This summer I hung out with a Greek friend who spent 20 years working in America. Only after he retired and returned to Greece did he realize that not once in all those years did he take a nap. Now that he’s back in Greece, if he’s sleepy in the afternoon, he takes a snooze. It’s got me thinking about how hard Americans work and how that compares with Europe.
United Europe has 400 million people with an annual economy of about 13 trillion dollars. To put that into relative terms, the United States has 300 million people producing about 13 trillion dollars annually. We’ve got the same size economy. They’ve got more people.
You’ll hear American proponents of our system put down the European system with claims that they don’t make as much money as we do. True — with more people generating only the same gross economy, they make less money per person. But Europeans make essentially the same per hour as we do.
I was raised believing there was one good work ethic: you work hard. While we call this the work ethic, it’s actually only awork ethic. Europeans have a different one. They choose to work roughly 25 percent fewer hours and willingly make 25 percent less money. While that may not be good for business — it is good for life. While choosing to work less is part of “family values” in Europe, here in business-friendly America working less is frowned upon…almost subversive.
I’ve got a friend in Seattle who’s evangelical about holidays. He runs a very small movement called Take Back Your Time (www.timeday.org). Its mission: to teach Americans that we’ve got the shortest vacations in the rich world, and it’s getting worse. His movement’s national holiday was just a couple weeks ago — October 24th. That’s because, by their estimates, if we were Europeans working as hard as people do here, October 24th would be the last day we’d have to go to work.
Things are changing, though. With the pressures of globalization, Europe is having to rethink some of its live-more-work-less ideals. I have a theory that in Ireland, sales of Guinness are threatened and the number of pubs are shrinking at the same rate that the number of cafés are increasing, because drinkers of stout are shifting to lagers and drinkers of lager are shifting to coffee. It’s a symptom of our faster-paced, more competitive world.
Rick…………I don’t agree with the Guinness/Lager/coffee theory but Ireland has changed dramatically since 1995. People work at a modern pace with all the pressures and the country is more “sophisticated” than it used to be…….Pub shrinkage is for a variety of reasons but people still enjoy the “craic”……………Ireland in that sense is still Ireland fortunately…..good theory though………even if I disagree….in Spain is the siesta waning due to modern 24 hour business in real time???….things are changing in this fast paced Internet sound byte world….
Rick, I think that the US could definitely take a lesson from the European work day. I remember while working in Europe noticing how much more people seemed to enjoy life. Yes, on occasion it was frustrating, especially during deadlines; but overall it was worth it. Good to take a minute to smell the roses so to speak.
America the so called “Land of the free”. Ha ha ha ha!! that makes me laugh so hard! Most of you only get to enjoy 2 weeks off per year. Doesn’t sound like freedom to me! It sounds like paid slavery!
Hey Rick, don’t mistake the Greek work ethic for European in general. You yourself recently complained about the shoddiness of Greece in general. Little Belgium (or at least, Flanders) and the Netherlands didn’t stake out their positions in the higher ranks of the world economies by making the afternoon nap an institution… it somestimes seems like my Dutch-speaking in-laws never sleep. The British certainly didn’t become the world’s first industrial power by napping in the afternoon.
The concepts of working hard and working less can coexist. I have a good friend that has three children. She left a full time sales posistion at a fortune 200 company two years ago to go work for a local competitor. She now works two days a week, making almost the same annual income on straight commission, and has a great deal more flexibility for her family. She does all this by working hard and working less.
Rick, you put your finger on the main problem with the United States. Too many U.S. employers feel free to abandon the 40 hour work week in favor of the 24/7 work lifestyle. This is mainly the result of the diminishment of unionization in the U.S. following the decline of the industrial work force. Unions were the reason for the 40 hour work week, and the growing lack of unions are the reason for the two week vacation. The U.S. government and state governments won’t dare limit workers hours due to the political money of the business owners. U.S. teachers, who are unionized, get the whole summer off. Everyone else is a slave. Obviously, any clear headed individual would grasp the concept that you should work to live, not live to work. And yet, we Americans are bullied and brainwashed by our employers to think the opposite. I can recall many stories of young people in the same line of work as me, who have worked 24/7 and died of cancer or accidents, etc. I feel so sorry for those people and their families never having a chance to smell the roses. Vacation should be a right, not a privilege. Work also has an insidious effect on one’s personal life, and if you are not very careful, you will end up divorced, in bankruptcy due to living beyond your means, or suffering mental problems or drug abuse problems due to work. Americans need to set their priorities straight and demand a healthy balance of work and family life. The U.S. government’s inability to pass measures to ensure that balance is its greatest failure.
