Why I Started To Work Like A German (and you should too)
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This video was not what I was expecting at all. I thought you were going to show how we Americans aren't focused enough on work and from now on we stop checking our phones, we hold our pee until the prescribed break time .....this sort of thing. Lol 🙂👍
There was a German hobby cyclist, Michael Nehls, who finished the Race Across America in a very good time (in 2008). This is a race over around 3000 miles where everybody decides by himself when and how long he rides and rests. Instead of riding more than 20h a day and sleep less than 2h like all the others, he decided to sleep around 7-8h and regenerate each day. In the beginning a lot of other riders went far ahead but during the race, he kept his speed while everybody else had to ride the last part totally exhausted. He didn't beat the professional riders but he came in at a good time and he was the first to finish pretty relaxed while 50% of the riders don't even made the cut.
He should have slept 6 hours and he could have won the race...
Good strategy. RAAM is incredibly exhausting. And too long for short re-gen times.
He's written a book about this how he transferred from a little overweight, carrer focused guy ( he's a MD has some YT vids also) to methodically sports freak. Book inspired me to do 24 h single roadrace....
@@c.b.4270 Hey! Mind saying the book's name? I'm really interested.
@@gabrielmiranda3666
Headline:Herausforderung
Main Title:Race Across America
Author : Dr. Michael Nehls
Publisher: Delius Klasing
I think German only , but check it out on yourself
As someone who is constantly made fun of for carrying the name of Feyerabend, I strongly approve of Feierabend culture and of this vlog post… :o)
and the reaction when ever you have to tell your name is making ppl a happy smile on their faces, right?
@@drau331 Indeed! Everyone loves my name. I am secretly still hoping to find a nice guy with the last name of “Endlich“ (“Finally“), so I can have a hyphenated last name…. But seriously, there are also problems involved, such as when I answer the phone in the morning and people are stopped in their tracks or simply hang up in confusion….
My name is Feierabend with an I. Glad to meet my namesake on this platform.
Its a beautiful name 🥳
love the name ❤
In Ireland they have actually just trialed the 4 day working week with no reduction in pay and found that there was no loss in productivity as people are more motivated to work efficently when in work and sleep and 'work-life' balence improved. 12 companies decided to stick with the model.
That's great News! Greetings from Berlin.
Same way you'd allocate the first three hours to the really important stuff because there's no mental exhaustion yet.
Meanwhile here government is testing with allowing employers to make employees work Sundays and you can't say no
Please tell us which companies 🥲
My son's dream came true in Ireland. Greetings from Berlin.
I'm an Austrian living in Switzerland and working for a large US corporation. I've been working for several different US companies over the past 15 years, but also European companies. A big difference between European workstyle and US workstyle is the lack of pragmatism in the US. In European companies, I had 2 to 3 meetings a week with our team to discuss workload and how to address topics. In US companies, I tend to have at least 15 meetings a week, sometimes even 20 or more, which means almost half of my time is spent talking about how to do our tasks. This still blows my mind. Americans tend to talk 1 or 2 hours about a task before they finally start working. When they start, I'm already done with my work because it was clear to me in the first place how it is to be done. Instead of talking about work, I just do it. This US meeting culture is something I really don't understand. It seems they need a guidance, explanation, rule for every little thing, instead of using their common sense, intelligence and pragmatism to get started and be efficient. I'm bored to death at many of these meetings and mostly don't understand why we even have to hold them. They could be an e-mail instead, if at all. I usually just mute the call, do my work in the meantime, and when the meeting is finally over and US colleagues start with their work, I'm already done and starting my Feierabend.
The meetings are all for the middle managers who have nothing else to do except have meetings.
I have the same experience. When working for longer with Americans you get the feeling that their responsibility is understood to go in line with their pay grade. Noone takes on a task without being assigned to. And there is also a difference in knowledge base, which put them in disadvantage. AGerman Dipl. Ing. is a much different quality then their Master of Science/Engineering.
This is very interesting. I am an American in Germany. I worked for the American military for a long time and now for a German firm. My experience is almost the opposite of the perspective explained here. I find, by and large, that my German colleagues are not very productive at all. They are, instead, all about their Betriebsrat, not willing to learn new technology, and CANNOT participate in the development or testing of anything.
@@SoNonWoo I would say you both are right. You got ppl in Germany which only take a look on their rights (Betriebsrat) etc.
On the other hand you got a lot of ppl who really know to work. I always say, they see work "lying around" and can improvise.
You got also a lot of ppl who refuse to do a change, I think lots of "you americans" got a different mindest. You move for your work, that isnt that popular for german ppl. Sure some ppl move to different cities. If they change the company, they try to stay in the area.
Cause the social environment is worth keeping.
