Fantastic 21st century issue being tackled in Germany. Should you be able to choose to work fewer hours?
Europe, of course, is where many if not most of the 21st century issues are being addressed, including energy credits (getting paid by the electric company), congestion pricing, whether someone can receive a work email after 6 pm; monopolies by Google; democracy;
paternity leave; gender equity; trains; and hacking.
The Washington Post in a great article says a union for German workers has negotiated a contract in which workers, for up to two years I believe, can work 28 hours a week instead of 40, and then get paid less . It is an historic agreement, testing whether company and society can experience the same economic prosperity if some workers choose to work fewer hours for less money.
The reason they can test this at all is because in Germany, like the rest of Europe, workers have health insurance and other benefits regardless of how much or little they work. Why do they want to work less? It's a Gen Y thing, says my brilliant co-author Julie Coates, who says Gen Y wants more balance between work and life.
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