Work Culture of Top 5 Nations with Longest Work Hours

Though most of us are used to a 9-5 job, we differ in the actual hours we put in for working. It depends on the work culture of the organization, its targets and the situation in which it is. During emergency, I’d work for 10 -12 hours a day and stay back there even at night in my chamber, if necessary. Personally, I feel, working for the exact time allotted is a mark of your efficiency. If you work too fast, you might be compromising on the quality, and working too slow is a sign of inefficiency. Many of us relax throughout the week and hurry in the last couple of days to meet our targets. If we complete the portion of work allotted on a daily basis we don’t have to work overtime in the last few days. This is all about working efficiently while adhering to the time provided. On a personal basis you can improve your work time efficiency by carefully identifying and understanding your lacunae.

Apart from personal efficiency and organizational factors, the factors that determine your work time are the general work culture of your nation and the present economic condition of the world. There was a time when Japan used to be the nation that put in the highest work time as each and every citizen was committed to serve the nation by joining its work force. But now the trend seems to be decreasing. The Americans were more relaxed with their hours of work, but now they seem to have more work hours than many other nations. Also, in the present economic crises, organizations and individuals are working more to overcome the financial hurdles and stay in business. Outsourcing has become common and many employees are scared of loosing their jobs and working more.

Recently, the organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development has released its study about the number of hours of work allotted ,on an average, by most companies of different nations, for one to get an idea of the employees of which country are putting in maximum number of work hours and which are putting the least. Amongst the top 5 nations that are putting in the highest number of work hours according to the 2008 statistics are:

1. South Korea with 44 hours/week
2. Greece 41/week
3. Hungary and Poland with 38 hours/week
4. Mexico 36 hours/ week
5. Iceland, USA, Slovakia, Italy 35 hours/week

It’s rather surprising to find USA and Iceland on the number 5 rank for two contradictory reasons. USA being the epicenter of most of the activities of world is actually expected to be on a higher rank; and Iceland being in a still developmental stage is expected to be in al lower position.

Here, I’ve tried to take a deeper look into the work cultures across nations.

South Korea

South Korea has the longest work hour timings of 44 hours/ week. This does not come as a surprise because the South Koreans are known for their professional ethics and superior intellect. Those who work dedicatedly are given sufficient paid holidays. The pay is also pretty handsome. On an average a fresh applicant for the post of an English teacher can expect to get anywhere between $1,650 and $2,500 per month. Compared to the low cost of living this is quite a bit. Korean employers give ample bonus if you work well and meet your targets and work for the specified number of hours.

Greece

Greece with an average work input of 41 hr/week seems to be a tough place as long as timings and wages are concerned. Firstly, recently several laws have been revised for the overtime and pay issues which the workforce is not happy with. According to GSEE, the new laws are not fair. The 8 hour per day/ 40 hour per week schedule does not seem to be taken as the upper limit of work hours, Rather they are taken as an average of the maximum and the minimum number of working hours. The employees are not happy with their pays and foreign employees in particular run the risk of working hard and not being paid in return. Many employers also don’t seem to pay the IKA or social security amount. On the whole it looks as though working is a tough matter in Greece.

Hungary and Poland

Hungarians have their weekly work hours as 38 hours. In the Hungarian calculation, the hours of work include the actual number of hours worked including the time spent in idleness owing to environmental factors like shortage of power, damage of machinery, shortage of raw materials etc. Even the time spent on officially touring out of the office building is also taken as time spent on working. Lunch hour, paid leave time, time spent on special security service is not included in the working hours. The pay is decided not on an hourly or weekly basis, but on a monthly basis even for the working class.

Poland has its employee working 8 hours normally without a lunch break. People could work in shifts from 6-2, 2-10, 10-6 round the clock. The pays vary according to the nature of work done and not on how well you do it though the salaries in general are not bad. Fresh workers could take long leave from 21-28 days. Leaves are always decided upon constitutionally.

Mexico

Mexico with weekly work hours as 36 hours ranks fourth in the list of long work hours nations. Mexicans are driven by good work ethics. They have a normal 8 hour week. Sometimes the shifts are split; with let’s say 7 P.M in the morning for morning shifts, extending to 9 P.M. in the night. You are given good incentives for working well etc. The employees also stick to the work hours. They are punctual and well disciplined. Mexicans are professionally very ethical.

Iceland

Earlier, if you remember, I remarked on the surprising progress made by Iceland in terms of work hours. The transformation of a remote small nation which solely depended upon fisheries to a thriving business hub is quite intriguing and commendable. Their work mantra of wanting to learn and make progress teamed with an altruistic desire to help each other develop seems to worked wonders for the community. They don’t seem to have any petty politics in the workplace and this seems to be a major contributory factor for their rapid progress. The nation ranks amongst the richest countries of the world with a GDP of $35,600 per head in 2005. Now the recession seems to have its effect on the GDP. Unemployment is a rare feature. The nation is a young nation, with an average age of 36 years. The investors are rich and highly educated. Their environmental hardships seem to have taught them to work hard and fast. Many of them happen to be the longest working people who put around 50 hours of work a week. Women, children and teenagers also work together like a team. Even those who’ve crossed 50 years do so.

USA

The USA work culture is very liberal. The work hours are not determined by any strict government regulation. Rather, it depends on the discretion of the industrial sector. People work according to their preferences. Some work full time long hours, while others work for short durations of time. They are paid accordingly. In unionized work environments the pays, timings are all negotiated between the employer and the employee. They have flexible work hours but are very time efficient. So you need to hone up your time management skills before you take up a job. They finish their work on time, rarely work overtime or miss out on weekend leaves.

Slovakia

Slovakians have a formal office environment and you should meet people on appointment. They usually have an 8 hour working day. The months of July and August being holidays, all work comes to a standstill.

Italy

Work culture in Italy seems to be driven by social and blood relationships. Nepotism is quite common and if you want to succeed in an Italian workplace you need to have some contacts beforehand. Bureaucracy is another integral feature of the Italian work culture. The maximum working hours per week is 48 hours.

These are work hour trends of the different nations. Netherlands, Norway and Germany seem to be having the least number of work hours of about 27 hours/week. So if you think you want more time to spend on personal affairs go and get your ticket to one of these countries right away!

By working faithfully eight hours a day you may eventually get to be boss and work twelve hours a day – Robert Frost