Thats at least my interpretation of this observation.
@@derHolger25 Yes, I think we're both right too.
I wonder if my experience with the military, if the military experience, is significantly different than the general American experience. But also, within Germany, certain provinces and certain industries offer different experiences.
Also, I have thought that both cultures have certain specialties. And those specialties are opposites. And both of those qualities are useful for different purposes at different times.
And of course, cultures are groups that tend to overrepresent certain types of individuals, but most individual types are represented in both populations. (There are always exceptions).
The Germans are especially good and repeatability and reproduceability. The Americans, at adaptability.
Germans tend to be terrible at change and Americans terrible at consistency.
In Germany we _(well, some of us, at least)_ say: *"Ich arbeite, um zu leben, ich lebe nicht um zu arbeiten!"* _(transl.: "I work to live, I don't live to work!")_
And you dont have a Job, you have a "Beruf" , "a calling ( by a higher power/society). That is in interesting word.
@@westphalianstallion4293
And yet: *"many feel called, yet few are chosen."*
Außer du gehörst zur älteren Generation ;)
@@westphalianstallion4293 i think you're mixing it up. "Beruf" translates to "profession". Job is "Arbeit" or "Arbeitsstelle" when meant very specifically. A calling, as you said is more "Berufung". Yes, etymologically similar but not the same. Beruf is something you learn. Berufung is something you're called to or are passionate about. Both may or may not be the same thing.
@@gregorelke8650 Profession has a latin root. Beruf can be seen as coming from Berufung.
I think it's so great to watch your videos as a german. I learn so much from your perspective on my country. Thank you for that. Feierabend is not only great because you don't work, but because you can build up excitement for the next day.
If your work doesn't drain you. Otherwise you just need that time to halfway regenerate to even be able to show up or make it through. There are jobs like that.
Ich kann leider nicht sagen das ich im Feierabend lust kriege auf den nächsten Arbeitstag, das kriege ich tatsächlich nur wenn ich z.B. Urlaub habe oder ne Woche krank bin.
Compare a cashier at US Walmart and German Aldi... One works a shift of twelve hours, the other of six hours, but both pass the same number of products. One starts slow because there is a long day ahead, but fatigue kicks in and small talk with customers because there is no social live outside of work. The other one works her ass off, thinking about what she is going to do after work with kids or friends, next!
but in germany you must wait to pay ca 20 m. by aldi
@@stevenscoville9732 Nope! Never!
Not even five minutes!
@@stevenscoville9732 Never. Saturday evening maybe 10 minutes shortly before shops close for Sunday. Else: 5 minutes in bad cases.
@@stevenscoville9732 waiting time does feel incredibly long, but trust me, the average customer hardly even spend 20 minutes in the store in total, at the Getränkemarkt where I work its even more like 5-7 minutes. and that includes returning of Leergut as well. I keep a rather clear track of that when I am at the cash register for 8-10 hours per day.
Schönen Feierabend!
Dir auch!!
Gschäfft is gschäfft un schnaps is schnaps.
Having worked for two years in the US in an office job (2006-2008), my experience was that there are lot of very inefficient meetings (no clear agenda, lots (!) of smalltalk about sports and the kids etc., nobody had really prepared / looked at files so that a second meeting was necessary). Compared to my German workday, the amount of meetings is probably half as high as in the US and you achieve the same or even more in that reduced meeting time. For me, that is the main reason for the difference in efficiency.
But you still have lots of jobs in Germany where you don't really have a clear "Feierabend" (especially lots of corporate/advisor and other "paper-shuffling" jobs), are writing emails etc. and still accumulate lots of overtime hours, which are however not all recorded (thus distorting the official statistics).
A friend of mine works at a multinational tech company and once or twice a year he gets caled for california for 2-3 Weeks and told me every morning it's all meeting non stop. Now whether these meetings were all needed I dare not say but when he did his job back in Germany he still got work done and had maybe half the meetings if not less. So there seems to be some truth to your opservation.
And yes 'Feierabend' isn't quite as universal as NALF is making it out to be. Consultancies and Agencies are infamous for their 'standardized unpayed overtime' and the Pandemic / remote work has also softened the concept a bit (although not always negative as i.e. some parents I know prefer working some evening and instead having flexible time to play/deal with the kids instead - and it also needs to be said that they are still counting hours it's just not as clearly 9-5).
To be honest, useless meetings and bullshitting are not that uncommon here too. Also, some people do indeed enjoy smalltalk and banter. It is not that black and white. If you come from a different environment the contrast to what you have been used to may appear more stark. But most people do want to limit the time spent with tedious tasks. Thus it makes just sense properly prepare and get to the point as much as possible. Then you have time maybe for a little chat and a coffee and still get a sense of achievement. And after all, work to live, not live to work.
