Statutory full-time working hours In Germany, a typical workweek consists of 36-40 hours. The majority of full-time occupations in Germany are seven or eight hours a day, five days a week, with an hour or 30 minutes break at lunchtime.
Working Hours in Germany
Legal working days in Germany are from Monday to Saturday, but for most workers, a standard work week is from 8 or 9 AM to 5 PM, Monday through Friday. Employees are allowed to work up to 10 hours per day, as long as the total weekly work time is not longer than 48 hours.
An average working week in Germany as a full-time employee is between 36 and 40 hours, with working days in Germany between 7 and 8 hours. A full-time employee in Germany has an average working week of 40 hours. University students can also work during their studies but the requirements are different.
Germany is home to one of the shortest average working weeks in Europe. According to the World Economic Forum (WEF), the average working week is 34.2 hours. Yet, trade unions are calling for further reduced working hours.
Germany's typical work week is 36 to 40 hours long. In Germany, the majority of full-time jobs are 7 or 8 hours/day, 5 days/week, with a one-hour or 30-min break for lunch. Some corporations may keep their workers longer hours while compensating them with a higher salary or more yearly vacation leave.
Monday to Saturday are considered the legal working days, but most employees typically work from Monday to Friday. Workdays usually start between 8-9 am and finish between 5-6 pm. Lunch breaks are 30 minutes to 1 hour.
According to the OECD, the country with the shortest working week is the Netherlands, with a reported 29.5 weekly working hours. Broken down by day, that translates to a four-day workweek with just 7.37-hour days. Denmark follows with 32.5 working hours a week, and then Norway, with 33.6.
When the European countries for which this information is available were compared, Turkey had the longest working weeks at 42.9 hours in 2020, which is the latest data. Turkey was followed by Montenegro (42.8 hours, 2020 data) and Serbia (42.3 hours).
Legal limits to working hours in Germany
The working week runs from Monday to Saturday, and employees must not work more than 48 hours per week. This can be extended to 10 hours per day, if within six months (or 24 weeks) the overall average working time does not exceed eight hours per day.
In France, a few pioneering companies already allow their employees to work 35 hours (the standard number of weekly hours) in four days. According to the Labor Ministry, close to 10,000 workers are currently experiencing model.
Work on Sundays and public holidays is generally prohibited. There are exceptions available for workers in the service industry. However, work on Sundays has to be compensated for by corresponding time off within the next two weeks (or eight weeks in the case of work on public holidays).
But in Germany, the traditional dinner time is much earlier: you'll find many German households having their evening meal between 5 and 7 pm.
According to the OECD, Mexicans work the most hours out of any country every year, 2,246 on average. That's 467 more hours than the average American every year and for less than a fifth of the pay.
As a matter of principle, an employment contract contains compulsory information about working hours. A full-time job in Germany usually comprises between 35 and 40 hours each week. You may not work more than 48 hours each week ac- cording to the German Working Hours Act.
Lunch. Lunch in Germany is called Mittagessen and is usually eaten between 12 pm and 2 pm. Germans traditionally enjoy their main cooked meal for lunch rather than dinner.
A standard pensionable age of 67 will then apply to those born in 1964 or later. Early retirement is possible from the age of 63 after an insurance period of at least 35 years, but with permanent deductions. Persons with an exceptionally long insurance period of at least 45 years can retire early without deductions.
Minimum and maximum working time
The maximum daily amount of working time must not exceed ten hours. However, the law stipulates that the working hours on business days (Monday until Saturday) must not exceed an average of eight working hours per day, ie 48 hours per week, over a period of six months or 24 weeks.
Furthermore, employees are not allowed to work more than 48 hours per week, the absolute legal maximum. On average, German employees work 34,7 hours a week, with full-time workers averaging 40,5 hours and part-time employees 20,8 hours.
If you work more than 9 hours a day, the break is extended to 45 minutes. Labour law prohibits taking the break at the end of the day's work in order to leave earlier. Breaks are not considered working time and are therefore not paid.
Recent Trends – Average Weekly Hours Worked. IBISWorld forecasts the average weekly hours worked in Australia to fall by 1.0% in 2022-23, to an average of 30.9 hours a week per employed person.
Under Australian laws, employees work up to 38 hours in a week, or 7.6 hours (7 hours, 36 minutes) each day. These are classed as regular hours of work, and time worked outside of these hours can attract overtime, higher rates of pay (“penalties”), or be counted as time off in lieu to be taken later.
On average, people in Australia work 32.4 hours per week.
OECD obtains this figure by dividing the total number of hours worked in 2021 by the average number of employed people.
Mexico. Mexico is the most overworked nation globally, with an average yearly workday of 2,148 hours. A full-time employee in Mexico clocks in at roughly 48.5 hours per week. Moreover, a quarter of Mexican workers clock in more than 50 hours a week.
In the UAE's Sharjah, employees get a three-day weekend that includes Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. A little over a year after the implementation of a four-day work week in Sharjah, a government study found that there was a 90 percent rise in the job performance, happiness, and mental health of employees.
However, it is fair to say that European countries are leading the 4-day work week charge. These countries have tested it, proposed it as law, or actually put it into law: Iceland, Spain, Scotland, Ireland, United Kingdom, Belgium, and Lithuania.