I started writing this post at work, when I had a couple of minutes for myself (something that didn't really happen lately, since we're under staffed and it seems like we're working much harder than before...).
I will try to compare my working experience in Israel with the one in Germany, as well as comparing working with Germans vs. working with Israelis...
1. Payment:
Although living expenses are not much higher in Germany than in Israel (in average of course), the salary in Germany is much higher. In Israel, for example, I got about half as much as I'm getting now per hour, for the same job (in the same company). Oh, and what I'm getting now is lower than the average salary for this type of job in Germany.
On the other hand there is no minimum wage law in Germany, which leads to a lot of jobs that pay very little (especially students' jobs, what they call here "under 400€ jobs" - coz this amount is the amount ppl don't have to pay taxes for).
2. Holidays:
In Israel it works like in the USA: the law says that one should get a minimum of one day off per month, for a full time job. Therefore, most ppl have 12 days a year, that they can take off (not including the bank holidays of course). In certain cases, governmental offices give more days off every year of working, up to a certain maximum of course. My mother, who's been working for the same gov. office for more than 20 years now, has about
24 days a year, to take as holiday when she wants. Remember this number.
In Germany it's a bit different. The law is a bit more complicated. It basically says that the minimum of days off one should get is 1 and a half days per month of the year (that's the absolute minimum). That makes 18 days a year. It also says that for a normal 5 day week, one is entitled to at least 20 days off a year.
I got here
24 days off the first year that I worked here. Remember this number? Every year I get one day more till I'll reach 30 days.
I'm much younger than my mom, have much less work experience, and still have more days off a year than she does.
How does this effect one's life? In many, many ways.
Obviously, the more days off payed by your company, the more days you have to relax and go on vacation, meaning, doing everything else but working. Knowing that you have these days, and actually using them, makes you, as a worker, much happier, and of course much more satisfied in your job. It also allows ppl to have a life next to work. Helps develop hobbies, helps make ppl a bit more interesting and interested.
This brings me to the next point:
3. Working hours:
I only have experience working for this one company in Germany, but I do look around me, my husband works in a German company, and I have friends around. Here, although it's starting to change to the worst a bit, ppl work for money and for living, not the other way around. They go to work, most of them start around 8, they have lunch together, have a real break, and then they go home around 17:00. They have hobbies, do sports, take care of pets, or spend some time with their families.
In Israel I had a totally different experience.
Ppl are slaves to the job, answer phone calls on their cell phones at all hours, even if it's at 20:00 at home, whilst tucking your kid to bed. There are no borders about these things or limits, it's all Kosher.
I'm making a huge generalization here, I'm very well aware of the fact that there are both kinds of working ppl in Germany and Israel, but that's the big picture.
These were all just thoughts of mine lately at work, I must say that it's not all bad working in Israel. for example: ppl there are much more flexible, much much much more open to new ideas, and give you much more freedom in choosing your path, weather it's inside a company, or when hiring you. In Germany ppl are scared to death from "holes" in their CV (for example a year of traveling etc.). They are so afraid of that they never dare to go outside of the "path", of the "box". They try doing everything by the book, otherwise, they wont even be invited to the next interview. I miss being a bit more creative, having a bit more say about little things that make a difference. I miss the flexibility of the ppl, and their open mindedness.
Yeah, it seems as if in Germany ppl don't judge you for who you are or what you did (when you compare German reactions to stories with Israeli ones), but that's only coz the Germans would just not tell you their opinions right away. Inside, they would think: wow, she's too old for this job, and what a waste of time was her traveling around the world working here and there, and she doesn't have a diploma we know, how weird, we can't afford to take a chance on a person like that.
and yes, again, I know that I'm generalizing everything, but- these are just my impressions and experiences... I really hope that life would surprise me and show me how different things can be here :-)
