German digital bank N26 is facing outcry from its staff over management

Post by pjmlp » Fri, Aug 14, 2020, 12:26 PM UTC

arrrg wrote: post #12

arianvanp wrote: post #3

At least here in NL the Works Council is mandatory _By law_ if you have more than 50 employees. I suppose the laws in Germany are similar. and I also suppose N26 has more than 50 employeees ;) A healthy organization should have one, in my opinion. Management being against it is an unhealthy sign. Just so you have some context. a Works Council has the following rights: Right to discuss: they will have a bi-yearly meet…

Worker Councils seem to have broadly similar but slightly different rights and responsibilities in Germany. They are never mandatory, however employees do have the right to form one if there are at least five employees who are eligible to vote (18+) and if at least three of those can be elected (>6 months with the company, broadly speaking no one in an important management role). At least three employees have to take…

Post by moooo99 » Fri, Aug 14, 2020, 12:28 PM UTC

luckylion wrote: post #66

WJW wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Home ownership in the Netherlands is 69% vs 65% in the USA. Also the taxes actually pay for things like a public health system and police that have enough training to adopt a "talk first" strategy vs the "shoot first" strategy that seems to be so common in the states.

Interesting, my experience is from Germany where it's much lower, barely breaking 50%. As I mentioned: it might still be worth it, but I really dislike this whole style of "look, everything is the same, only we have X, Y and Z". It's not, there are trade-offs. If somebody likes those trade-offs (e.g. better job security for lower compensation), then they'll prefer it that way, and that's completely valid. But to pret…

Post by moooo99 » Fri, Aug 14, 2020, 12:30 PM UTC

jakobbuis wrote: post #51

luckylion wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very accurate. And even if you're making good money, you're paying significantly higher taxes, will usually not own a house etc. Might still be worth it for the benefits, but it should be mentioned.

Citation needed. Most engineers I know in The Netherlands (around 200) have bought their home.

Post by coldtea » Fri, Aug 14, 2020, 12:50 PM UTC

Semaphor wrote: post #34

coldtea wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Once you give an employee a permanent contract, you cannot fire them except for a set of reasons defined by law. Americans be like: "Shock! Awe! How would anyone ever hire an employee under such a requirement?!" (Meanwhile Netherlands unemployed rate is ~ 4.3%, and the US one at ~10 - and the latter with lots of under-reporting, e.g. people giving up looking for a job, and so on).

> the latter with lots of under-reporting, e.g. people giving up looking for a job, and so on Is that not the case in NL? At least here in Germany, the government uses a lot of tricks to make the number smaller (we call it "Schönrechnen", calculating in a way to make a number look better)

Post by coldtea » Fri, Aug 14, 2020, 12:52 PM UTC

ivanche wrote: post #55

lumberjack wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

American salary: .... Dutch salary: .... American job market: .... Dutch or (even EU) job market: .... They are not comparable. In the Netherlands and Germany it feels like the only employees who make good money are management. Engineers are never going to be rich from working as engineers. The only way to make it is to break into management, and the odds are against you.

While it is true that US salaries are higher then EU ones, you definitely can get rich while working as an engineer. With disciplined and smart investing, 40 years of compounding interest can work wonders. In some cases in can be even more - I know a few friends who started investing for their kids the moment they were born.