Posted on 03/31/2014 12:58:29 PM PDT by MNDude
Germany's labor ministry has banned managers from calling or emailing staff out of hours except in emergencies. The ministry says the measure is intended to prevent staff from suffering undue stress by being constantly on call.
Daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported Friday that the ministry is following the lead of major German companies such as automaker Volkswagen and Deutsche Telekom.
“That’s my gripe too. I’ll live with the on call part but I should get something for my inconvenience. “
I’d have loved to be #1 on the list if they simply paid for my time. But they didn’t. The phone, which I never used, was my pay.
There was a drafter, an ex-cop who lived five minutes away. He’d had a phone and was happy to let the cops in. (The false alarms ran several a week and the system wasn’t fixed because they didn’t own the building and were planning on moving.) During an economy move, they took his phone away. So he said, “fluck them.” and wouldn’t take the duty anymore. So, the president who lived 2 hours away always ended up driving in. He was always p@ssed about it but nothing ever changed while I was there.
Huh? You want to get paid for the inconvenience of having a phone by your side?
That’s interesting.
I was just watching a BBC documentary about the history of the German and British auto industry, and they mentioned a Germany car company that had been doing that already.
Why do they need to make it a law is beyond me.
I have one of those bosses that thinks I am on call @ $9/hour. If he calls me, it’s an automatic 15 minutes (my rule) which only equals $2.25, but I am home on my time and he needs to learn to do things himself.
They aren’t so much harder workers more than they are incredibly devoted to their work, and are very committed to doing a quality job. That’s been a part of the German psyche for decades.
Idiotic. This is the equivalent of being forbidden to put something on their desk after 5 p.m. Nothing requires them to immediately respond to e-mail sent after they’ve gone home. I like returning phone calls and responding to e-mail after hours. Many of the people whom I write or return calls to are in different time zones anyway.
Ich bin ein Bannedmailer
Just don't call me while I'm at the brauhaus.................
Ich bin ein verboten e-Mailer.
“Huh? You want to get paid for the inconvenience of having a phone by your side?”
Ever get a phone call while you’re on the toilet? Do you have to bring a phone into the bathroom to shower? When you’re involved in anti-fraud efforts that is exactly what you end up doing (to allow financial institutuions to reach you when questionable items are presented for payment - often in person in a branch).
I’ll drink to that! I think this is the reason Americans are so much more productive. There time “away from work” is being on call and expected to work after hours and on weekends—without extra pay. Such has been the case with the last three companies where I have worked the past 3 decades.
I believe there was a court ruling a few years ago where it was found that by expecting employees to react to these communications 24/7 it was the same as never being off the clock. Some guys got awarded a whole buttload of back pay....perhaps enough to put that company out of business.
Don’t call us, we’ll call you (maybe!).
In city of my employer, my employer gets fined if alarms go off for no reason (usually an employee working on a weekend hasn’t set it correctly).
Oh, yeah. All my life my bosses have called me off-hours on my birthday. Yeah, happens every year. I jump with delight when I see his name on my phone!
I find it interesting that the Germans are also ready to send/mobilize troops to reinforce NATO. Are these troops to have the same kind of rules? Wouldn’t want them to be overly stressed, would we?
Wow. Just, wow. We have already turned into an Idiocracy.
It's not like all I have to do is answer the phone. I really can't go to the beach, a ballgame or much else if I have to be available to work at any moment.
Dude said he gets paid if he gets called and has to work.
In your scenario, I assume you are salaried. If that is the terms of your job, so be it.
I get paid well to support people and solve problems. Sometimes that isn’t 9-5 eastern.
Uh, being on call usually means that you have to be within range of handling whatever the emergency is (i.e., no trips out of town for the weekend). It also means the possibility of being interrupted while at a move, the opera, a concert, or important family dinner. You risk doing those things but usually do not mind if you are getting paid for it, albeit a very small percentage of your regular hourly pay. Most places, if you have to take call, you get your on-call pay and then get regular (or OT if you’re lucky) if you are actually called in and have to take care of something.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.