Notes from Germany’s Economic Renaissance: Lessons for the United States, by Jack Ewing
p.162 – “95% of all German companies with fewer than 500 employees are family owned, and 85% are managed by the owner.. The German managers in the book, and many others whom I have met over the years, take a palpable joy in making things. … Money is important, but it is not what gets them out of bed in the morning. … They take pleasure and pride in creating livelihoods for the people who work for them, in supporting their local economies, and above all in creating an institution that will outlive them.”
p. 163 “In Germany, almost any company with more than a few dozen workers is likely to have an employee council with a right to be consulted on major changes in working conditions. With no choice but to deal with workers, German managers have learned to use employee councils as a forum to get workers to buy into the program. The legal requirements aside, German companies have a strong incentive to retain their people, because of their dependence on highly skilled workers and their investment in training.”
p. 164 “Another German innovation… is the work-time account, where workers bank overtime in the form of hours rather than cash. When times are slow, they work fewer hours, but take home the same pay by drawing from the work-time accounts. The system makes it easier for companies to hold onto their workers during a temporary downturn, preserving the investment that has been made in their training. And of course, it spares the workers the trauma of unemployment.”
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