On average, employees in Germany have some of the shortest working hours in Europe. Couple this with high productivity levels, and it seems that Germans strike an ideal work-life balance! The page explains what you need to know about working hours, overtime, breaks and rest periods in Germany.
You might be surprised to know that Germany has one of the shortest average workweeks in Europe, with the average person clocking in 34,3 hours per week, according to the Federal Statistical Office.
Workplace norms and regulations in Germany might be different to what you’re used to back home, so as an international person working in Germany, it’s good to get a basic understanding of the following:
The legal framework for daily working hours in Germany is set out in the Working Hours Act (Arbeitszeitgesetz). It regulates not only the maximum length of working hours, but also breaks, rest periods, night, shift and Sunday work.
The Act applies to all employees and trainees over the age of 18, which means self-employed people are not covered. Anyone under the age of 18 is covered by the Youth Employment Protection Act.
Most German companies operate a 40-hour work week, meaning employees work between the hours of 9am and 5.30pm, Monday to Friday.
In 2023, the average working week in Germany was 34,3 hours. That’s well below the EU average of 36,9 hours, and also lower than you might expect, because it includes both full-time and part-time jobs.
The proportion of people working part-time in Germany has increased significantly over the last 30 years, meaning that average working hours have decreased, from 38,4 hours per week in 1991 to 34,3 hours per week in 2023.
Around 60,8 percent of people working in Germany work full-time hours. According to the Federal Statistical Office, on average, full-time employees in Germany work 40,2 hours per week.
That number has remained relatively constant since the 1990s: the average full-time working week in 1991 was 41,4 hours per week.
Some companies may operate a longer working week, but compensate their employees with a higher salary or additional vacation days. Self-employed workers often work more than 48 hours per week.
Many companies in Germany will allow you to work flexibly rather than sticking rigidly to the standard working day. This might include:
Anyone who works fewer than 30 hours per week is considered a part-time employee in Germany.
A substantial proportion of the population works part-time: 30,2 percent as of 2023. The average part-time worker in Germany works 20,8 hours per week.
Part-time work is increasingly popular, as freelancing and job-sharing become more prevalent. The generous provision in Germany for parental allowance also combines well with part-time work. In 2018, Germany’s biggest metalwork union won a legal battle to be granted the right to a 28-hour week.
Anyone who has been working at their company for at least six months (as long as the company employs at least 15 people) has the right to request a reduction in their weekly working hours. Your company is not obliged to say yes, but they must consider your request fairly.
On the other hand, if you already work part-time and would like to work more hours, you should notify your employer. In Germany, employers are obliged to give current part-time employees priority when they are recruiting for vacant positions, so long as:
Employees in Germany are entitled to take breaks during their working days, to rest and get something to eat. The length of the break depends on the length of the working day:
You can divide your breaks into smaller breaks of at least 15 minutes each.
Breaks are not considered working time in Germany, and so they are usually unpaid.
That’s why a typical workday in Germany goes from 9am to 5.30pm: you work for four hours in the morning, take a 30-minute lunch break, and then do another four hours of work in the afternoon. Over five days, this makes a 40-hour work week.
Breaks are there to enable workers to get some rest and eat something. You are therefore not allowed to skip your break, for instance, if you wanted to finish work early, or start your day later.
Rest periods are breaks between working days.
Legally, employees in Germany must be given an uninterrupted rest period of at least 11 hours between working days. This can be reduced to 10 hours on occasion if another rest period is increased to 12 hours within four weeks.
This regulation does not apply in the following settings:
Workers must also have 24 hours of rest on Sundays, although there are some exceptions to this (see below).
Workers in Germany are also entitled to at least four weeks of paid holidays per year. You can find out more about taking paid vacation on our dedicated page. Public holidays are generally given on top of this annual leave entitlement.
In Germany, there are strict legal limits on working hours: Section 3 of the Working Hours Act states that an employee in Germany may not work more than eight hours per day (48 hours per week).
This can temporarily be increased to 10 hours per day (60 hours per week), if:
As of 2025, the new German coalition government plans to replace these legally regulated maximum daily working hours with maximum weekly working hours, to “improve productivity”. If implemented, the maximum allowable working hours would be 48 hours per week, a maximum of 10 hours per day.