I think the U.S. has lots of unpaid overtime too. Probably even way more than in Germany.
@@teniente_snafu We do smalltalk, but generally at the coffee machine or something like that. Meetings especially with more people are only for the topic. You are expected to be there at least at the time, better a bit before. Somebody has the lead and if everything is said, you stop. Everybody knows that a meeting costs a lot of money in worktime.
@@FutureChaosTV a
True a salaried employee may be paid for a 40 hour work week but wil put in 45 to 50 hours in the work place! Many employers will offer comp time for this time at work but only for times THEY APPROVE! 🤔
as a german, a 100h week just seems insane to me. like i have a fairly standard 40h week (including breaks and the likes) and some days i feel like i barely have enough energy left to make food. now obviously how much energy you have is also a personal thing but 8 hours and maybe a bit of prep at home (usually no more than an hour) is about the maximum of work i can comfortably do over extended periods of time IF i have the weekend free to do stuff i like and regain energy...
Ich denke man darf nicht unterschätzen, wie viel wirklich gearbeitet wird in 8-14 Std. Handwerker oder Pflegepersonal arbeitet tatsächlich ihre 8 Std und haben nur 30min Pause in Deutschland. Wenn sie alle 2std 15-30 min "pausiere" diskutieren, irgendwas suchen. Dann ja, kann man auch einen 6std Job auf 14 ausdehnen.
But that is exactly the point of the video. Here in germany, we work for 8 hours and there is a clear cut. So, we don't waste any time during those 8 hours. After that, we take time to rest while americans stretch less work over 12 - 14 hours and have to because they are nit able to put in as much energy
The solution to the problem is dehydrated broth, you can use it as a base to make any dish you like in half of the regular time! [I'm joking].
While i agreed before, i never realised how seriously german working hour limits (labour laws basically) are respected until I lived with a flatmate working a salaried public sector job. He's also studying a masters which he's been able to integrate withhis job. As a result, his employers are obligated to give him an extra ~40 hours (5 days) off every six months, due to certain lectures of his counting as part of his work.
He wad sent home from work for a full week with full pay, after forgetting how his hours had added up.
Such a good working environment
It IS insane. It is 100% culture. Nothing productive really happens.
Work like a German also means to cut smalltalk to a minimum during working hours, be efficient, get straight to the core in mails.... So no mix of private chit-chat and work business during working hours. Chit - CHAT is for breakfast and lunch break. 😁 That's how we can get more done within 8 hours by being focused on our work. 🙂
It also helps to be more productive, when you can close the door behind you, and relax after a workday. Going back to work after having been able to recharge, helps to be more productive also, as you pointed out. 🙂
I'm German and have several colleagues who spend most of their time on chit-chatting and it's really annyoing because obviously they don't get a lot of their work done.
@@IQSim I'm also German and sometimes my colleagues chitchat so much that I have to interrupt them in order to pose a question critical to my current tasks.
A while ago there was a lot of interest in finnish schools and how do we get so good results in education here. I watched some foreign documentaries where a journalist would visit a finnish school and a common theme was that they were surprised how much free time the kids had: a lot of recesses, short days and little homework. Getting enough rest is a big factor in education too, not just worklife. I think we have "german work ethics" here in Finland too :)
I find that the Finnish school system is far better than the German one.
Finnish students do not only do better in the Pisa test. Several studies also show that educational equity is more pronounced in Finland than in Germany. This means that the social background and the income of the parents in Finland have less of an impact on school performance than in Germany. You should be our rule model
😉
In university they teach, that a way to compare the scandinavian model with the rest and what could be transferred to local schools (to get somewhat equal results) is to expand school ours... So kids have to be at school all day long, are always stuck with the same people (little time to make other friends outside of school) and are mostly put under supervision, so they at least have something to do rather than coming up with bad ideas out of boredom or lack of a real future ahead.
I get it, that like that at least homework gets done and the lack of parenting needs to be compensated, but to put kids into a system, that requires them to handle working hours like adults is a bit much.
Can you tell me more about the Finnish system?
@@SOCIAL_MEDIA_CREEPS Of course it is!
The German education system is old-prussian shit I had to go through. It is a bureaucratic monster. As a pupil, student or teacher...
They really need to change it - better sooner than later...
@@gawelszczytkowski1991 They have been discussing this for the last 30 years. We are getting there 😁
@@gawelszczytkowski1991 Bureaucracy is not always a bad thing. It ensures, that everything goes to plan. It's often people, who have no clue, what they are doing or are supposed to do, that complain about bureaucracy.
Germans also use to say: Dienst ist Dienst und Schnaps ist Schnaps!
