I don't know what the future of this firm is.  But I always believed a happy worker is a productive worker and your most valuable capital to reinvest in for the growth and prosperity of a company.

Workers, I understand, are not happy there nor to they really support one another.  I do not believe there is a union there.

As to the future, I am sitting with fingers crossed waiting to hear back from FSU at Jena.  BTW, she did tell me, from your question over at Kos, that she gets 70-80 % of her check and 18 months maternity leave, but it is from the state I believe.  I am worried about Jena, though, the work their seems to be very hi-tech industry in optics and the like.  Zeiss is one of the big companies there.

So, I am trying to convince her to go to night school and get her Arbitur and look at attending the Uni.  She has expressed an interest in psycho-therapy and related women's issues.

But here is one of my biggest criticisms of Germany.  In the US people change careers or go to college later in life and if you have been out of school for a while, you do not have to take SATs, you just go (but pay!)

Here, at least in Germany, you have to decide which of the three types of high school your kid goes to at around age 9 and then they are locked in that societal class.  They make it very difficult by making one go back and get the Gymnasium equivalent of high school before entering the Uni.  Then there is the age discrimination if you are an older student (seems many student benefits are based on age rather than a student financial situation).  Not to mention age discrimination when entering another field later in life.  In this sense, then, there is a kernel of truth to the US as "the land of opportunity".  And that rant may be a future diary.

"Schiller sprach zu Goethe, Steck in dem Arsch die Flöte! Goethe sagte zu Schiller, Mein Arsch ist kein Triller!"