Inside Germany: The attack on work-life balance, de-icing issues and sweet living in the Ruhr

Inside Germany is our weekly look at some of the news, talking points and gossip in Germany that you might've missed. It’s published each Saturday and members can receive it directly to their inbox by going to their newsletter preferences or adding their email to the sign-up box in this article.

The conservative urge to kill work-life balance

This week saw conservative lawmakers hollering about a couple of their favourite tropes: That employees should be working more hours and also stop being sick so often. Don’t the worker bees know we have an economy to jump start here!?

At the start of this week, the economic wing of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) piped up to say they don’t think most workers should have the right to reduce their working hours. In response, a number of people presumably thought, ‘Wait, you’re telling me I had that right all along? Nice, let me call my boss.’

But seriously, German labour law does allow employees to request a shortened work schedule, and in many cases it also defends their right to do so. We explained the details here.

As for calling off sick, we’ve been hearing some all too familiar calls for the end of doctor's notes given online or over the phone. 

If you’ve been working in Germany for more than a couple of years, you may be aware this is a topic politicians never seem to tire of talking about. It was also proposed by the previous federal government, specifically by former Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP).

Call-in sick notes were introduced to ease strain and prevent the spread of infection in doctor’s offices during the covid pandemic. Then they were scrapped and then brought back again. And business associations leaders have basically called them a scourge on the German economic machine all the while.

For the record, doctors associations have always said they make sense, and some experts suggest that scrapping them would put an enormous burden on the country’s already strained healthcare system.

So does Chancellor Friedrich Merz really think the economy would be booming again if only employees would suck it up and keep working through the sniffles? 

Or is it rather that there are no quick fixes for the demographic and macro-economic issues that are leading Germany toward deindustrialisation, but that having led with big promises on saving the economy he would rather wave at 'candles in the fog' (Nebelkerze) than admit there’s not much more he can do right now?

I recall being a bit shocked when former chancellor Olaf Scholz admitted the problem quite plainly. "There is no country in the world with a shrinking working population that has economic growth. That is the truth we are confronted with," he said.

He made this statement while defending his government’s immigration policy, by the way, which had made attracting skilled workers a top priority.

For now it seems unlikely we could expect the same level of candidness on the issue from the leaders of the current black-red government. Instead we can expect more harsh words, and some (likely minor) adjustments to labour and welfare policies.

READ ALSO: Which major German companies are cutting jobs this year?

‘It’s called winter’

Berlin-based businesses may have seen more workers out sick this week, or out injured rather, as some seriously slick sidewalks have seen people slipping and falling.

With temperatures having stayed at or below freezing in Berlin for weeks, much of the city is now coated in ice. De-icing, or the lack thereof, has therefore become a serious issue. 

Berlin’s mayor would like to be able to salt the sidewalks. He called on the city’s House of Representatives to change the law so that salt can be used in extreme conditions.

Grandios! Jetzt machen sich schon Grüne aus Schwaben lustig darüber, dass Berlin nicht in der Lage, Straßen vom Eis zu befreien. Und nein, es ist keine überraschende Wetterkrise: Man nennt es Winter. https://t.co/VgrblcOXPe

— Armin Laschet (@ArminLaschet) January 29, 2026

Wegner's party colleague Armin Laschet vented his frustration in a post on X (seen above).

“Grandios! Now even Greens from Swabia are making fun of the fact that Berlin is incapable of clearing ice from the roads. And no, it’s not some surprising weather crisis: it’s called winter,” Laschet wrote.

The use of salt for de-icing roads and walkways is generally illegal in Germany, because widespread salt use has negative impacts on local soil and groundwater. Instead cities often make do with gravel or sand. But in Hamburg, for example, salt is allowed in exceptional cases.

It could be that Berlin soon writes a similar exception into its own law, but for now Berliners may have to make do by wearing crampons or spikes (Steigeisen) on their dancing shoes.