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Talking About Money
Germans are often described as direct, and in many situations they are: they will tell you plainly if your plan has a flaw. Money, however, is an exception. Many people consider their salary, savings and debts private, and asking about them directly, especially at work, can cause real discomfort. Surveys regularly find that a large share of employees do not know what their colleagues earn, and many have never told their friends their own salary. The reasons are partly cultural, a sense that showing off wealth is vulgar and that discussing money invites envy, and partly practical: for a long time employers discouraged staff from comparing pay. A 2017 law on pay transparency now gives employees in larger companies the right to ask how their pay compares with that of colleagues of the other gender doing similar work, and many collective agreements publish pay scales openly. Younger people are also noticeably more open about salaries than their parents. Other traditional taboos include asking how someone voted, which is protected by the secrecy of the ballot and often kept private even among friends. Rent, on the other hand, is a favorite topic in big cities, where the housing market is a constant source of conversation.