Quality of life is lower in the United States compared to many European nations due to employment hours. In many European nations, the required number of hours to work per week is 35 hours. Compared to the United States, they have as 40-hour workweek and increasing. “In the past 15 years, the typical adult’s leisure time has shrunk by 40% - down from 26.6 to 16.6 hours a week. And the work week, after decades of getting shorter, is suddenly 15% longer.” (Harris, 1989) If the United States government increased the minimum number of vacation days or limited workweek hours the quality of life would increase. Americans would have more time to spend with their family and at home. Their lives would not revolve around work. Seemingly, employment can become a person’s number one priority. This can negatively affect their personal life.
I feel the French parliament was not right by eliminating the 35-hour workweek limit because the French will end up like Americans. As you increase the mandate hours to work, the number of hours will keep increasing gradually as the years go by. The quality of life will suffer significantly. Daniel Yankelovich states “The job is now the center of excitement in American lives” (Harris, 1989) The French will begin to see that with the elimination of the 35-hour workweek limit.
Employers may or may not have an obligation to watch out for the quality of life of their employees. It all depends. Employees will volunteer to work overtime to make extra money or to meet the demands of their workload, etc. Employees need to take care of themselves and know when it is too much. But in some cases, employers may give an employee an extreme amount of work to complete that the employee is forced to work many hours. The employee may well fear that if they do not abide by their employer they can lose their job. In this type of scenario, the employer has complete obligation to watch out for the quality of life of their employees. By employers decreasing the number of hours of an employee and reducing the employee’s workload, it can protect employees from being overworked and stressed out.
It does make a difference that the unemployment rate in Europe is roughly double that of the United States and that Europe’s gross domestic product (GDP) is about half that of the United States. The high unemployment rate may be due to Europe’s better unemployment package. It includes free health care, more generous unemployment benefits and greater focus on leisure than work. Americans seem to have a greater work ethic. They are more willing to work than Europeans. The United States is a nation that is competitive and strives to be up on top. In order to make more money in the United States, you need to work more and have less leisure time. Many Americans not only work in the office but bring work home. Some Americans tend to put all their focus on work and leave behind the greater things in life like family, friends, travel, etc. Unlike Europeans, they put all their mind and effort into the quality of life.
Harris, T George, Trotter, Robert J. (1989, March). Work Smarter, Not Harder. Psychology Today, 23(2), 33.
1 comment:
I think that it is interesting that we posted different responses to the question of the validity of the French Parliaments' decision. I have a great appreciation for the quality of life and prefer less hours; but also feel that they acted on behalf of a changing global business environment that is losing to countries that can provide lower costs and wages as well as the 24 hour global economy. I see that they acted in the countries' best interest longevity wise, but not necessarily that of the individuals. Hopefully a strong Human Resource focus arises to meet the needs of employees in balancing a potentially larger work schedule.
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