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As a company these days, you don’t even know where to start beating your hands over your head. And this no longer has anything to do with complaining at a high level – what is now demanded of us medium-sized companies can hardly be surpassed in terms of pointlessness, carelessness and bureaucracy. A craft business like ours, which will soon have to pay a minimum wage of €15, simply doesn’t have the manpower to process all the statistics, surveys and regulations. While our direct competitors in the porcelain industry, e.g. in Portugal or Spain, are still paying far less than €10 per hour, we will soon have to wave the white flag in the direction of Portugal, Spain and the Far East, no matter how much we want our employees to earn €15. The German economy will thus be quietly abolished. At the same time, we are making ourselves dependent on everyone else, be it affordable energy, quality goods such as porcelain or, in the past, the automotive industry. Bravo. Anyone who has not yet relocated their production abroad is either stupid or – like us – wants to hold on to Germany as a production location for patriotic and sustainable reasons and therefore simply cannot pay attractive wages with a watering can. And if they do, the product becomes so expensive that no one wants to or can buy it. And then you need not be surprised when a traditional company, such as Rosenthal at the moment, has to close parts of its operations in order to somehow save itself from bankruptcy. Reducing bureaucracy? Exactly the opposite is currently happening for us as entrepreneurs. Recently, we received a new set of statistics that we will have to send electronically with a monthly deadline from January 2025. Among other things, it asks for the highest school-leaving qualification, weekly working hours and, of course, earnings. As a payroll accountant/financial accountant/purchaser/statistics clerk/marketing department/girl-for-everything, the question naturally arises: when are we supposed to do this and what business is it of theirs anyway? In case of doubt, we are not even interested in the highest school-leaving qualification when hiring new employees, as long as they do a reasonable job. It is actually difficult to find someone to work in a craft business, even if this may surprise people from Berlin or Brussels who are far removed from reality. In this country, if you are not employed by the state or through the state, or can influence your pay in any way through trade unions, the following question arises: how much less will I have to live on each month if I no longer go to work? Citizen’s income is probably not that far off. Isn’t that frightening? You don’t even have to hear someone express this thought. The mere possibility that it might no longer be worth going to work says everything that many young people want to know about the economy and social policy in Germany.

As a child of the 90s, I can still say with certainty that I was not brought up with such an attitude to work, but I know many older and younger people who have lost this attitude to life – and you can’t even blame them. At this point, I can’t help but think of the many cries for help from the skilled trades when it comes to business succession. In addition to the other tasks mentioned above here in the company, for me personally there is also the fact that we are a family business. Something that you are proud of and that you are happy to support with your manpower and ideas, where your heart is simply in it. Unfortunately, my generation has also had to experience an economic development in recent years that is characterized by industrial migration, more and more requirements, regulations and bureaucracy. In short: stones that nobody voluntarily ties around their ankles these days. Because they are as big and as heavy as prison chains for the medium-sized entrepreneur. The young person who a few years ago still believed in the feasibility and compatibility of family and business has now, at the latest, rudely arrived in reality and can’t help but ask themselves: “Do I really want to do THAT to myself?”. And the generation of senior bosses can now do nothing more than say “Yes… you’d better think about it…” Thank you, dear Federal Government, dear EU, this is entirely to YOUR credit. I’m sure you’ll get a decent bonus for that.