Benefits of Working as a Nurse in Germany
Germany is one of the best places to work as a nurse in the world. Not only do nurses have excellent chances of getting a job in this country, but they also enjoy a number of additional benefits that comes with full-time employment in Germany.
Nurses working in Germany benefit from the outstanding German social security system and several employee benefits. German government ensures workers are protected during their employment. For instance, employees have a number of rights and can not be easily terminated.
Read this article to learn about all benefits of working as a nurse in Germany. Yet, many of them apply to all professions, and some are particular to nurses.
Also read: Employees benefits in Germany.
1. Career and job opportunities
Most health professions are in high demand in Germany, especially nurses. Hence you will be hired and promoted fast.
Most nurses start their careers in a specific unit/department. After a few years, many nurses are promoted into positions as team leaders, leading their shifts at work and having some management responsibilities. Therefore, their responsibility and income are growing.
Once a nurse has made the leap to upper management, opportunities are endless. The very popular path for senior professionals is teaching future nurses in vocational schools.
So they change their career completely, from practical hospital work to academic. Keep in mind that in most cases, this position requires a bachelor’s degree in nursing.
2. High employment chances for foreigners
As we already know, nursing is in high demand in Germany. Therefore, the country actively involves foreigners from all over the world to cover all needs. Many workers get invited from the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, and India, but of course, all European citizens are very welcome.
Foreign nurses can be almost sure that they will find work in Germany, so big demand is. One you need to be sure of is your knowledge of German; it must be enough to communicate with patients and complete basic bureaucratic work.
If you already have a qualification or degree in nursing, you will need to recognize (legalize) it in special authority in the German region where you are planning to work. You can check it here.
3. High success rate in receiving a working visa
After you received a job, you need to apply for German work and residence permits. If you are already in Germany, visit the immigration office of your city to do so, or if in your home country – the German embassy.
Luckily for foreigners, nurses and especially senior caregivers are in very high demand in Germany; for this reason, they are on the shortage list. This list regulates in-demand professions for which the visa process is made especially easy.
Meaning there are no difficulties for foreigners to apply for a job and, consequently, for working and residence permits. Compared to other professions, they even don’t need to earn a particular salary to be approved.
4. Job demand and growth
Consequences of the information above that the job has huge demand and growth:
Job demand
German society gets older each year, hence nowadays there are more elderly people than young adults. Demand for nurses and senior carers will grow rapidly in the future. Germany will need to hire more and more people from abroad and offer them unfair advantages and work benefits, so they agree.
Job growth
The growth of health professions is much faster than the average for all occupations. Job growth occurs for a number of reasons, including the elderly population, an increased emphasis on preventive care, and growing rates of chronic conditions, such as diabetes and obesity.
The demand for healthcare services from the baby-boom population, as they live longer and more active lives.
5. Excellent qualification opportunities
Germany is famous for its qualifications, and so nursing is. If you are already working in nursing and want to take on new tasks, change specialization or get more responsibility, you can choose from a very wide range of further training courses to achieve these goals.
There are more than 200 nursing specialties in which you can earn a qualification. This will certify that you are an expert in that particular field. It often helps earn a higher salary and increases the demand for your services. You can probably find a specialization in any field that interests you.
For nurses with vocational training or degree qualifications/specialization in the following fields are possible:
- Anesthesia and intensive care
- Operations and endoscopy service
- Oncology
- Clinical geriatrics
- Rehabilitation and long-term care
- Palliative and hospice care
- Hygiene
- Nephrology
- Psychiatric care
For nurses with bachelor’s or master’s degrees:
- Head of the department
- Care expert
- Care consultant
- Palliative Care
- Specialist in culture-sensitive care
- Specialist in-home care
- Specialist for health and social services
- Assistance, support, and helpers in the care
Most of the courses take place as part-time education. Sometimes employer even pays for your additional qualification.
6. Regulated but flexible working hours
Nurses in Germany work fixed hours in 3 different shifts:
- From 6 am to 2:30 pm
- From 1:30 pm to 10:00 pm
- From 8:30 pm to 6:00 am
In total is around 40 hours per week. Your shifts will always change, with a very small amount of night work. Nurses can also tell their preferences if they like to work more in the morning or at night their schedule can be optimized accordingly.
There are some people who prefer to work only nights, their schedule than 6-night shifts and 6 free days afterward. In some cases, nurses work 12 hours shifts, but it’s more common for in-home care.
7. Flexibility for life, family, and work
The shift work schedule of nurses is very flexible and adaptable. Therefore, they can do certain things during the week or in their free mornings when normal people are working.
