A few months ago I visited Amsterdam city hall which is called 'Iveen'. I met Els Heldens who is responsible for Education. She said she works 32 hours a week. She goes there 4 days a week and works 8 hours a day. She is a part timer.
Of course she receives a good salary and also receives health insurance, a pension and other kinds of provisions, the same as a full timer receives.
Her husband is also a part timer. So when they got married and had a child, they took their holidays sliding to take good care of their child, so that they could bring up their child themselves with good couple cooperation at home and she could keep working.
I also visited 'Humanitas' in Rotterdam. It's an aged people's establishment. It was very big with 4 thousand people working there. There were people working full time and part time, 8 percent of them were part time, and 8 percent of the part time staff were women. They weren't so young. There were a lot of people in their 50s and 60s. They said if they all do the same job there then their wages for an hour are the same. There's no difference between full time and part time for an hour's work.
Thus a lot of Hollanders are working part time. They can have more leisure time and money to enjoy life with their partner, child and friends etc.
A lot of people can earn money even if they are not so young. They live their rich lives keeping the balance between working and enjoying life.
I understand the working system like this is taken everywhere in Holland, at home, schools, working places and companies if people need to.
As a result a lot of people can lead a happy life with a good work-life balance. It's an ideal system and social place.
In Japan there are a lot of problems to solve. For example, 70 percent of women stop working when they get married and have children, the problems of welfare, the increasing aging population and the decreasing birth rate. I'm sorry about it. I hope that these problems will be solved by this working system and life style in Holland, now in Japan too.
written by Mine
English language school in the heart of the Japanese Alps, and English language learners sharing their experiences online. Teachers post regular items about teaching, learning tools, events in the school, their day to day experiences living & working in a foreign country. Students post on whatever takes their fancy - book reports, festivals in home towns, postcards from business trips etc. A little Brit of England in the guts of Japan!
Thursday 2 April 2009
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Thanks Mine.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting article. These issues affect us all. Thank you for shedding some light on the problem subject.
Take care and see you next week,
Tana
Mine,
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a really interesting fact-finding trip.
Do you think Matsumoto city will listen and learn?
I have noticed that the recent economic climate has meant a lot of redundancies amongst part-time (mums) and temp. staff, which is going to have a big negative effect on our city.
I hope I'm wrong!
Thanks very much for your report.
jim