You're right in that here in Germany, while work may naturally be a big part of a person's everyday life, there is a feeling and an understanding that it's not everything or the only thing you are meant to do here on Earth.
I had a coworker once who was a super passionate cyclist who was spending nearly all of his free time competing in amateur bicycle races. It was like, yes, he was there with us doing his job competently eight to ten hours a day like he was supposed to, but whenever he was off work, cycling was his true passion.
Working 24/7 doesn´t only make you sick but the society as a whole. People are no longer able to properly maintain friendships, their own partner, their children. They do not have time for hobbies, they are not engaging themselfs in social work, politics, religion. They get too money oriented, loose empathy for others, do not find inner peace anymore, get burned out and depressed and sick. Have high blood pressure, migrains, sleeping disorders, circulatory disorders, weight problems, alcohol or other addiction. A good work life balance is key to a healthy society. People that are burned and stressed out and sick all time can not be productive. They might go to work and pretend presence buts thats about it.
I work like a Franconian. Which means: "Bassd scho!"
Franke also, sind das nicht die "Beutebayern" die Ihren Markus zum F J S spielen an die Isar geschickt haben? 😉
I started noticing this because friends that work for a big international company told me their storys. They are getting emails from their colleagues, from offices of the same company, from Singapore, Taiwan, US and so on on Saturdays and Sundays. They were wondering if there isn't any weekend in this countys?
If is Feierabend its Feierabend. Keeps you and your mind healthy. =)
I'm glad that you chose Germany over New York. My sister had a friend who went to work for one of the Banks in New York after graduation. He made a lot of money, but also got quickly burned out because of the hours that he was working.
Could happen here as well if you work for a consultant company.
I guess the problem is the workload. Or maybe that everyone pretents he is that busy, cause he dont want to leave the office as the first one? Idk, never worked in such a company, wouldnt fit in with my mindset and my directness.
I am Taiwanese and living in Germany, this video address my changes of working but I have never noticed, the changes definitely makes me better!
Is it similar to the United States in Taiwan?
@@343guiltyspification I have never working in US but my current company's CEO is an American. I think he had some company managment conflicts, but I think later he learned how German works then become more relax
Saw a great travel video recently made by two Americans in London this summer. One thing they really noticed was between five and six all the pubs filled up and there were groups of people in office clothes all sitting and standing outside of pubs drinking beer and having fun. They were really puzzled and wondered if they were all celebrating something or if it was normal. What they were witnessing was the after office drink. As soon as office hours are officially over people go off to chill together before going home.
That' s cool. I would like to have that in Germany, too. But we usually see coworkers as mere acquaintances and would never do that. I like the existence of the distinction, it protects from exploitation, but it is a bit extreme.
@@Never_again_against_anyoneThat just depends on your work environment and private life commitment. There ARE after work beer (or any other drink you can think of) get togethers in Germany.
@@Never_again_against_anyone
Well, I would say that depends on you personally. If you don't give any indication that you would like to hang around with colleagues after work _(which is totally understandable in some (even most?) cases),_ then of course nobody will ask you to join them for a "Feierabend-Bier", etc.
Me and my colleagues, we would often stand on the company's parking lot after work and have a beer or two, out of the trunk of our cars, before driving home.
And while I personally didn't met with them in private _(I have to say, I was 10 to 25 years older then them),_ I know that they made appointments to go a bar, or to the gym, either weekdays after work, or at the weekend. Some of them also regularily played online games with each other.
@@o.b.7217 true....but after my office I walk with my dog 20 Minuten to the next beerplace sit down read something and normally (if I want to) I am in a smalltalk with others in a matter of minutes.
That's what I miss most about my time in London 😔
In France there is even a law that companies trying to contact employees after office hours or on weekends etc. can even be fined.
We definitely have the same work mentality in Belgium as in Germany. I think we might even be a bit more relaxed and more into enjoying our lives outside work than Germans. If you take the time to enjoy life and leave your work behind, you'll start the next day refreshed and be more productive.
Great content! Freut mich sehr, dass du dir die Erholungszeit zu eigen gemacht hast!
I’ve recently bought a work phone so no one from work can call me outside work hours and I only read emails on that phone or my work computer. Its very relaxing and I’m much more awake, fast and motivated during work hours
One of your best videos! We live since 20 years as Germans (now dual) in the US! We watch that many people just become worn out by no work life balance and we watch how that gets already instilled in children from elementary on up! Our youngest is still in High School and gets reminded by teachers when an off day comes up…like teacher workday, Presidents Day, even Spring Break or Summer Break to not take an actual break, but still keep on working on things for school!!! It is so unhealthy and by the end of High School, beginning of College, many students are worn out, able to sleep just with Sleep medication, on other drugs, having anxiety, having depression etc.
