Interesting video that explains why American managers value “time in the chair” rather than output and productivity.
https://youtu.be/hD784CHYhGM
Germans work 25% fewer hours and are just as wealthy.
In Germany, someone working 50 hrs/week is seen as inefficient and a screw up.
In America, he’s a “go-getter” – especially if he’s working without overtime compensation.
intercst
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I just saw a video clip from “The Office”, where Dwight and Jim are in a sales call with a client who is reluctant. They get him on customer service, with Dwight handing the guy his business card: “Here is my cell phone, my home phone, my pager, my other pager. I never get sick. I never take vacation. I don’t observe any holidays”. They got the business.
There is also a meme about American workers I saw months back, but I can only paraphrase from memory. The European worker will have an Outlook auto-reply something like “I will be gone for two weeks as I recover from surgery”, whereas the American’s auto-reply will say something like “my cell phone will be on during pre-op and during recovery in case anything comes up”.
During my time at Arm (a British tech company, and my last day is this Friday) I have seen a stark difference in how we Americans handle our vacation and the Brits/French do. And we don’t handle our time-off in a better way.
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I have seen a stark difference in how we Americans handle our vacation and the Brits/French do. And we don’t handle our time-off in a better way.
Probably so. Americans just have much less time off than Europeans.
intercst
In America, he’s a “go-getter” – especially if he’s working without overtime compensation.
He’s not a “go-getter”, he’s just trying to not be the next person Welched out the door.
Steve
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