Employers in Germany are required to ensure that their employees’ working hours are recorded objectively, reliably, and in an accessible manner.
Until 2022, it was enough for employees to only record when they exceeded their regular working hours or worked on Sundays, but a Federal Labour Court ruling in September 2022 added the obligation for employees to systematically record their regular working hours as well.
As of March 2024, all employers in Germany have been required to implement a standardised company policy for recording employee working hours. As an employee, you should be asked to submit your working hours daily, for instance by completing a timesheet. Fines of up to 30.000 euros are payable for companies that do not keep records.
Overtime is any hours you work above the standard working hours set out in your work contract.
Overtime work must conform to the maximum working hours specified above (i.e. no more than 10 hours a day, averaging out at eight hours a day over a six-month period).
Overtime is usually compensated. You can receive either:
Your right to compensation for hours worked overtime will be specified in your employment contract, collective bargaining agreement, or company agreement.
Some companies maintain that a small amount of overtime is a normal part of the job and will not provide additional remuneration.
If you have any concerns about the amount of (unpaid) overtime you are working, it is best to speak with your employer. You might also consider consulting with a lawyer.
While Saturday is treated as a regular working day in Germany, the Working Hours Act prohibits working between the hours of midnight and midnight on Sundays and public holidays. There are, however, some exceptions.
The Sunday and public holiday rest provision does not apply to:
On top of this:
For instance, the supervisory authority sometimes grants permission in exceptional circumstances when Sunday working is needed to keep a business competitive. Amazon has cited this as a reason to ask employees to work on Sundays in the run-up to Christmas, although the company’s appeals are not always successful.
Supermarkets are allowed to periodically open on Sundays, although this is capped at a limited number of times per year, which is different for each federal state.
If you are asked to work on a Sunday, you should make sure that one of the above exceptions apply. Some collective agreements, work agreements and employment contracts make it impossible for employers to request Sunday working.
If you work on a Sunday or a public holiday, your employer must offer you a compensatory rest day within eight weeks. It is not possible to swap this compensatory rest day for extra money.
Your employer must also make sure that you are not working on at least 15 Sundays per year (with some exceptions for industries like theatres, orchestras and animal husbandry).
Although there is no statutory entitlement to extra pay if you work on a Sunday or public holiday, most companies voluntarily offer their workers a Sunday bonus (Sonntagszuschlag), to make working on the weekend a more attractive prospect. It will usually be stipulated in your work contract, collective agreement or works agreement if you’re entitled to a Sonntagszuschlag.
The Sunday work bonus is usually exempt from income tax. This is true if:
If you earn no more than 25 euros per hour (gross), you do not pay contributions to social security on your Sunday bonus.
Public holiday bonuses are also tax-free, up to varying thresholds depending on the holiday:
In Germany, night work is defined as any work lasting more than two hours that takes place between the hours of 11pm and 6am (10pm and 5am in bakeries and pastry shops).
A night worker is someone who normally works night shifts as part of their regular working hours, or works at night for at least 48 days in a calendar year, according to the Arbeitszeitgesetz.
According to Federal Statistical Office figures from 2023, 4,6% of all employees in Germany, and 5,7% of self-employed people, regularly work nights.
Night workers are covered by the same rules as regular employees, but there are some small differences:
If you receive a night shift bonus (Nachtzuschlag), it is normally tax-free up to the value of 25% of your gross hourly wage. For hours worked between midnight and 4am, the night bonus is tax-free up to 40% of the value of the gross hourly wage, according to the Federal Ministry of Finance.
It’s also worth noting that these tax-free allowances for night and public holiday work can be combined together. So, for example, if you worked a night shift on May 1, you could receive a tax-free bonus of up to 190% of your regular hourly wage (150% for the public holiday, plus 40% for the night shift between midnight and 4am).
Night workers are entitled to regular occupational health check-ups (once every three years, or every year for employees over the age of 50), paid for by the employer. If the doctor decides that night work poses a health risk, the employer is obliged to transfer the employee to day shifts.
As a night worker, you also have the right to request a transfer to day shifts if:
Night work is prohibited for people below the age of 18 and pregnant and breastfeeding women.