"Never thought about work-life balance" Gottschalk and Krüger question young people's eagerness to work
Fabian Tschamper
4.7.2024
Thomas Gottschalk and Mike Krüger can't understand why so many people nowadays place so much value on the work-life balance. In their podcast, the two criticize the work ethic of young people - and name two prominent examples.
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- Many people would like a four-day week for a better work-life balance, but Thomas Gottschalk and Mike Krüger take a critical view.
- Gottschalk explains that previous generations never thought about a work-life balance and saw work as fulfillment.
- He warns that young people today may have an unclear idea of their future, which often leads to shitstorms in discussions like these.
Many Germans long for the four-day week and thus a better balance between work and private life. Thomas Gottschalk and Mike Krüger, on the other hand, cannot understand the desire for more free time. In the latest episode of their podcast "Die Supernasen", Gottschalk explained: "Of course we want the next generation to have fun in life and we want everyone to be well. But we are of course concerned that certain things that were a given for us no longer apply."
According to the former "Wetten, dass...?" host, many young people today place value on things that were once completely irrelevant. "For example, we never thought about a work-life balance," Gottschalk clarified. "Even in our jobs, where people always say we don't work properly." The 74-year-old has also never taken a break due to illness. "There was never any question for me - I've never been ill in my life when I've appeared on the radio or television. I often talked about something with a sniffly nose."
For Gottschalk and Krüger, the profession was always something "that we loved and where we saw our fulfillment". Young people who "only look ahead" have "a somewhat vague idea of what lies ahead", Gottschalk warned.
"Then we'll have another shitstorm"
Mike Krüger agreed with his interviewer - and noted that he had also observed the supposed lack of enthusiasm for work in two younger show business colleagues. "Our friends, the Kaulitz brothers, I watched their documentary. They complain and are completely exhausted that they were on tour for five months and come home completely exhausted," reports Krüger in reference to the recently released Netflix reality series "Kaulitz & Kaulitz", in which Bill and Tom Kaulitz provide an insight into their professional and private lives.
Krüger himself once took on "280 days of travel" in a single year. "So, friends: that's what Thomas just said. We didn't think at all about how much we traveled or how much we were on the road," said the 72-year-old. "We did 120 concerts in a row, then we had two days off and then we did another 80 concerts. So from there: Dear Kaulitz brothers, I don't want to know how many concerts you gave in those five months." Krüger is certain: "Certainly not one every day, but one every week, that would be a lot."
He and Gottschalk saw "everything a little differently than perhaps many people do today in terms of work", Krüger summed up - and added: "I don't want to say any more about the documentary, because then we'll have another shitstorm."