Lazy French.

After our discussion of the Wal-Mart in Germany disaster I decided to go online and see what I could find on other European countries were offering in terms of differences between how employees work in that country compared to the United States.  The country that was most intriguing to me was France.  Aside from Britain, whose labor laws I was already somewhat familiar with, France would probably be the closest to the United States in terms of working terms.  The French and American systems are different in two major areas: hours per week and vacation time.  One of the articles below cites how lazy many French employees are, but I do not see much of a difference between them and the United States.  The rule everywhere seems to be, only work as long as you have to.

 

With regards to the 35 hour work week, France recently passed a law that gave employers the right to have their employees work more than 35 hours.  According to the report, however, most employers decided not to take advantage of the opportunity to have their workers work longer days and the ones who have opted for longer work days have been met with strong resistance.

 

All of that being said, I can understand the 35 hour work week, it is, after all, only 1 hour less per day than the standard 40 hour work week.  What I cannot understand is the amount of vacation time the French get.  At my current job I get 15 days of paid vacation.  French law guarantees their people five weeks of vacation, some people get more.  One of the articles I read stated that there are certain months where nearly the entire city of Paris shuts down, which hinders their economy at a time when many tourists would be spending money at their shops.    

 

This week I also had the opportunity to speak with a friend of mine who had spent several years working in a town near Madrid, Spain.  He related to me that a typical "work" day started around 9 a.m.  Naturally everyone showed up around 10 a.m.  At about 10:15 a.m. it was time for tea.  At 11 a.m. everyone would break for lunch.  Lunch lasts longer in Spain (it is more like our dinner) and everyone rolls back in around 1:30 or 2 p.m.  At around 3 p.m. you take your siesta (nap) and then leave work around 4:30 p.m.

 

He also mentioned that some European companies have increased the hours per week required and productivity has gone down.  He claims that workers are not as effective because they think that they have more time to get the same amount of work done, so they put it off.  Also suicide rates have increased in these countries that do not even have 40 work weeks and still have far more vacation time than Americans.

 

Two of the websites that I looked at in regards to France:

 

Interesting

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/06/27/60II/main704571.shtml

 

Most Recent

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1873245,00.html

Comments

[Dianne Foster]

Wow, this is really depressing Brian. Does your fifteen days include US holidays and weekends? My understanding is that the French did not have a word for weekend, so they adapted the US expression. In French it is 'Le Weekend'. The Spanish apparently have one, which is La Fin de Semana, if I remember correctly.

What I remember about Spain is folks walking around in the evening. I couldn't get to sleep in Madrid for all the racket on the plaza where I stayed. It was much quieter out on the coast near the seaside town where my kids lived.