When I was in taiwan those engineers worked like 12 hour days. However when I was in germany they worked just normal hours and it seemed like a great environment to work in. I think hardwork is over rated. You have to work smart.
Of course, those lazy Europeans tend to be much happier than the rest of the world, so maybe they just have their priorities right unless you believe the goal in life is to maximize output. Europeans actually have a relatively high efficiency - they don't work as many hours, but they get a lot done in those hours, probably in part due to the fact that they have less burn out, waste less time at work, etc.
It's the people that combine both that succeed. If you work efficiently, but put in long hours, and you know what you're doing... I think "American Ingenuity" is still there, it's just that other country's are going to start prospering a bit more now through their ingenuity. The gap between the top and middle countries in that respect is probably closing. What America needs to worry more about is becoming lazy and people moving away from science, math and technology. I could be all wrong, or maybe I'm dealing with smaller sample sizes, but I see this a lot more of this in the IT/software dev. workplace. People just go to work for the paycheck and they're done with it waiting for the day to end and looking forward to the weekends. There's nothing wrong with that. There's nothing wrong with wanting to be with your family more. But then don't ask why others who work longer hours are getting ahead (possibly). If you want to be like stereotypical Europe or South America, go ahead. If you want to be like stereotypical Japan, Korea, etc., be my guest. They each have their pros and cons.
I agree. But one thing the Western nations have on the Asians is that Westerners tend to be alot more creative in their work. There is alot more outside the box thinking in America and Europe which can never be made up for by any amount of hard work. Asia is slowly catching up in the creativity department though. So in the end both systems do have merit.
Well, unless their productivity drops as their creativity increases then we're doomed because we've lost it on the productivity side.
A lot of ppl seem to think, "yeah they are great at math and very booksmart but they cannot think outside the box like we do here in the western world ." But I don't know how true that is. I read an article that interviewed executives from companies that moved their operations to China, and they said not only do their new workers demand wayyy less money, but they also work harder and longer hours and produce higher quality results. With the extreme competition and standard of work ethic in China and India right now, their employees and new grads are superior in every way. 1. Larger population to choose from so a larger number of intelligent people 2. Harder/ longer working culture 3. Cheaper 4. Adaptable
The book "The World is Flat" explains in detail how far behind America is falling in every category. I guess the younger generation is just lazy
It is a little bit astonishing. But also true, the younger generation is a lot different than, say, even the current 20-somethings. HIGH reliance on materials and gadgets to get things done, to answer their questions, to communicate, and to entertain.
Just to share some thoughts on this. I clock 12-14 hours during weekdays (excluding 1 hour of commuting to office) and 3-6 hours during weekend. I hate it and have been trying to find out what's the problem and solutions. From personal experience, working hours is affected by: 1. Job nature I'm in a supporting role (finance / analytics) and need to crunch numbers to answer questions from stakeholders / bosses but it takes time to build. In pre-sales/sales, time is spent more on meeting clients and building relationships. Other than that, I'd seen sales people went for movie / eye brow trimming during office hours (it doesn't mean sales is easy job). 2. Boss competency & style Competent boss knows what is required, and can run with what is provided, then it's easier. Some boss is indecisive and we need to make frequent changes or prepare multiple versions, just so that he can answer to his boss. 3. Company culture Whether it encourages thinking out of the box and challenging norms. Or it has a bureaucratic culture where things move slowly and communication breaks down frequently. 4. Personal reasons Perfectionist, too meticulous, job fit, all these have impact on my working hours one way or another. A few advices from my ex-boss on time usage, which I find to be quite useful: - work hard to work smart - In emails, ensure the message or answer is very clear to the recipients, so that people won't come back with more questions (and more work) - Spend more time on the thinking part before diving into the working part I'd like to share 2 incidents related to working hours. Once my relatives from Switzerland visited Hong Kong for holiday. The teenage son was very grouchy one. I found out later that it's because he thought the shops will be closing soon (it was 5pm) and he can't get his Beckham boots. We ended shopping until 11pm and the shops were still open. During the same trip, I'd seen a few ISPs setting up booth to sell broadband plans at 10pm near MTR stations. To me, that was very impressive.
I work to live, don't live to work. If I get in a car accident and slip into a coma, who is going to be there by my side? My family and friends? Or my boss? I work my ass off from 7 to 4, Monday through Friday. But as soon as 4 hits, I'm out of here. Physically and mentally.
Haven't read the entire thread... I think that people in big cities have a big time disadvantage, because we spend lots of time in the commute from and to work. For example, I've seen some talk about their Park N'Ride and others post about how far they live... when that adds about a good 2 hours, not counting lunch, to the already 8-hour work day. I leave at about 7 and return home at around six. That only leaves about three to four hours to devote to my home and family. I wished it wasn't that way. One thing that I absolutely detest about my work is that I am always "on call" because of a server or an application on a server that I support. Nonetheless, it's a good thing that I can rearrange my work week to take the time that I spent on an off-work call to myself without problems. I try to never take my work home. I try to give my full 40 hours at work, but... ummm... I'm on ClutchFans.net right now...
