Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad I don’t have to go to work for a few days. But I don’t quite get the same excitement for the weekend that I used to. I hope that you do! If so, how do you cultivate that feeling?
Germany is and always will be the last country to roll out any sweeping change. The people enjoying a four-day week are those who work in the US-based companies, limited to a select few.
I see more people in my profession (programming) doing the four-day work week, but we’re still in an extreme minority. Outside of this field, it’s even worse. The liberal and conservative parties are actively pushing against it. Almost every day there’s an article where some rich CEO whines about young people being lazy. Added to that: Our aging population and a general lack of workers paired with aggressive anti-immigration politics - they also don’t help this cause.
So yeah, more people are doing it (especially in IT), which makes me hopeful. But I still don’t see it getting rolled out in a big fashion anytime soon, unfortunately. Especially because salary levels in Germany are already very low and not everyone can afford the loss of pay switching to a four-day work week.
I just know I’ll never go back. The amount of energy I gained by just having a day more to myself per week is extraordinary.
I don’t think I’ve ever had a job with weekends off. Or even any other specific days consistently off from one week to the next, more generally. It does sound nice though, I think I’d like that.
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