A look at Germany

Bureaucracy accounts for a fifth of working time

German employees spend 22 percent of their working time on bureaucratic activities.(Bild: stock.adobe.com)

Employees in Germany spend more than a fifth of their working time on bureaucracy. This is the result of a survey of managers conducted by the ifo Institute. This is a "considerable amount of personnel required to comply with ever new legal requirements", the respondents criticize.

Bureaucracy is also a burden on competitiveness and entrepreneurial freedom and "influences companies' investment decisions". According to the 450 managers surveyed, the time required is mainly due to excessive reporting, information, documentation and notification obligations. The legal regulations have become increasingly complex over the past ten years. 

In the survey, 75 percent described the practicability or feasibility of laws as poor to very poor. In order to meet the bureaucratic requirements, eight out of ten respondents use external service providers. Bureaucracy costs them an average of six percent of their turnover.

Ifo Center: "Urgent need for reform"
According to an earlier Ifo study, bureaucracy in our neighboring country costs up to 146 billion euros in economic output every year. "The large scale of the costs caused by bureaucracy illustrates the urgency of the need for reform. The cost of doing nothing is huge compared to the growth potential that lies dormant in reducing bureaucracy," said Oliver Falck, Head of the Ifo Center for Industrial Organization and New Technologies.