At the North Carolina State University we had 9 suicides alone in this school year! Of course, the administration plays it down by saying, it is unclear why those students took their lives! They hire more physiologists and more counselors! Of course, that is not the solution! Take the pressure off students, start to teach, start that learning can be fun, get rid of state testings, see the individual person, not everybody needs to have all A’s! Get rid of award ceremonies for honor rolls and handling out ‘most improved’ or similar awards! The US is still close to the bottom of all Western countries in their education…..all the pressure doesn’t make it better, it makes it worse, since we have more mentally ill young people than anywhere else! Thank you so much for this video! Makes me homesick though and I wished my boys would have grown up in Germany in the German school system! At this time in life it breaks my youngest son’s soul!
Not getting your work done is not what he was talking about. Not getting the work done just means you are lazy.
The point is: when it is time for work, you work. Emails: off. Cell: off. You work. When the work for that day is done, you relax and don't think of the work.
In my opinion this is probably in the top ten of your best presentations. Edit: and it is not in the lower half. 🙂
We had a partner company in the US and my boss said he was shocked about the bad working ethics of Americans in the production industry when he visited.
In Germany when the work is meant to beginn at 8 am we are actually starting to work at 8 am.
In America when the work starts at 8 am people are just present at that time and do alot of chit chat or drinking coffee, the actual work starts roughly 1 hour later.
I'm not sure if this is something that happens in every American company but I heard 2 people talk about something similar so I kinda assumed it is.
Good points!What I realized is the fact that we/us/germans, don't mingle as much before and during work. We get to the office, hang the jacket and get to work. So the process from entering the building to getting to work is maybe 5 minutes including getting a coffee, firing up you PC and saying hi to everybody. Just another small difference. And yes, we usually don't hang out a lot with colleagues but this has to do with the fact that most don't move across the continent for college or the first job but stay somewhat close to "home" and childhood friends. Merry Christmas
The story with the 2 woodcutters are awesome. I have to tell the story to my son right away. Thanks for your video.
There is a saying in Germany - Lebe nicht, um zu arbeiten, arbeite, um zu leben! (Don't live to work, but work to live)
Yes, I would have added the same. Fortunately I can switch off completely (for me and by the company). If I'm out friday afternoon, I don't think at all about work until monday, when I'm entering the office. In all my years I had maybe 3 calls during freetime and mainly because something was very urgent and they needed some short answer.
I an a German living in the US. I also work for a large corporation here. My German friends are puzzled by the amount of hours and little vacation we get. It’s difficult to work like a German when living in the US as this concept os so foreign to American society.
Eine schöne Weihnachtszeit und Guten Rutsch daheim mit Deiner Familie !
That's crazy, 100 hours a WEEK?! That's insane and dangerous as hell to work like this and all for just the same amount for what you get here in Germany in 40 hours or less a week. But at my last Job i thought "wow were working slow" but i compared it to other company's and country's i was shocked. For me my work tempo is medium because its hard for me to focus, but every time a coworker ask me if i am ok because i push my work out real quick and good, they thought i overwork myself. But i just work efficient to get as much work as possible done to not work overtime or anything to have a clear cut from my work. And for company binding it depends how big your company is. But for me i hate company binding i clearly cut my time from work time because once it starts mixing you find yourself do more then you should do and i know my body wont like this so clean cut from work for me.
In the US, the term "wage-slave" makes total sense.
Deine Videos sind Klasse.
Tolles Beispiel mit den Holzfällern. Mir fällt da auch die Metapher vom Bauern ein, der den ganzen Tag damit beschäftigt ist seine Hühner einzufangen. Manchmal braucht es diesen Schritt aus dem Hamsterrad heraus um zu sehen wo die Lücken sind und dann die Entscheidung den Zaun zu reparieren, statt immer nur Hühnern hinterherzulaufen.
Feierabend, Pause oder Urlaub bedeutet nicht, den Kopf auszuschalten und sich keine Gedanken zu machen, wenn man seine Arbeit schätzt. Deswegen ist diese klare Trennung durchaus sinnvoll, um zu fokussieren.
Lmao the chess scene was hilarious, I guess they were talking about a piece being "pinned" to the king?
Damn you Nalf....I had already had ideas to make a video covering this topic however, I think I still will! I quickly learned that "Feierabend" is the most important word in the German language, LOL, and this was after I had been told that if I continued working the way I did I would be the hardest worker in Germany.
