Before we had nearly as much white collar work, workers worked a lot more, but they also had much less stress. Two reasons for that, in my mind: For the most part, women generally stayed home, and it meant that things were taken care of at home when they got home. Also, work was mostly more physical, so there was built in stress relief. The truth isn't that we're working too much. It's that we're sitting in front of a computer screen too much. My job has a lot of different facets. If I'm out and about and meeting people, or working in the field, I can work 70 hours or more without tiring. If I'm in front of a computer most of the week, 50 hours is a lot.
Japanese work the most hours in the world? US and Japan being in the top 3 world economies, there can be a correlation of hard work leading you to the top. And it takes hard work to STAY on top. So I guess if the US doesnt want to be ranked behind India, they'll have to keeping staying at it somewhat
a couple of major events have played into a significant problem in our culture 1. the advent of the smartphone 2. the current downturn in the economy with the advent of the smartphone, there is no true downtime. we find ourselves engaged in work at the drop of the hat (or in this case, vibrate of the phone) and subject to workplace needs at all hours of the day and days of the week. with the downturn in the economy, businesses have strived to (and achieved) getting more efficiency in the workplace. how do you gain greater efficiencies in the workplace? get more out of the individual; including getting significantly more hours out of them on a weekly basis. I do think this is a problem and struggle with how to overcome it. I enjoy my job and really love getting a paycheck. i have never stopped appreciating being able to continually climb the ladder in an enviornment when many good people are unemployed. I do find myself pushing back when i have gone too long without a repreive. I also long for the time when the employment market changes back into the employees favor, which should reduce some of the wear and tear, or at least put more money in my pocket.
I was working 12 hour days way before the onset of the smartphone. Hell, even before the cell phone wasn't a luxury item. We had these things called pagers. They sucked, too.
Congrats on that. You should PM your contact info. I do consulting on the Networking side and occasionally get requests for Microsoft stuff. Never know when we can pass on work to each other.
We do work too much, but it's because the common standard of value in our society comes from consumption. This isn't the root cause of overwork in all cases - some people just have jobs that entail a lot of responsibility, others need the job so badly that they're willing to put up with overwork, and so forth ... But, for the most part, people work more so they can buy more/bigger/better things that denote status in some way. People want a bigger house, a fancier car, nicer clothing - all things that advertisers and consumer culture have denoted as symbols of status. The effect of this is to create a currency of social value based on symbols: If you work more then you have more money so you are 'worth' more to society so you purchase goods that advertisers have created a social value for in terms of status. Our consumer society essentially offers a surefire method for mediocre people (and most of us are mediocre) to dress ourselves in the clothing of excellence - whether it comes from driving a BMW, or wearing designer fashions, or living in the nicest McMansion or downtown loft. This is the sign of the mediocre because this accumulation of wealth does not come from any great personal quality, but instead comes from the simple presence at a job and a willingness to steadfastly cling to the status quo lifecycle as determined by consumer society. Birth -> School -> Earn Money -> Display Status (no crimes committed, no causes endorsed, no questions asked). We've set up society in such a way that simply following the dictates of consumerism allows one to feel as if they've achieved something in relation to other members of society who have not (or could not) afford to purchase the same things. And because this system equates the accumulation of cash (and the strategic use of that cash to purchase status-marked goods) with one's value as a person it's unlikely to change anytime soon - it allows the herd to imagine themselves as unique, valuable individuals by simply following the rest of the herd. Another effect of this system is that it convinces those in the lower strata (if they are successfully advertised to) that they deserve their places and, because of that, it prevents them from destabilizing society because the poor have, in some way, been convinced that they 'deserve' to be poor. So, we work too much because our very value as human beings depends on it.
I think the underlying question is whether we make the tradeoff properly between trying to be on top or to be happy? On productivity and working-hard measures, the US is consistently at or near the top. On happiness measures, the US is never anywhere close to the top.
Unless.... you're the boss or you're making tons of money or you love your job or you have no choice...., then working much more over 45 hrs a week is a waste of life spent toiling for the man. There's not enough life to go around as it is, don't waste what little you have lining someone else's pockets at the expense of lost time with family and friends.
Yes, compared to the lazy Europeans, but no compared to the hard working Asians. There is a reason why this century is going to belong to China and India. At my work, I see these Indian and Chinese kids get recruited in and they regularly work 10-12 hour days without as much as a complaint. They don't ask for sick days off or days off to attend weddings, funerals, birthdays parties etc..They are just happy to be in America and have a proper job. The typical American college recruit believes he is entitled to far more than what he is worth. In the end, that will be their downfall.
I think this has been this way a long time but America has kept on trucking because immigrants wanted to come here. It'll be curious once the immigrants decide to stay in their countries what happens.
Lazy Europeans huh? Have you ever lived in Western Europe or known many adults from there? Refrain from generalizing, and you might see some positives as well as some negatives in their labor system and way of life versus America's or Chindia's. While it's true many college recruits, or just Americans in general, believe they're entitled to more, criticizing their desire for life outside of work is vain. The supercilious way you write off "weddings, funerals, and birthdays" reminds me of a staffer I worked under at a bank. His philosophy in life was working like a mule, and he piled as much work as he could on analysts to make their life hell since misery loves company. Eventually, his wife left him and neither of his children speak to him anymore. All he has are dozens of plaques to his name. Since the rise of the corporate state, having pride in a country's metrics is obsolete. Names like GE and Coca-Cola transcend national boundaries, they profit from and support any who supply them with hard-working, docile labor and maintain environments friendly for producers. I stopped caring about national economic metrics having too much of an effect on my life. If the US makes a certain amount or less in trillions each year, I know only certain segments of our population made windfalls due to it. I don't care who "this century belongs to". That sort of thinking died after 1914. In the face of this decline of the nation-state, we only have our families and friends to look after. There should be a middle-ground between the European and Asian way to work. But putting in hours for the sake of work is selling the human being short.
I'm a resident physician. I work on average around 80 hours weeks, and if you calculate how much I earn on an hourly basis it's less than minimum wage. I would love 40 hr weeks instead of 30 hour shifts lol.
This. If the US wants to stay competitive we need to be working as hard or harder than the Asian countries. And right now it is not even close.
Blame it on overpopulation.....a supervirus and a couple major wars might solve out problems......don't worry 2012 isn't that far away.
Not necessarily, and because of one great irony, that our leisure activities: movies, music, television, professional sports, dining, domestic tourism, retail shopping and gaming, are both economically productive and still somewhat globally competitive. Even when some of us are slacking off, someone else is making money off of it. We also have the suburbs, which allowed us to spread out resources, wealth and infrastructure in a more efficient manner.
