I don't really find Germany "ridiculous". Many people, looking at German - say - products, would find the overall output of other nations pretty laughable. Every system has positives and negatives.

IMO, the benefit of the non-trivial notice period, from the point of view of the company, is for cases of employee quitting. With employee giving same notice (quid pro quo), it gives company time to prepare for the transition. This is not a voluntary departure, company should've had replacement ready before informing employee.

@Fattie: The answer says the long notice period is ridiculous not the country. I had 3 month notice period in Germany too. When I left, we just mutually agreed to a shorter one.

the notice period is a guard against companies willy nilly letting people go the moment they're temporarily not needed. And if the notice time for the company is linked to that for the employee it's also a guard against companies giving ridiculously long notice times for employees who quit while allowing themselves very short notice times.

I disagree, it's not ridiculous. I'd provide arguments, but as this answer is missing any consideration of the real reason of the 3 months period, I see no reason to.

@jwenting "And if the notice time for the company is linked to that for the employee it's also a guard against companies giving ridiculously long notice times for employees who quit while allowing themselves very short notice times." After a quick Google search for German law on firing employees, it looks like that might actually be illegal there - the company and the employee seem to be legally required to have the same notice time.

Most people leaving a company do so on broadly amicable terms or at least without wishing to burn bridges. It may not function when firing an unproductive employee but that does not mean it does not function at all.

Good answer in general, but regarding that last paragraph, the length of the notice period might not have been decided by the company. It might have been set by law or by a national contract, based on the employee's seniority (very cursory googling tells me 3 months might equal 8+ years with the same company). So 1) don't keep poor performers around for several years, and 2) if you do, be prepared to give them pay in lieu of notice.

The first two paragraphs do not answer the question. The final answer ignores German labour law. HR is not some dictator that can set the rules as they please.

Clearly written by someone who has never worked in say Germany or other western European countries with working social contracts and thinks zero hour contracts are sane. Given how rarely posts such as this come up, might give you a hint why this is a rare problem in practice for a myriad of reasons. Also there's inherently nothing wrong with making terminating employees more expensive for employers.

Answers based on ignorance of the law and even bare mechanics of German notice periods don't really work on questions about German notice periods.

3 months notice is the law in Germany; so just take it as a given. It doesn't matter if you, your boss, HR, or the CEO find it to be ridiculous.

@GuntramBlohm: 3 months notice is not the law in Germany, see: businesslocationcenter.de/en/labor-market/…

@JackAidley from your link: "If the employee has worked for the company for: [...] 8 to 9 years, the notice period is three months prior to the last day of the next month;"

@nick012000 could be, effect is the same though. In the Netherlands the notice time for the company has to be AT LEAST the same as that for the employee AND a minimum of 2 months if the employee has a notice time shorter than 2 months I believe (though that law changes regularly so it might be different by now)

@knabar notice that in Germany the minimum notice period depends on the length of employment up to the day notice is given. It's similar in other countries (though not in all I'm sure).

@knabar: and the other lengths of service are different. So it's not a blanket law, is it? After 12 years in the UK you have a right to 12 weeks notice, but saying "3 months in the law in the UK" would be - at best - wildly misleading.

@JackAidley Bah, it's semantics, either the law or the CBA put the notice period on 3 months. In this case "it's the law" is correct. Going around and being purposefully obtuse by saying "But actually there might be other cases" doesn't help in any way except being annoying.