I have so much to add or point out than what you did, however I will save my thoughts and make my own video about it :p btw, when I was doing the "Krautsalat" channel I closed the videos with "Feierabend", I need to work that back into my own regularly again ;)
Hi Eric 🍻🍻
"Jetzt ist aber Feierabend!" meine Mutter, wenn sie genug von uns hatte, Lärm zum Beispiel 🤣
Hi Eric. Greetings from Hannover! There is a typical german joke: A candidate with the Name Feierabend is during a job interview. After 30 minututes of interview the employer comes to the conclusion:" I cannot hire you, Mr. Feierabend. When I call your name, the whole company is going home!."
@@Jackson-dg2po hahaha!!!
He Eric du Bierfee alles gut bei dir? Ich freu mich das du weiter machst
@@arnodobler1096 Arno! Wir haben heute Schnee!!!!!!
"Every time I stopped working, I was sharpening my axe." Brilliant!
Many foreigners, who are living and working here in Germany, absolutely love the working culture. I do financial consulting for expats here in Germany and I have so many clients who originally only planned to stay a couple of years and then were so in love with the country and the people that they stay long-therm.
Hi! I´m German and grew up there and work there too. Your Video just gave me a positive perspective on what our Unions managed to implement in our daily life: Time to rest!
It even narrows down to an institute which is very important and binding for industrial companies, named REFA (Vereinigung von Unternehmen und Rationalisierungsfachleuten, die Möglichkeiten zur Verbesserung der Wirtschaftlichkeit und zur Humanisierung der Arbeit untersucht (REFA-Verband für Arbeitsgestaltung, Betriebsorganisation und Unternehmensentwicklung e. V.)). They don´t stop until they find a way to combine rationalisation and economic improvement with humanizing of the work. Within this system, you find a thing that is called 'persönliche Verteilzeit' (personal additional time) which means stoppage due to personal matters such as toilet break, breakfast or lunch break and so on.
They see the humans as means of work but with the respective properties. So this is human after all, right?
Sharpen the axe, a great metaphor
Gute Feststellung und viel Erfolg damit 💪👍
Great video. As an American expat living and working in Germany I can attest to what you have described regarding productivity and how important work and life balance is - subscribed
What a great video. I personally think that the productivity number you showed in the beginning is actually WAY LESS for the US as they have many jobs that are not existent in Germany. For example, when there is road work in the US, 95% of the time you have 2 people standing on either side of the construction area, guiding the traffic when it is safe to drive. Even when I was a kid in Germany, like 40-50 years ago, this was done by an automated mobile traffic light. Or, the person who is sitting at the gate for a gated community, or the person who is running around the parking lot collecting shopping carts...and the list goes on and on. What I am saying is, that the number for the US is at 11 only because we have so many jobs that nobody else has and in addition, you need many more people for everything as most of the people are not educated enough for the job, thus you need a person for a person for a person to do the same thing as one person would do in Germany.
Another fun fact:
Legally there need to be resting hours in between the working shifts. As well as breaks, depending on how long your shift is.
I take the risk and watched yor documentary.......I have to say really good job.......I am older then you so I can say I am proud of your work
Next level: Work like a dane ;)
Jokes aside, work-life balance is sooo important. Cheers!
Now i really appreciate my Feierabend.. Thank you for a very interesting and new perspective. It's such a great homage to the feierabend 😍
Long live the 'Ferierabend' ! 💫 Greetings from Germany.
Almost, but not quite there yet. Productivity is the means, not the end.
Great outro! Now, as to the point . . . My parents were aghast one time when I was on vacation and my boss called - for a 3-hour conversation. Other times we had to work nights and holidays because our function continued 24/7 during emergencies. The latter was understandable; the former not so much. And, yes, nearly everyone here in the District of Columbia is known by what job they hold. It's a Schande.
The best way to enjoy your Feierabend is ... of course to stop your workday. Work from 8 to 5 as hard and efficient as you can. And then work's done. But if you really want to enjoy your rest time: Come home, sit down on the sofa, take off your shoes and socks, put your legs on the table ... and get your feet massaged 🥰 That's how you start your Feierabend 😁
The Endel soundscape „Deep work“ is my favourite, too.
Liked you analogy story in the end, what a perfect fit.
Hi Nalf, on a side note, your brothers set up the chess set incorrectly. The square in the right corner of the board must always be white. If the right corner square is black, the result is a mirror-inverted game. You can play like that, but it's NOT ACCORDING TO THE RULES 😂🤣! Greetings from a German.
That would have been one of the first things Chess Master Rowan would have pointed out to them, if she had felt like spending time helping them.
@@mojojim6458 Rowan is a smart young lady…she wouldn’t help them. She enjoys the show.
Yeah, correcting others. A very German thing. Glaub mir, ich weiß wovon ich rede, bin selbst so.
