In today’s increasingly transparent world, finding the right talent has become harder than ever.
“Twenty years ago, companies could simply claim to be or have something special,” says Per Breuer, head of human resources at Munich-based consultancy Roland Berger. “That’s not possible any more, because social media creates inroads to every company.”
In such times, a strong culture of labour protection, such as Germany’s, can be a key asset, offering employees a sense of security from the moment they join.
German workers enjoy some of the strongest employee protection in Europe, including generous parental leave, strict dismissal rules, and a system of so-called co-determination that gives employees a formal voice in corporate governance.
By law, German companies with more than 2,000 employees must allocate half of the seats on the supervisory boards to worker representatives. Separately, works councils give staff a say in workplace matters such as hours, hiring and remote work.
This contrasts with, for example, France, where unions play a significant role but often in a more combative way. German workers, meanwhile, are integrated into decision-making through formal structures — a model designed to balance interests rather than confront them.
“Unions and employee representations have over many, many years played very positively to balance interests [between employers and employees],” says Breuer, adding that this is in contrast to what he calls the “Anglo-Saxon hire-and-fire employment model”.
Germany’s tradition of labour protection laws and employee consultation stems from its strong industrial base, although critics have argued that the model is too rigid and slow-moving for today’s fast-paced economy.
Yet, in a labour market defined by increasing competition for talent and rising employee expectations, the model has proved resilient.
It may also offer a competitive edge in retaining staff: despite a sluggish economy, German companies featured prominently in the Financial Times’ ranking of Europe’s best employers, suggesting that stability, flexibility and strategic inclusion still resonate with workers.
Even at German companies that have pledged to shrink their workforces by tens of thousands amid the deepening industrial crisis, mandatory redundancies are often off the table. From SAP to Volkswagen, workers are instead being offered generous voluntary redundancy packages and are, in some cases, allowed to take early retirement as young as 57 years old.
But even the model’s strongest advocates have acknowledged that it has come under strain, as German employers navigate structural shifts such as the transition to electromobility, digitalisation and decarbonisation to remain globally competitive.
Christiane Benner, head of Germany’s largest union IG Metall, has warned that the country’s much-needed industrial transformation must happen “with workers, not against them” — and has called for more co-determination at companies, not less.
At Berlin-based online fashion retail platform Zalando, worker representatives help shape not just hiring practices, working hours and hybrid policies, but also broader organisational decisions.
Steph Warnery, vice-president of people solutions at Zalando, says the company — which was founded 17 years ago and now employs 15,000 people — said this is part of the company’s “German heritage”, which it is actively trying to preserve.
This includes, for example, clear communication, precision and a strong work ethic, but also the German concept of Feierabend — a combination of the words for “celebration” and “evening” that marks the end of each working day.
“It’s the moment you’re done with your job and leisure time starts,” Warnery says, adding that it includes the German focus on hard work during working hours “but also disconnecting afterwards”.
“One typical misconception is that Germans are too serious, without an ounce of humour, but I can assure you that we laugh a lot at the workplace,” Warnery adds.
There is much to suggest that the next generation of German employees are still valuing aspects of the country’s work culture established decades ago.
A 2024 survey of the attitudes of young Germans towards work by oil group Shell found that 91 per cent considered job security to be “very important”.
But young Germans are also demanding what Roland Berger’s Breuer calls “new ways of working”. For example, 40 per cent of respondents said they wanted the option to work part-time in the future, when they become parents.
“It’s about flexible working styles in all dimensions, [from] work and family [to] sabbatical, part-time models,” Breuer says. “So the entire journey . . . to keep someone mentally fresh and hungry,” he adds.
According to Breuer, many German leadership teams have become “very aware” that, despite many employers shedding workers, certain talent, such as software development skills, has become difficult to come by.
“Germany, like many other countries, has a shrinking workforce, so you [had] better take good care of your people,” he says. “This is very high on the strategic agenda.”
As global labour markets tighten and automation reshapes work, Germany’s decades-old model may prove to be not only durable but instructive.
