Work Ethic or Burnout?
Although American workers don’t have as much legislated vacation time and flexibility as most European countries, we actually don’t come off too badly. The Japanese have a term, karoshi, to describe death from overwork. And were I in a developing country like Burma, I would be complaining about the fact that my fingers were bleeding from sewing clothes for twenty hours straight, not that my computer monitor hurts my eyes.
The truth of the matter is that even if we were allowed more time off, most of us wouldn’t take it. Even though 40 percent of American workers report their job to be extremely stressful, we only take about 71 percent of the vacation time we already have. Either we’re too busy at work to get away, we feel too much social pressure to stay in our offices, or perhaps we just don’t make enough money.
How do other countries manage such a permissive attitude toward working time? It’s simply due to a difference in priorities, specifically regarding the place of money in society. Americans work to accumulate wealth; the more money, we think, the happier we will be. The French, however, understand that happiness precedes income. To them, happiness comes from having time to spend with family and recharge, not from keeping up with the Joneses.
1 comment so far...
But they had it right in some ways. And vacation with a Blackberry? They wouldn't dream of it! I try to logon no more than ever 3 days when I'm on extended vacation but if I'm in town, I never make that goal, I'm always on more often.
Job security would help. Too often we feel our positions will be seen as unnecessary if we go away and they make do without us. We're too afraid of losing jobs because they carry everything in this country; our health insurance, our only form of any income...perhaps if the safety net was better for the once working we'd feel more entitled to our fair share of rest.
Flag as inappropriate Posted by Mich on 28th July 2009