Accessibility after work: This is what makes Germans tick
Can you be reached after work or not? Germans are mostly open to calls from employers. The trend of work-life blending is confirmed by an exclusive survey by t3n and Appinio.
The boundaries between work and private life are becoming more and more blurred. Digitization also means that we are all “always on”. The demand for a right not to be reached is therefore debated at EU level. And as expected, opinions differ on this topic: The Federal Association of the Digital Economy, for example, pleaded against a law in the t3n conversation, but for more self-commitment among employers. The German Federation of Trade Unions is in favor of a legal regulation, as it is in a Press release for Berlin-Brandenburg only confirmed in April of this year. Other properties in federal states such as Thuringia and Hesse also voted in favor. But how do Germans generally tick when it comes to being available after work?
Contents
Reachability after work: mostly voluntary
Women can be reached more often than men after work. (Photo: Shutterstock-Kittirat Roekburi)
Together with the polling company Appinio, t3n pursued this question in an exclusive survey. According to this, 81.1 percent of Germans consider the right to be unavailable to be more important. Women tend to find this more important than men, but compared to their male colleagues, they can be reached more often after work. When asked whether they are within reach of their colleagues after work, 64.6 percent answer with a clear “yes”, while the number of men is slightly lower at 59.8 percent. In principle, however, it can also be concluded from this that most German citizens can be reached for work during their free time. The younger respondents in particular have a higher tendency to be tangible for team members after work.
“Women can be reached more often than men after work.”
According to the survey by t3n and Appinio, the younger the respondents, the less they agree with the right to be unavailable. Among the 25 to 34 year olds, 43 percent consider such a law to be very important, among the 35 to 44 year olds it is 47 percent and among the 45 to 54 year olds it is 50 percent. Only among the 55 to 65-year-olds did the approval turn out to be lower again at 39 percent. When asked about the reasons why Germans – regardless of age and gender – could be reached after work, most of them said, at 42.1 percent, that they would like it that way. At 27.3 percent, every fourth person thinks that the job requires it, and at 20.1 percent, every fifth person says that they have the feeling that employers demand availability after work.
Although the work-life balance is now becoming more and more important to many working people, the trend of work-life blending is increasingly establishing itself in parallel. This means the mixture between professional and private matters. Both working hours and interpersonal relationships are no longer sharply demarcated from private life. For example, business is done after work or leisure time is spent with colleagues. The survey for the investigation of t3n and Appinio took place on May 21, 2021 among a total of 1,000 working people in Germany via Appinio’s own panel. The results are representative of the German population according to age and gender. In addition, the panel is structured in such a way that it depicts several different positions and industries.
