Who's Works the Hardest? Who Works the Longest?

In which European country do you think employees work the hardest?   In which country do you think they work the longest hours?   Go on -- guess.   The answers might surprise you.

In the table below notice that every country voted Germany as the hardest working country except Greece, which voted for itself.   It turns out that the Greeks are right and the rest of Europe is wrong -- in a way.

But that’s only if you define that by OECD's international ranking of average hours worked per person per year, graphed below (click to enlarge).

Here you see employees in Greece working, on average, the longest number of hours. 

In the table below you see the actual number of hours worked.   

So how is Pew Research defining "hardworking"?  It's defined as "productive".  So "hardworking"  isn't the same as "working for a long period of time." In fact, the richest, most productive, most hardworking countries have some of the shortest working hours. 

Take Germany for instance.  Armed with state-of-the-art technologies, financing opportunities, and smart global supply chain management -- they get a lot more product out of each hour worked. So do Denmark, France, Norway and the Netherlands.  All are richer per capita than Greece. But all are technically "lazier" if you go by hours worked.

So much for stereotypes.   Next time you hear that employees in France, Germany, etc. leave work at 5:00pm on the dot --- don’t assume they aren’t productive/hardworking.   They just accomplish more in the shorter hours they work.

 Jacque Vilet, President of Vilet International, has over 20 years’ experience in Global Human Resources with major multinationals such as Intel, National Semiconductor and Seagate Technology. She has managed both local/ in-country national and expatriate programs and has been an expat twice during her career.   Her true love is working with local national issues.  Jacque has the following certifications:  CCP, GPHR, HCS and SWP as well as a B.S. and M.S in Psychology and an MBA.    She belongs to SHRM, Human Capital Institute and World at Work.   Jacque been a speaker in the U.S., Asia and Europe, and is a regular contributor to various HR and talent management publications.   

Comments

[Chuck Csizmar]

Excellent post, Jacque. Very useful information. Some are results oriented, while others tout the supposed value of simply being "busy."

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Thanks Chuck. Wonder what that says about the U.S.! We work 2,080 hours per year plus we have the shortest vacations in the world! So maybe that says we aren't so "productive"?