Monday, January 26, 2015

Explaining Absurdistan

Absurdistan came up in German topics over the past week or two.

It's a word that loosely translates into the idea of the German government creating so many regulations....that it's impossible to run a business.

The new rules coming?

First, there's a rule being pushed and will be made German federal law....that says you must provide a lockable locker in the office area.  The cost?  It will be your own responsibility as the boss or owner of the company.  How big of a locker?  That hasn't been discussed and folks might be shocked to find a fairly small and marginal locker in place....thus requiring more rules to require a bigger locker down the road.

Second, there must be mandatory space in front of each keyboard....to allow the palms of your hands to rest.  Cost?  Back to the company.  Creating a huge mess?  Well...if you have limited desk space....there's no way to fix this except with an entirely new desk, and perhaps a new layout of the office.

Third, mandatory window breaks.  I haven't the precise direction that is given on this....but reporters tend to say that when break-time occurs....you should have a chance to see actual sunlight or landscape....not a plain break area.  For a warehouse operation....it'll be hard to see the method to fix this....unless you make a fake window with a fake sunlight device in the background.

All of this got tossed into the blender and noted as a negative by one major employer....saying "bureaucratic madness in Absurdistan".  The government office bringing this up?  The Federal Office of Labor....run by a SPD minister currently.

Debate to come?  It'll have to be brought up in the Bundestag and there's some question if the CDU will agree with this.  Naturally, you can envision the Linke Party and Greens in full agreement....so it will likely pass.

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