Imagine a footballplayer from the US teaches you so many things about Germany and german lifestyle, even though you are a German... Thank you for another great Video @nalf
I used to work in a pipe manufactury. They made gas and oil tubes for the pipeline industry . That company existed for over 100 years.
My job was to cut steel probes from these pipes for the quality control.
These probes had to have a defined size. So i was taught to draw a pattern on the pipe with a tape measure and chalk. Marking one pipe did take 10 minutes.
They did so for 80 years. I did so for 2 days. Then I printed the pattern on paper, made a template of cardboard and drew the pattern with this - in seconds.
Work smart, not hard.
And you are not working there any more since you couldn't take that inefficiency others still kept, or they badmouthed you out since you made them look bad.
If it was that way: Good you are not working there any more :D.
Part of it is to do quality work over quantity work. The time work is done, it gets done.
But even more important is to have time off where you can relaxe and tune off. That also correlates with closed sundays. And if you have a relaxed evening with friends and family, a good nights sleep, you're much more recharged the next day.
Loved this video! All the best from Finland!
In one brief sentence: Do not work hard, try to work smarter and find the means to work smarter.
It's not time that get's the work done. Work does.
As a german this helps me understand a lot of self help tipps from usa citizens. Often I think "oh you didn't do it like that in the first place?"
Feierabend, wie das duftet. Kraeftig, Daeftig, Wuerzig, Gut!
Pommersche aus dem Buchenrauch, Naturgewürzt und das schmeckt man auch.
Make me a German…. Classic! I laughed so hard when I first watched it while still living in London 😂😂 so true! Again.. a Video absolutely worth watching, thanks NALF! And: watching your videos I even find those min.10mins per day I have to spend on the ergometer (knee) nearly bearable😂😂 thanks for sweetening this all evening torture 🤣🤣🤣
Every evening I meant🤪
Hoch die Hände: Wochenende! (= "Hands Up - Weekend!")
Cheers from DE =)
The "Klima retten, Kapitalismus abschaffen" sticker in frame when talking about better work-life balance can't be a coincidence.
"Feierabend" is usually one of the first german words non-german coworkers integrate into their vocabulary.
Liked after 30 seconds just for the way you pronounce Gerrrmaan there. sounds like a man with germs. love it
Happy Christmas to you Nalf n Laura. 🌲🌲🌲🌲
Happy new year in advance too 🎆🎆🎆
watched UNICORN TOWN after this and totally enjoyed it! great work, both the football and the filmmaking.
Thank you so much!
Best commercial ever 🤣
Yes, it's quite nice here. But the thing is, it could be much better. The 8-hour day (it's more like 9 hours, because of breaks, etc.) is now also out of date. After 6 hours of concentration, that's the end of the line. More and more companies in Europe are implementing this with great success. Productivity is increasing enormously and people are concentrating more on the issues that are really important.
I have a job in which I can implement this myself (many degrees of freedom) and I implement entire concepts within 2-3 hours, which have a gigantic positive impact on the company. In just a few hours. You don't need 40 hours a week for that. This extreme waste of time often happens because of perfectionist demands. The bottom line is that the company simply has to run well. Not completely smoothly, because that is unrealistic. The important thing is simply how to deal with the expected and unanticipated problems.
There are activities where it is more difficult to do this, but the possibility exists in many areas. If not, work towards efficiency should be done.
I agree here. But I am, luckily, in a company which values efficiency. Including our customers. I get more done in six hours than others do in days. In quite some cases the customers even KNOWS I am writing about 20% more hours than I actually "work" since they see how much money is still saved by efficiency, compared to others they experienced. Of course I am still well within the planned hours margin for the project with enough buffer :D.
Frohe Weihnachten, Nalf! ✌️🎄🤘
Actually watching this in my Feierabend atm, good vid :)
Feierabend 🍻
I have 20 years of work experience now, and imho it's insane how insanely inefficient and ineffective most work is. Therefore, sharpening your axe (even taking the time to design and craft your own axe) can carry you so much further than anyone who is just putting time and sweat into his/her job. If walking in the woods, long sleep-ins and following a fun hobby just gives you a single good idea once every weeks, this compensates for countless hours of grinding.
Well spoken. Yes, couldn't agree more: "taking the time to design and craft your own axe" as important as keeping it sharp!
Feierabend wie das duftet, kräftig, deftig, würzig gut…
Interesting vid. After reading the comments (and working in the UK) it seems like, generally, it's mainly the US that has this work/life balance issue. I've been worked for 5ish companies in 30 years and after 5pm, never given any of them a thought until 9am the next day. Hopefully the 4 day working week catch on eventually here and everywhere.
Sounds pretty much like "7 Habits of Highly Effective People" from Steven Covey:
Private victory:
- be proactive ...