What a beautiful life when you can go to the gym, and do your groceries or paperwork on a Monday morning to avoid all these usual crowds full of business and stress. Or maybe organize 3 days trip to France with your loved ones?
Working as a nurse opens new perspectives of life and helps to escape the daily routine, that regular employees have.
Nursing is also a very flexible job in context with location: nursing skills allow you to travel or move all across Germany and work in any city or village because hospitals with open vacancies can be found almost everywhere.
8. Various employment places
Nurses are needed in different industries, not only in classical hospitals (although it’s still a favorite employment place).
Apart from them, potential employers are private clinics, nursing homes, and also, depending on the type of training completed, ambulatory care, residential homes for the elderly, home care, children’s hospitals, and many more.
Your alternatives to employment in a hospital might be:
- Practices of specialist doctors
- Health centers
- Old people’s homes and nursing homes
- Dormitories for people with disabilities
- Outpatient social services
- Insurance companies
- Vocational schools
- Private companies
- Rehabilitation centers
9. Job security
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Overall you can be sure in your job if you are working in Germany, whether it’s nursing or cleaning service. But as a part of the hospital, which is usually a huge organization with thousands of employees, you can rely on your job 100%.
They also usually have a work council, the main task of which is to take care of and protect the employees of the company. So no worries, working in a German hospital means you are in good hands.
In addition, to this nurses will always be a necessary part of the healthcare system, and hospitals are unable to function without them. Nurses provide care to people in almost every aspect of the industry, not only in healthcare. That’s why there are so many jobs and career opportunities for them.
Even in times of economic uncertainty, nurses are always able to find positions in which to work.
Nursing is still one of the most popular professions for women in Germany. Because nurses are so ingrained in society, there will always be a need for them, no matter what happens.
10. Social security
All the people who are working in Germany enjoy social security and its benefits. However, they also need to pay monthly contributions in order to use them later or upon request.
Social security contains different sectors such as health insurance, unemployment, pensions, and different nursing care. All payments together take a significant part of a worker’s salary.
The total amount of social contributions per month is 40.45% of the employee’s gross income, but the employer covers half of the cost, meaning that you will have to pay only 20%. Since employees contribute to the state system, they also have the right to receive compensation.
Germany has the second-highest social security contribution for a single person, above only Slovenia at 22,10%.
Here are the exact numbers for each of them:
| Employee | Employer | |
| Health insurance | 7.3% | 7.3% |
| Retirement insurance | 9.35% | 9.35% |
| Unemployment insurance | 1.5% | 1.5% |
| Nursing care insurance | 1.175% | 1.175% |
| Accident insurance | 1.2% |
Similar to elsewhere, Germany’s social security system is mainly funded through contributions paid by both working people and their employers. Below you can read about each of these insurances.
11. Health insurance
Health insurance is obligatory for all people in Germany. You need to have one before coming to Germany in order to obtain a visa. During employment, 14.6% of the gross salary goes to contribute to health insurance, 7.3% pays the employee, and 7.3% is paid by the employer.
It’s divided into two different systems: state health insurance and private health insurance. Higher earners must sign up for private coverage, which can offer shorter waiting times and better hospital conditions.
But nurses, together with 85% of the population in Germany, usually have regular state health insurance, e.g, AOK. Members of the employee’s family might also be covered by insurance.
Whether is state health insurance or private health insurance, they cover most basic services by the doctor and treatments, including outpatient and inpatient medical care. Some specialist care, such as eye care, special dental care, and alternative medicine not available or comes with limitations on what you can claim.
12. Retirement insurance
All employees and also some groups of self-employed persons must pay contributions by law (9.35% pays the employee and 9.35% pays the employer). If you have worked and paid contributions in Germany for more than 60 months (5 years), you will receive a German pension after reaching the official German pensionable age.
Currently, about 85% of the workforce is enrolled in Public Retirement Insurance. Contributions to the plan will be increased by about 20% by 2025.
In that way, Germany wants to secure older people so they can receive their pensions and have an adequate standard of living even in retirement. But also the pensionary age will be increased in the next years.
The maximum pension payout is currently around 67% of the average net income during the insured person’s working life. The retirement age is 65 for people born before 1947 and 67 for those born after 1964.
It is not uncommon for people to receive pension payments from two or more countries. When foreign employees return to their home country, German pension rights can be sent to them.
13. Unemployment insurance
All employees must have unemployment insurance in case they lose their job. You can use the benefits of this insurance after working and paying contributions for at least one year in the last 5 years.
Monthly payments for unemployment insurance are 1.5% of the gross salary paid by the employee and 1.5% by the employer.