I semi-retired many years ago. It has been quite an adjustment. I am still adjusting. I was on 24/7 call all my working life and it became my life. I was very good at it. I thought being the best at it meant I loved it and had found passion. Then I stumbled into a real passion and tackeled it with the same skills (and obsession) I used in my first career. Big mistake. I turned my avocation into my vocation. Again, 24/7 on call kind of life. I visit more countries regularly than most have, yet never saw the sights because I was always at a sporting venue pursuing my passion in the “American Way”. I am still trying to slow down, but feel like I’m wasting my life if I do. I feel aimless and at loose ends. I can only see so many beautiful things, eat so many new foods and drinks and smile at new friends for so long. I am what I am and I am truly good and programmed. So, I read Rick and try to see how humans are able to stop and smell the roses.
America is a hyper-Capitalism. American workers need to produce more and make more money because most of us have bought into the lies of the advertising agencies telling us that we all need a McMansion in Sprawlburbia, a BMW and a Suburban in the garage, a sit-down lawnmower, a walk-in closet the size of a European living room, a bedroom for each kid, and endless supply of junk to stack high inside our attics. More does not mean more happiness, but most American don’t understand that. Most Americans will outspend and outwaste any other people group on the planet and not even realize they are doing it. All of this on top of the fact that most of our cities are the most inefficently designed urban spaces in the world as well. Urban sprawl has raised costs and makes it more expensive to maintain a sustainable lifestyle. America went down the wrong path after WWII, and pretty soon now we are going to be paying the price for it. —-On a completely different note however, I have faith in American ingenuity to pull us out of this mess.
If only we could be more like those Greeks and relax a little. What do we need so much money for? Americans have a lot of trouble enjoying life. What I wouldn’t give for their lifestyle…
There are different ways of defining freedom. In this country, people are taught to think, that they are the most free of all people, but they do not know, that they have much fewer rights than people in other Western democracies do. Yes, you are free from socialism that you abhor, but you are not guaranteed healthcare, do not get 5-6 weeks paid vacations/year, do not get a year of paid maternity leave (making 80 % of what you were making at work) and so on. In Europe it is all about the quality of life.
Europeans in general and the French and Spanish in particular know how to enjoy life. Their way of life is slower, but more importantly the people know how to celebrate; something we Americans have forgotten how to do. I have to laugh at some of the comments about employers; they seem to have become the new boogeymen for our left leaning brother and sisters. Just a clue, but employers are “us”. We choose to work the longest hours on earth. We choose not to celebrate holidays. We choose not to enjoy eating together as a family. We choose to ignore our neighbors. Employers don’t choose those things. Unions don’t teach those things. We act that they and we teach that way of life to our children. If you are looking for the responsible party, please just look in the mirror. Leave off the victimology those who really are victims. Then invite your neighbor over for a simple dinner of pasta, a glass of wine, a fruit and cheese for dinner. Learn to enjoy people. Cheers.
While we should question why Americans “put down” a European work-day model, we should also question why and how Europeans developed their work-day model to begin with. Shortened work weeks have come about in Europe for many political reasons that have little to do with a public good, it just happens that the public might benefit. We also have to consider the role a country plays in world affairs. In the U.S. we have to consider that we have a large global function (for better or worse) in the world, at least militarily bigger than many other countries, and we can compare this to a country like say Japan who after WWII had a fairly limited military function so focused on building infrastructure. European countries have been somewhere in the middle globally, many focusing on cultural consistency more than competition. So this leads to some stark differences. Yet as you say, as countries are starting to feel the need to compete more, I think we’ll all stop calling it the “American” way and just realize that “any” way comes about due to the geo/political circumstances surrounding the culture. Another interesting comparison is to compare, just in America, the one-income families of the 50’s and prior, to the two-income families of today. It’s difficult to imagine a modern family living on only one-income because our economy has adjusted to the two-income household. Maybe we can just chalk it up to “progress.â€
I’m pretty convinced Germans don’t work, judging by how packed IKEA is on a Tuesday afternoon. Altstadts are always full of people, regardless of time. There seems to be hundreds of German holidays. Gyms in the town I live in don’t open til 8 a.m. – further proof that Germans have nowhere to be. Of course, I’m just jealous being an overworked American living abroad.
