Germany the average work week is 16 hours and their holidays last a month?

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Rosie

yes, and not to mention 3 week off for the summer flu, and 3 weeks for the winter flu, and 3 weeks off for carnival in February!!

Sunshine

No ...average work week is 38 till 40 hours.
it depend on the state too about the holidays i would say in the average it is similar to the us,the state of bavaria has more or additional holiday its more katlic holidays in it.
Maternity leave is 6 weeks befor ethe child is due and 6 weeks after.
You can take 3 years off and they still have to take you back but you will get nothing payed for it.If your employer hires you part time then thats lucky there is no such thing asthere is a rule about reducing your workhours.
40% taxes comes from your paycheck.

ARRGH!!!

The average work week is about 40/45 hours a week. A person working has 6 weeks off work, but is not allowed to take them at once.
School holidays last 6 weeks in summer between classes and one week at x-mas, easter, and 2 weeks in autumn.

maice06

Now this is how it really is: You work 38.5 hrs a week and get inbetween 26 and 29 days off a year depending on you age. The older you are the more you get.
If you get pregnant you get 6 weeks 80% payment bfore and 8 weeks 80% payment after birth. You are entitled to a 3 years leave time for raising your child but you are not getting paid during that period of time but your job is being kept for you. If you are not married means you have a working husband with you, or let it be lifepartner, you will have to live of welfare which isn't much.
That's how it is.

Nabi

The work week is a long longer than 16 hours, but everyone gets 6 weeks off a year. And people wonder why Americans are more stressed than the rest of the world....

Anna S

Germany's very similar to Sweden in that regard, and we have a 40-hour work week (37.5 in the summer in some companies). Everyone does, however, get a minimum of five weeks fully paid vacation time. The previous "answerer" is correct about the paid maternity leave, although it's 80% of your regular salary here and it's available to both mothers and fathers. You're also entitled to reduce your work time to 30 hours a week if you have children under the age of 8.

jacks321

I lived in Germany for 5 + years. I don't think the work week is correct. One good thing you might want know is, regardless of where you work anywhere in Germany, you get six weeks off per year. I think there are other European countries that do the same.

Fornarina

Yeah, more or less. If you are a teacher you got many holidays. But normally you get about a month to recreate^^ and I don't know much about the working hours....but I'm really sure that 16 hours a week is too less. It must be around 40-45 hours.

pquaky

ThatÂ´s absolutely not true ... the avarage working time is between 35-40 hours. I (as a Civil Servant) work 41 hours a week. What is true, that our leave is between 20 and 30 days a year (that would be 4-6 weeks).
Or do you mean the school holidays? They are longer (but not as long as American summer breaks). 2 weeks at x-mas, 2 weeks at Easter, 2 weeks in autumn and 6 weeks in summer.

Fabian

I have 30 days holiday a year, free weekends and work 38 hours and 36 minutes a week.

Well, I'm an trainee (apprenticeship). Most full-workers are working 40h a week.

Mightymo

The average work week depends on what company you work for, what your job is etc. Most are working like our weeks, 35 to 37 hours. But the holidays do start with 4 weeks a year. And they have more statutory holidays too.

Tanja S

Working hours are between 35-40 hours a week and in average you get 30 days paid holidays. If you have flexitime its quite usual that you can collect excess hours and take another couple of days off, plus Public holidays of course.

Skuya!!!

No, work schedules are like here, but they do get longer vacations. And maternaty leave is 1 or 2 years, with pay, 60%.

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