Which unemployment compensation can you expect?
People with children will get 67%, and without children, it’s 60% of the net wage you received on average per day in the last 12 months before the unemployment. Monthly compensation might not exceed 6,700 EUR in West Germany and in 6,150 EUR in East Germany.
Additionally, an unemployed citizen will also receive allowances for housing and other things that are crucial for survival.
Unemployment benefits are paid by employment agencies for a maximum of 12 months (for older people up to 24 months). In particular, it depends on how long you have paid contributions and how old you are.
There are other benefits that can be received, including help with applying for work, financial help when taking up a new job (e.g. travel, equipment, and relocation expenses), training, and advice for becoming self-employed.
14. Accident insurance
Another part of Social Security is industrial accident insurance, which is paid in full by the employer (1.6%).
Statutory accident insurance offers protection and assistance in the event of a breakdown in the workplace or on the way to and from work. It also covers all occupational diseases, that can be critical for nurses if they got infected by patients.
The payments cover the costs of treatment, rehabilitation and recovery, invalidity pensions and funeral costs in the event of death.
15. Sick leave
Employees in Germany are entitled to sick pay equal to a regular day’s salary. If you are ill on a working day, you must report it to your employer – to the lead of the department in your hospital.
If you have worked in your company for longer than four weeks, you are entitled to six weeks of sick pay (under certain circumstances, the employer has to continue payments for up to 12 weeks).
After the six weeks period, there is an option for additional weeks if needed – sickness benefit, which gives you financial support of 2,887 EUR for up to 78 weeks.
If you are sick during your holiday, some companies will let you count this as sick leave rather than holiday leave.
16. Paid holidays
Nurses in Germany enjoy their hard-earned paid holidays for at least 20 working days per year. If you work six days per week, then your annual minimum paid vacation is 24 working days.
17. Maternity/Parental leave
Working mothers are allowed to take a maximum of three years’ parental leave per child. The beginning and end are freely selectable by the applicant within the first years. If the employer agrees, 12 of the 36 months can also be taken as parental leave between the child’s 3rd and 8th birthdays.
Employees have a legal right to work part-time (up to 30 hours per week) during parental leave. With the nurse’s flexible schedule, it’s very easy to switch to part-time employment, as many in healthcare do so. After parental leave, they are entitled to a return to their previous working hours.
During the employee’s pregnancy and in a period of 4 months after childbirth, no termination of the employment relationship by the employer is permissible.
Do you get paid?
Female employees are entitled to full paid maternity leave (starting no later than 6 weeks before the expected birth date and ending 8 weeks after childbirth), which is equivalent to the full monthly salary. Payments to the employee are made partly by the health insurance provider and partly by the employer.
After these two months, the employer is not entitled to pay, this will do state instead (Elterngeld). Parents can expect 67% of the net salary will be paid as a parental allowance, but only for 14 months. Although, this compensation can only be a minimum of 300 EUR and a maximum of 1,800 EUR per parent.
If needed, parental allowance can be extended to a maximum of 28 months, but the contribution will be reduced by half.
Since you are a taxpaying resident of Germany, you can also get a children’s allowance or Kindergeld for children up to 18 years old (25 years if still in full-time education). You can claim:
- 164 EUR per month for each of the first two children
- 170 EUR per month for the third child
- 195 EUR per month for any more children
18. Education assistance
Another huge benefit a working nurse can receive is educational assistance. It can include Professional Training (Weiterbildung) or a full Bachelor’s or Master’s Degree. While Professional Training is offered in many companies, only big businesses/hospitals can provide workers with a full degree.
Over the last 10 years, there had been significant improvement in educational assistance within companies. Many make a partnership with universities, where employees can start a degree course.
In this case, nurses will study part-time at university and work their regular job. Most of the time, it will be a bachelor’s or master’s degree in nursing with a desirable specialization. After completing the program, they can practice a new position within the organization or get promoted faster.
19. Life-long learning
This benefit is a part of the above-mentioned educational assistance, but in smaller importance both for employee and employer. If before it was an entire degree or professional training here, it’s all about learning while working.
Since there are so many specializations and areas in medicine, nurses, always need to learn in order to stay up to date. Often it happens during continuing education, which is normally organized by the employer in the form of workshops or such.
Moreover, by attending conferences, reading journals/books, attending graduate schools, and joining specialty organizations, they can keep their knowledge updated.
Salary
And of course, don’t forget about the high salary! Germany is one of the best places to work as a nurse because it’s paid very well! Read other articles about the salary of nurses and salaries in Germany so you will be aware of these numbers.
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