Europeans in general and the French and Spanish in particular know how to enjoy life. Their way of life is slower, but more importantly the people know how to celebrate; something we Americans have forgotten how to do. I have to laugh at some of the comments about employers; they seem to have become the new boogeymen for our left leaning brother and sisters. Just a clue, but employers are “us”. We choose to work the longest hours on earth. We choose not to celebrate holidays. We choose not to enjoy eating together as a family. We choose to ignore our neighbors. Employers don’t choose those things. Unions don’t teach those things. We act that they and we teach that way of life to our children. If you are looking for the responsible party, please just look in the mirror. Leave off the victimology those who really are victims. Then invite your neighbor over for a simple dinner of pasta, a glass of wine, a fruit and cheese for dinner. Learn to enjoy people. Cheers.
I’m all for working more efficiently, AND learning to relax and let the beauty of life surround me. They are not mutually exclusive, even here in America. I choose to do this, even though many of my coworkers sit at their cubes through lunch nearly every day of the eyar. I make a point to get out of the office almost daily at lunch, and spend quiet time by myself napping, reading, relaxing, meditating, praying, what have you. It’s amazing what life feels like when take in a 20-minute walk in the autuman air. I try to live by my creed as often as possible: naps are good, exercise is good, reading is good, working is good, praying is good, eating is good; spending time with family and friends is good…Europeans AND Americans – heck, all of humankind – should keep this in perspective. Life needs balance. I think God wants this for all of us.
I have to disagree with Michael B, somewhat. “…but employers are “us”. We choose to work the longest hours on earth. We choose not to celebrate holidays”. Not sure you are serious. Employers are not employees. Employers set the work hours and more importantly, the work load, which extends the work hours. Not voluntary OT in my opinion. Additionally, I have never heard of anyone who doesn’t like paid holidays. Some employers offer no paid holidays, others very few. Again, if they are not paid, employees “choose” to work just to pay the bills. Surely you are aware of the pressure and subtle threats employers use to keep people scared of losing their jobs. You can knock off the partisan/left wing slam, too. This is a universal problem and I am a conservative. How about being part of the solution?
Apparently the number got dialed back in France years ago to 35 hrs to create more jobs. By only paying the employee for 35 hours they were able to create 350,000 new jobs. But see this article… http://www.usnews.com/blogs/small-biz-scene/2007/1/9/who-says-the-french-dont-work-hard.html..about small business owners globally who work even more hours than US small business owners. When I graduated from nursing school in the 70’s and started working in NY I had a benefit package with days off to kill for (somewhere around 1 month vacation, a week of sick days and 10 holidays) and I believe it was because of unions in the North. I moved to the South and it was slashed to one fourth of what I had. Now I am an attorney and make my own hours so I have no one to blame but myself as a small business owner if I don’t take what I need.
I have to disagree with Michael B as well. I work for a company that has mandatory overtime on the production lines and during our busy season, they can be running 24/7 which with only 2 shifts, means 12 hour work days that can go for several weeks running. Being tardy or absent can earn you points. Ten points gets you fired. Depending on how tardy, you get either 1/2 a point or a point. Being absent is a point. And before you say, “well those employees could find other jobs,” jobs aren’t that easy to come by, especially in small towns like I live in.
You know what I do to relax? I fish. I hit a trout stream and feel the rhythm of the water. (Yes, I catch and release) I love being disconnected and seeing and living the beauty of the river. Folks, Michael B said it best. We have to lighten up and enjoy other people. Take time to get to know your neighbors and co-workers because in the end you will never say before you draw your last breath “I am late with my report”…… Peace.
