Germany is a well known country for its employee-oriented policies, this extends to IT companies in Germany as well. 

In this article we cover the following topics:

• Does Germany have paid vacation?
• How many vacation days per year do you get in Germany?
• What happens if you don’t use your paid vacation days?
• Is there a sick leave in Germany?
• How do you apply for paid time off in Germany?
• List of public holidays in Germany
• How do you usually take time off work in Germany? 

Does Germany have paid vacation?

Yes, paid vacation is a standard employee benefit in Germany. During your paid time off work, you will receive your regular salary in full. The latter helps me personally a lot to unwind and relax. All of the companies on datajob.io site offer decent paid time off to their employees.

How many vacation days per year do you get in Germany? 

By law, you are entitled to a min of 20 days of paid vacation every year. Most of the international IT companies and startups in Germany offer their employees 25-30 days of paid leave. Your employment contract will normally specify the exact number of days you are entitled to.

Normally you can manage your paid vacation time as you want, for example, there is no mandatory requirement to take a two-week vacation at least once a year. Although some companies can encourage their employees to spend 20 days out of 30 days of paid time off by September to prevent burnout. 

Personally, I would take a 2-week vacation in summer to enjoy the sea with my family and a 1-week vacation in February to go skiing in the Alps. 

What happens if you don’t use your paid vacation days?

Whenever you haven’t spent all of your paid vacation days in a single year, you can carry over the remaining vacation days to the January – March period of the following year.

If you do not use the remaining days off anyhow, they will simply be burned and you won’t be paid anything extra.

Is there a sick leave in Germany?

Taking a sick leave is a normal practice in Germany.

Usually, German IT companies and startups allow their employees to take 1-2 days off when feeling unwell without the need to visit a doctor. In this case you simply notify the team lead and stay at home until feeling better.

Whenever the sickness gets worse, a visit to a doctor is necessary. Your insurance company would notify your employer about prolonged sick leave, so you don’t have to deal with extra bureaucracy.

If you are sick for less than 6 weeks, the employer covers their sick leave in full. And if longer, the insurance company would cover up to 70% of the gross income, capped at 90% of the net income, with a maximum daily allowance of 116.38 EUR set by the state. 

What does the list of public holidays in Germany in 2023 look like?

There are quite a few major nationwide public holidays in Germany:

• Good Friday and Easter Monday, April 7^th and April 10^th
• International Labour Day, on May 1^st
• Ascension of Jesus, on May 18^th
• Whit Monday, on May 18^th
• German Unity Day, on October 3^rd
• 1^st and 2^nd day of Christmas, on December 25^th and December 26^th

The list of the public holidays also depends on the land you work in. For example, Berliners have a holiday on the 8^th of March, which is an International Women’s Day, which is not the case for Hamburg. You can find the complete list of Germany's public holidays for 2023 on publicholidays.de, with breakdown for each German state.

How do you apply for paid time off in Germany?

Different companies have different procedures for paid time off application. 

Often the companies would ask employees to schedule vacation days in the beginning of the year. 

In my case, the company uses Personio, a very convenient tool that the employees use for scheduling paid vacation days, sick leaves and other absence days.

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Thank you for reading this post. Let me know, if you have any questions or suggestions by emailing me.

Ilya P

Data Job

PS Looking for a data science job in Germany at a tech company with interesting challenges, pay and work culture? Check our curated list of data science jobs in Germany.

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