When it comes to work-life balance there is a really big difference between
Germany and the U.S.
Hey everyone! I’m Dana and you’re watching Wanted Adventure Living abroad.
In English we have two sayings: live to work and work to live.
And in America I always got the feeling that companies often expected people to live to work.
The job was often supposed to be their number one priority.
Everything else came second.
Sometimes the company even came right out and expressed this sentiment.
Whereas other times it was just sort of implied within the company culture.
Of course this is not the case in all companies.
But from my experience, it was like that in many places.
In Germany I would not say that people just work to live, because work is still an important
and valued part of a person's life here, but it just seems like work is more balanced with
life in Germany.
It’s like, yes, I work and I put effort into my job and I care, but at the same time,
employers seem to recognize that it’s important for the employee to be rested and healthy
and have free time to relax and recharge as well.
Speaking of relaxing and recharging, let’s take a look at vacation.
Right out the gate, my first full-time job in Germany: boom, I was given 30 vacation
days, paid, per year.
Not only that but I was expected...or rather actually, kind of required to take them all.
I don’t actually know what would have happened if I hadn’t taken all my vacation days.
All I know is that around September, October I started getting reminded by my boss that
I hadn’t taken all my vacation days yet, and I needed to do so soon.
In the U.S. there is no standard minimum amount of vacation days required by law.
Each company can give their employees however many they want.
Which does sometimes mean that some companies give no paid vacation days at all.
But at some companies you start with, maybe, 7 days of vacation per year and then after
a certain amount of time at that company you slowly get more and more days.
Or maybe at other companies, you get 14 days per year paid vacation and that never changes.
Or at some other companies you get more, you get less.
So, it really just varies in the U.S. from company to company.
However, just because you’re given vacation days in the U.S., does not necessarily mean
that you are encouraged to take them.
I always noticed in the U.S. this underlying, sometimes unspoken, sometimes spoken, feeling
of like, you’re a more “dedicated employee” the less of your vacation days that you took.
So it was sometimes like: oh, well, look at Paul.
He only took 5 vacation days last year, and you took all your vacation days.
Maybe if you were more like Paul, then you would have gotten a raise too.
And at some companies I remember that you could even cash your vacation days in that
you hadn’t taken for money at the end of the year.
So another incentive not to actually take the days off.
But it’s not just vacation days that's different.
It’s being sick too.
In the U.S. I learned to feel bad about being sick.
Guilty for it.
Like as though I needed to rush back to work as quickly as possible, even if I wasn’t
fully healthy yet, just to show the company that I was in fact a dedicated employee and
to stop from getting side-eye looks.
In Germany I could not believe it!
Not only did I not have to feel guilty about being sick.
If I went to work sick that is when I got the side-eye glances and was asked, like,
what are you doing here sick?
You’re going to get the rest of the office sick, go home!
And what about when you’re having a baby?
In Germany both mothers and fathers are provided by law paid time off after the birth of their
children and mothers are even given paid time off before the birth too.
In the U.S. there is no federal law mandating paid maternity leave, and this actually makes
the U.S. one of the very, very few countries in the world to offer no paid days off to
new mothers.
So my question for you is: How do you feel about work-life balance?
Is there anyone out there who prefers the way that it’s done in the U.S.?
And people with children, what’s the parental leave been like where you've lived?
Please let me know in the comments below.
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Until next time, auf Wiedersehen!
What's the parental leave been like where you've lived?
Where you've...oh yeah, that was right.
There was this often...
It's like, yes, I put work...I put effort and into my work.
The job was often presented as supposed...
How was that?