I would love to relax, but the current standard is to lay someone off and then add that person’s workload to the next in line. Many people are doing the job that took three people a few years ago. You end up dropping balls even while working very long hours. After a hour meeting with my manager that outlined all the things that I needed to do and all of them important and urgent, I was asked what I was going to do this weekend. Ack! I would be working. I feel guilty taking time off to catch The News Hour. In today’s economy we all want to keep our jobs and it is not an easy time to be looking for balance in your life. I choose to remain employed and paying the mortgage.
I see there is a resistance to seeing that employers are actually human just like employees. The point I was trying to make is that each of us bear responsibility for our lives; no one is “doing it” to us. There are those who like to create boogeymen that are responsible for all our ills, but I reject that frame of mind. It may work on the ignorant and the unthinking, but the last time I reviewed my life the only person that was present every time something went wrong was me. It is the only unifying factor. No one and nothing else was present every time. If it makes you feel good to blame others for all your ills, no one is stopping you. BUT, everyone of us bears the responsibility to call BS on it when we hear it. When we condone such propaganda of victimhood, then we are the problem and not the answer. Guys, being someone that served the labor movement for over 20 years, please don’t try and tell me that it is innocent of wrong doing and only the “big, bad, corporate world” is where bad things happen. Stupid decisions, actions, philosophies take place wherever humans participate. The world is not black and white, but is full of gray. I tire of this type of simplistic hoohah and scapegoating. I appreciate the Latino influence in American society because I find that they can teach us WASPs how to enjoy the simple pleasures of life more fully. I wonder how many of us even know all the neighbors on our block or even next door. A better life begins first with me; not the other individual and that rule never changes. Cheers.
Wait — you found a retired guy that has time to take a nap? I’ll alert the media. I’m not sure why he had to go all the way to Greece to figure that out, though.
I guess this is why and how Europeans have time to concern themselves with American politics.
I am an American living/working in Budapest and I’m facing the decision to return to California or stay in Europe. The work attitude you described is making my decision very tough. I can’t image returning to the crazy work hours and the stress of a US job. Then again, this same relaxed attitude in Europe is extremely frustrating when you want to go to the store and everything is closed on a Saturday. I guess you can’t have both. -jared joobili.com
Most of europe is heavily unionized which is one reason the work conditions are so good. Without strong unions, employers take advantage of the work force. Always have, always will. In the USA unions have been heavily demonized by the corporations through their corporate media and the public falls for it. This is one of the main reasons you all work like slaves. It is a matter of balance. Unions balance the corporations. Balance is seldom perfect, but better than nothing. I don’t want to hear about corrupt unions unless you also write as much about corrupt business. So, no point, right?
I think that many of us have more choice than we think we do! Or at least we did way back before getting used to the American way of excess. Look at the high rate of debt most Americans have and the resulting amount of “stuff”. I find it so liberating to be on holidays with one carryon–life is so much simpler (with fewer decisions about what to wear!!) I think it’s scary and foolish to want the government to legislate so many things we should be taking the responsibility for. I understand that sometimes the choice at work may seem to be limited or non-existent. But one poster suggested happy ways of using lunchtimes. I see many families who say they “have to work”–to support their spending habits. We’ve been able to make some difficult decisions to work less, spend less but live more! I’m so glad that my grown children are making decisions to turn down the 70 hour/week position in order to extend the time they have to do the things they would like to do (on a smaller budget). As previously posted, are we working to live or living to work? With careful scrutiny of our needs versus wants there may be more choices!
Work is important.Earning money and learning new skills, building your contact lists are key things in life. Vacation is necessary too to avoid burnout and enjoy life outside work if you have time to take it. It’s a matter of priorities which are decided by each person. I love trips across the pond too but work must come first for me.
There seems to be quite a bit of “the grass is greener on the other side” mentality in this thread. There are pluses and minuses to everything. Rick sites Greece as an example, but Greece is hardly typical of Europe as a whole- the Greek “work ethic” is as foreign to a Belgian, Swiss or Irish worker as it is to us. Europe does offer many social protections for people who are gainfully employed, but the flip side of this has been chronicly high unemployment rates, and a growing proportion of people in “temporary” employment with little to no social benefits. Also, the proportion of unionized workers in Europe has followed the same downward spiral as in the US (only France and Germany currently have a higher percentage of unionized workforce, and not by very much). Recessions in Europe have, on average, also longer than the US. I would never argue that things in the US are perfect (far from it!), but realize that their is also a social cost to chronicially high unemployment and sluggish economic growth, as the French have recently painfully discovered in the Parisian suburbs. Many people do benefit from the European social model, but an uncomfortably large number now find themselves shut out as well.