- begin with the end in mind ...
- first things first ...
Public victory:
- think win win ...
- Seek first to understand before seeking to be understood ...
- Synergize ...
Habit 7: SHARPEN THE SAW
Me on Mondaymornings 5 Minutes after starting Work :
- Its only 4 Days and the rest of Today untill Weekend.
Im from Germany and saw that video titel. I was like "Oh, what do we do different then others? What does working like a German mean?" And than you talked about 100h week and I was like. "Oh man, that isnt even legal." That was the point I realised what working like a German is :D We are getting used to it, so we dont appriciate the rules that where given to us.
I can highly recommend to make proper Feierabend! Its good for your healt. But only if you dont stress yourself with other things.
you've become a great storyteller!
Fantastic video! Love the storytelling!
A person who only works 30 hours a week is so much more efficient that if you simply close the place of work 2 hours earlier each day, the heating and electricity bills more than offset the lost work of 4-6 percent. so the 30 hour week at full Wage compensation makes economic sense.
Fun fact: The U.S. actually learned already a lot of this during the Pacific War. They called burnout combat fatigue then and regularly sent pilots and soldiers back for recreation. E.g. Chester Nimitz (German parents, born in TX) famously forced his Admirals (like Halsey) to rest and recuperate. Please correct me if I am wrong.
Many US Americans ask you immediately after meeting them for the first time: "What do you do for a living?" (Well, I breathe, eat and drink, amongst other things - why?)
That's how much of an important part of a humans personality a job seems to be to them.
It's sad that this is what defines a human 😃
its pretty simple like your saying: work smarter, not harder. and in order to be smart you need to rest in between... logical, simple and most importantly: you manage an actual live outside of work that way :)
My work goal is avoid as much pointless meeting and coversations as possible and just keep working on things which need to be done. I am working just from 8 am till 3 am and everybody is satisfied with my work. I get salary increasment each year. Even if I am the first one going home. Each year salary incease is not common in my company.
And I like to have lunch in quiet at home after worl. Not at work. At work I have just small quick not heated meal. It also helping me to be more effective.
Charts were convincing. Rest gives you more power later. Definitely need good separation from work to do that.
My perspective on work is from my German American farm family. We like to work and see the challenge of it and opportunity to be creative.
Someone I know who was a cleaning lady said, „Arbeit macht das Leben süß.“ True that. Not always easy or even enjoyable but should be worthwhile.
And thank you for your work! Always enjoyable! Cheers
it's sad and hillarious that this is a revolutionary concept to people
That was a pretty good analogy.
I'm of German heritage and work for a major German company. There is much to learn from German productivity but there is much about it that is hurting them now. Just listen to Volkswagon's response to software failure in their cars. "We will have a new version in 18 months". Really?! Meanwhile at Tesla, GM, Lucid, Rivian, they guys are working weekends and fixing in days not months. Germans are obsessed with processes and I agree those are important as guidelines. But they celebrate processes and certifications and passed audits like Americans celebrate making a better smart phone, stealth fighter, space rocket, electric car, quantum computer, HIMARS, etc. Germany is buying F-35 jets and Chinook helicopters because euro alternatives are worse or don't exist yet.
As a German I'm always amazed by Americans sensationalizing the most trivial things.
It was clever the way you illustrated the effectiveness of Endel by having your brothers argue over a Chess game. Well presented.
Wow, I enjoyed the "word from the sponsor" for once!
I'm German and was expecting to go "bah, humbug!" at some strange generalisation of something going on in rural Bavaria or something. Instead I'm shocked people might consider it unusual to ... stop working to unwind, have a life outside work etc.
It's actual law in Germany that your boss HAS to allow for 11 hours between your shifts. If this isn't possible for some reason, then there can be an exception that has to be made up for in a reasonable timeframe. On average, work must not exceed 8 hours a day and is additionally limited by your work contract (so technically working 6 days a week with 8 hours each is possible, but few people have contracts mandating a 48 hour week). Overtime is possible if absolutely necessary but has to be made up for in some way, be it time off or money.
The whole thing with identifying with the company you work for is be considered rather old-fashioned. I think the majority of people here have realised that, unlike what the American dream (falsely) promises, just working hard won't make you rich and successful. The majority of people will never be rich, no matter what they do. And so why chase a couple of bucks more a month at the cost of your actual life.
Axe sharpening metaphor hits different fr
Do not ever forget who got you those boons. Hint: it was NOT employers. It wasn't politicians.
It was UNIONS. Strikes. Worker solidarity.
And this is why you should NEVER EVER scab. Don't be a traitor.
You really are nailing it!
I'm 63 and i still work a lot , i like to work 😊 we say : Arbeit hat noch niemand geschadet.