http://www.focus.de/politik/deutschland/merkel-duepiert-familienministerin-schwesig-familienteilzeit-abgelehnt-32-stunden-woche-fuer-eltern-kommt-nicht_id_3530816.html
Sorry to all non -german speakers, but here a brief summary.
The minister for families in germany supposed to introduce a 32 hours week for parents instead of 38,5.
Chancellor Merkel declined this idea immediately.
I think this is not only harming entrepreneurs, but also all parents, who try to get a full time job, with full time payment.
In my opinion many regulations do not improve the labor market, which is anyhow regulated by demand and supply.
How do you think about it?
In my opinion, from the ministry for families's point of view, they would like the parents spending more time with their children. But in this crisis time, it is very difficult for the government to pay 10% more for the family grants and from the financial point of view, this could harming the economy and entreprises as many staffs will want to work as part-time and get more grants from the government. In this situation, I would suggest the organisations to offer a flexible work schedule, so that the employees could balance their careers with their families.
AntwortenLöschenI think that introducing a 32 hours work week for parents would not be beneficial - neither for parents, nor for the economy. Women, when applying for jobs, already face the "baby-issue" - not being hired because you potentially might get a baby some day in the not too far future. Just imagine how this would become even more important if parents would need to work only 32 hours! How willing is a company to hire a person who might cause that much additional cost? I agree with you that a flexible work schedule would help parents much more than the model proposed in Germany.
AntwortenLöschenWell, I think this can actually be a really good solution.
AntwortenLöschenThere are definitely some companies that have open positions, which can neither be filled with a full time nor a part time employee.
So hiring somebody for 32 hours can actually be beneficial for both sides.
But I guess this should then not be imposed by the government, but be up to the companies (as it is already anyways).
Hi Albert,
AntwortenLöschenI think this is not the worst idea. However in my opinion it is also not a good solution as it is definitely not applicable for every single parent in Germany. There do exist mums and dads who are striving for a career although they have kids at home.
In my opinion this might be considered to be somehow an act of discrimination. Not to be allowed to work full-time just because you are a parent - this is not really motivating for career-oriented people to have kids one day.
In my opinion flextime as well as part-time positions are already very good ways for parents to combine work and familiy life.
However there is still room for improvement. Offering childcare facilities at companies is one of the measures that need to be improved. Although is is a highly costly measure it will definitely benefit the company as it makes the enterprise an attractive workplace for career striving parents.