Rick, do you find it ironic that you are as stingy with paid vacation time for your employees as you are? I’ve often thought I’d love to come work for you until I read a post once when you said you only give standard corporate America vacation time. I work for a non-profit and am fortunate to enjoy 26 days off a year in addition to sick time and holiday.
I’ve seldom read such a load of complete BS as Michael B’s comments. The last three permanent jobs I interviewed for, the potential employers were quite open about expecting a 55-60 hour working week from their “professional” staff. Not just in short term emergencies, but week in, week out, *permanently*. All overtime being uncompensated, of course. So, guess what the answer is (well, what my answer was, anyway). Instead of looking for permie jobs, I worked on a contract basis. Sure, you get shown the door once the work you’re doing is completed, but who has job security in this day and age, anyway? I’ll tell you the big difference, though. I filled in AGENCY timesheets to tell them the hours I worked, and of course the agency would listen to none of this “voluntary overtime” nonsense. Guess what? All of a sudden, all this overtime that was vital suddenly disappeared once the company actually found it would have to PAY for it. For those of you who want the (so-called) job security that comes with a “permanent” job, then be my guest. For anyone who likes being paid for the hours that you actually work for your employer, go freelance. Yes, of course you have to carry your own overheads, and you do a lot of extra work on your own time – but the difference is that the beneficiary of that work is *YOU*, not the employer who will show you the door without a moment’s thought the next time the beancounters decide that the company has to “downsize”. Oh, incidentally – I’m English, but in the USA because I married an American. We have much stronger unions in England, even though we work the longest hours in Europe (last I read), but we don’t put up with a fraction of the BS that you get this side of the pond. Any employer “expecting” a 55-60 hour week while only paying for 40 would end up in front of an employment tribunal so quickly it would make their corporate head spin.
I suppose I should qualify that last posting of mine before you all decide that the contract world is the way to work. Folks, be warned. As a contractor (at least in the computer industry) you will be the dogsbody of the workforce, given only the jobs that are either too boring or too difficult for the permanent staff to want to do. In most (but NOT all) companies, you will be treated like a piece of doggy-doos, and if they have their own programmers, management will live for the day when they don’t need you any more. If you can just focus SOLELY on the bottom line, then you have a chance. If you need to be appreciated, don’t even THINK about going contracting.
Hi Rick, I completely agree with your observations about the work ethic differences in Europe vs. the U.S. I once spent 8 weeks in Ireland as a college student, living with a friend there, and her dad was on vacation the entire time I was there! AND driving a company car though he was on vacation. It was great having him to cook us dinner and drive me around to see sights! My first full-time job was in Europe, and I had a very tough time transitioning to working full-time in the U.S. once I graduated from college. I felt like I was being worked to death, with longer workdays and fewer days off! I have an article from TIME magazine, dated July 28, 2003 stuck to my fridge. The title of the article is, “Europeans Just Want to Have Fun”. I keep it there to remind myself that there are more important things to life than making money and having a high-powered career. Thanks for posting on this issue; it’s dear to my heart, and I’m going to check out your friend’s website.
Not to pile on Michael B, but I also don’t get the point. Yes, of course emplyers are human, but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t the ones making the decisions as to how and how much their employees will work. To say that people can decide for themselves how much they want to work is absurd. It’s bigger than employers, though. Our entire culture and corporate system is built around the fabled “Protestant work ethic.” It is often difficult for employers to diverge from this norm, especially for public companies that are accountable to Wall St. Unions aren’t perfect, but they would certainly help address the imbalance.
As an ex-fast food employee, I have to wonder if Michael B. has ever worked at one? If he has, his philosophy was developed after his tenure because no fast food place would put up with any individual behavior. Hell, we even had to smile all the time. Not just be pleasant and do our job, but paste a sometimes phony attitude on like we were stage performers. That is something else Europe is better at. We get served by people who are people. Good day or bad. That is real and I like it.
So why are the French asking to get rid of the 32 hour work week???? Because it does not work(pardon the pun)
Nothing works forever.
Rick’s article pretty much confirms what I’ve noticed when travelling in Europe. The societal attitudes towards “work” seem to be somewhat different than in North America. Workers there seem to be provided with not only better vacation time, but they also enjoy a more relaxed work schedule and lifestyle. I don’t know whether the “productivity” is higher than here, but Europeans generally seem to operate at a slower and more relaxed pace in their daily lives. It’s a bit of adjustment when travelling to remember that stores are not always open on Sundays, and that businesses take a “siesta”. I can’t believe some of the material I’ve been reading in previous Posts. Two examples are the comments from Nancy about an employer using a “points system” and sacking anyone that reaches 10 points, and the comments from Pam about laying off people and then adding their workloads to the remaining group. I can’t believe such Draconian practises still exist! Ebenezer Scrooge is alive and well in the 21st century! I most certainly agree with some of the previous Posts regarding Unions providing some balance against abuses by employers (after all, that’s why Unions originated). I’ve always worked Union jobs, and although the system isn’t perfect it’s much better than the alternative. Many Union employees here receive six weeks holiday time per year, and work a 35 hour week (although 37.5 – 40 hours is more common). The system seems to work best when there’s about an equal balance between Unions and Employers, however at the moment the pendulum seems to be leaning towards the Employers. Lately, I’ve been looking at the concept of “voluntary simplicity”, but haven’t quite figured out yet how I can apply this to my situation. I suppose many in this part of the world will be gearing up for the usual orgy of Christmas spending shortly, and maxxing out the credit cards. Europeans seem to be a bit different in that regard also. Interesting discussion…..
And how are those Unions doing lately??? Membership is on the decline and union business after business cannot compete. Look at Honda/Toyota, their cost per vehicle is $2000.00 less due to not having to pay for all the non productive workers benefits. Look at all the cities having problems, Vallejo, Ca, Chicago, NY City, etc… all because of promises made by a few to benefit a few, but paid for by millions. I’m not saying that we should go back to the 1800’s and reenact child labor laws. No, I’ve always belive that a good worker will be kept by his/her employer. Good employees don’t need a union. Also, European mentality has been, for centuries, what will the government do for me or what will the king/queen do to take care of me. Now, many parts or Europe are seeing that all the years of supporting unproductive people and not making people resposible for their retirement or welfare has to stop. Look at France, they want to do away with the 32 hour work week. Europe is special because each country is special. Our country is special too, we have all different people and we basically get along. Anyone can become an American and succeed. Not everyone can become an Italian or Frenchman/women and succeed because you do not come from the right lines. People still are dying to come to America. So let’s get off the fact that we like to work, at least, some of us enjoy working. Work is a privelge, not a right.
Pubs in Ireland are closing, and have been closing at an alarming rate since 2004, for the same reason that pubs in England have been closing at an alarming rate since 2007. I guess the non-smoking did not live up to their promise to increase their patronization of the pubs after the bans took effect. :(
I understand going somewhere for the sole purpose of drinking when one is young. We are all trying to wear everything out when young. I don’t understand turning over-indulgence into a lifelong habit. Doesn’t seem to have an upside. I do think taking smoking out of pubs and introducing real food is a good idea over the long term. Might take awhile for people to change their habits, though. Michael: I suggest you google what you can find about the various labor/union massacres by management before you come down on unions. Unless you think killing women and children is okay…or even if you think it is okay to starve workers into submission.
Christ was a labor agitator. Remember what he said about the rich: A rich man has as much chance of going to heaven as a camel does going through the eye of a needle.
There’s no mandatory paid time off for US workers, not even July 4th. Freedom!
I am currently studying in Segovia, Spain, and I suffer from nap time guilt. What does this mean? It means that when I take a siesta after my 3pm lunch I feel guilty about wasting the day. After many months I am just starting to get over this guilt. I cant wait to start working like an American when I come home this month (insert sarcasm into that last sentence).
I live and work in america. However, I have to agree I think we have some things wrong. It seems our way of life is not right. I wish we did have more unions and a government which listens and helps its people, hopefully things will change, it is a little depressing. I like america, but it seems we have priorities a little wrong. I think work should help us live, not be our only priority like a slave. I also do not think greed should always rule.