Pondering the American Work Ethic

My article on saving more or earning more has ignited an interesting conversation on the Brazen Careerist website. One commenter interprets my advice as encouraging slackers and worries about the future of America’s work ethic.

It’s hard to argue because (1) I sort of agree and (2) the commenter tells me I have to live more before I can respond.

Some people call my opinion a slacker mentality. I do think it’s better to be an A- student for half the effort of being an A+ student, if all A grades are weighted equally. This sort of laziness might not bode well if other countries work harder than us. Things will likely get more competitive in the global economy.

(I’ve never been reviewed as anything less than an exceptionally hard worker, but that’s a side topic).

My only response is that our hard work ethic does not seem to bring us the happiness we desire. I know about this first hand when I worked late nights and weekends. My hypothesis is that very hard workers accumulate money but then end up having to spend it wastefully. Hard workers spend big money on prepared food, cleaning, and any convenience goods. Expensive activities like hotel room service save time, but they hardly improve the quality of our lives.

We’re giving up valuable time to earn more simply to facilitate our obsessively hard working lifestyle.

It’s not a cycle I want to join.

A Lesson from Labor Economics

I have a fond memory of my labor economics class from college. My British professor told us that we don’t really understand labor. We grew up in a weird country. Americans work more than virtually any other country. The strangest part is that higher and higher earners tend to work more. In his words, the rich don’t get to enjoy their money.

He vividly explained the difference between America and Europe by telling us a story about academic conferences.

In America, conferences started early. You needed to wake up around 6:30 in the morning, and you would grab a donut or muffin with some coffee. Wake up, get out of bed, and get into action. Talks began at 7 and proceeded in rapid fire pace, with a single fifteen-minute break. Lunch was scheduled at 12 noon for thirty minutes. Eat a sandwich, drink something caffeinated, and get back to the conference. There was not much time to socialize. Talks would resume and continue until 6 or 7 in the evening.

In Europe, things were much different. Talks began leisurely at 9 in the morning. There would be a few talks at a relaxing pace. Lunch was served at 12 noon without a specific ending time. One beer was served. After everyone finished, there would be one or two more talks–if they decided to resume.

Now, someone will point out the American work ethic makes a difference. After all, American universities are respected worldwide. The research makes a big difference. But no one seems to ask about the cost at which the success is achieved.

Ask yourself: which conference would you rather attend?



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  • http://create-learning.com michael cardus

    Our work ethic and shifting economy from manufacturing to knowledge based is a challenging transference to take. This slacker life you sspeak of is correct. I agree that sometimes good enough is just that. We are taught in school (American) that it is not graded on the right answer it is getting the answer righter than your peers. We are taught to look for misicule differences in our peers answers so we answer the question only slightly different although the teacher finds in more right. This early training of finding the small wrong istead of finding the common likeness. Causing a highly competitive and a lack of collabortation.

  • http://thecorporatehack.blogspot.com Matt @ Corporate Hack

    Hi Presh – I am so disappointed I didn’t see your original post (“How To Decide If You Should Work More / Spend Less”) until this morning. You bring up some great points, and I find myself tracking right alongside of you.

    I feel like we push ourselves to death in corporate America… and for what? What do we gain by working more? I can tell you as a salaried employee I get nothing more. I get a few extra to-do items crossed off my list, but I would get them crossed off later in the week anyways. As long as I’m doing good work to begin with, there’s no inherent promotions, benefits, or increased pay just by staying at work longer.

    I’m a strong believer in the 80/20 rule in business, and I feel like this sentiment echoes what you’re saying. We’re not slackers in America. We work freakin’ hard, but why push it to extremes? What’s the point?

  • http://www.mindyourdecisions.com/blog Presh Talwalkar

    Michael Cardus: Very good analysis, and I agree:

    “We are taught in school (American) that it is not graded on the right answer it is getting the answer righter than your peers.”

    I did find office work requires much more collaboration, which not everyone is prepared properly for.

    Matt: Nice to hear from another efficient but not insane worker :)

    I like your point that incentives often turn us discouraged workers. An example: efficient workers do the best work, so they are always asked in a time of crisis. That’s not a recipe for rewarding talent. Soon, they might even be faking their efficiency…

  • http://paperweightblog.wordpress.com Michael Henreckson

    There is much to be said for the other American work ethic. Hard work accomplishes a lot. On the other hand there is little use in being successful, wealthy, and insane. It’s not slacking to back down. Extremely driven people, myself included sometimes, can work themselves sick. Taking a less pressured view of things can result in much more productivity even though it seems counter-intuitive.

  • http://www.mindyourdecisions.com/blog Presh Talwalkar

    Michael Henreckson: You raise an interesting question about productivity. I often find that I can do about 10 hours of productive work a day. Beyond that, I actually turn into negative productivity.

    How is that? Well, the next day I usually discover that extra work had a critical error or two. Not only do I have to start over, but I have to patch up the bad work.

    Of course, most of superiors didn’t have this negative productivity issue (or they didn’t realize it). I had a tough time explaining why avoiding a late night would be better in the face of a tight deadline.

    The handful of people I know that do understand this have had a technical background in math or engineering. I am not sure whether this is a coincidence or a reflection of how technical people sometimes understand creativity and productivity better.

    I almost never solved a theorem hacking at it late night with caffeine driven thinking. It would always come to me the next day after good rest.

  • Jamie

    I think part of the issue stems from the fact that although “hard work” often equates to financial success, that financial success is no indicator of the quality of life.

    Personally I value my free time far more than a few extra £ in the bank – in fact, I find I have more money – when I worked long hours I used to often buy extravagant items as a “cheer me up”; this is no longer a necessity now that I do a 37 hour fixed week and get 36 days a year vacation (I’m in the UK, so I understand this vacation time is far more than you may expect; standard over here is 25-30 days a year)

  • http://www.mindyourdecisions.com/blog Presh Talwalkar

    Jamie: You hit the nail on its head–financial success and hard work don’t necessarily lead to quality of life.

    I agree that free time is much more valuable, and I’m jealous of your work/life balance. Many entry jobs here have a mere 10 days, which may increase to 15 or 20 eventually. And there are people who don’t even use all of that time! They either carry it over or end up doing work on vacation.

    I didn’t realize how right my British professor was–America is an odd working culture.

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  • Ewan Black PhD

    Call me naïve, but I recently applied for a job in the US (scientific research, in Boston). I was really excited at the prospects of moving from Europe to the US; at the interview salary was discussed and things went well. When I got home to Ireland, and the contract arrived in my mail box, I thought the HR girl was making fun with me: the vacation entitlement was 10 days! This is similar to what low category prisoners get for Christmas release! This really shocked me and ruined the job altogether, as 10 days vacation to me and most Europeans would be completely unacceptable.

    I have since took up employment in Denmark, were the vacation time is 30 days!! I holiday twice a year, once in Europe and once abroad.

    With the greatest respect: America may be the home of the brave, but it sure as hell is not the land of the free!

  • http://www.mindyourdecisions.com/blog/ Presh Talwalkar

    Ewan Black PhD: I love this comment! I have already told it to several of my friends who all agree that America is laughably backwards about vacation time.

    The one defense is that some higher paying jobs have better time. Consultants often get 15-20 days, plus “comp” days (unofficial vacation days after long projects). But you’re right that several jobs do start out at a mere 10 days.

  • http://abhisheksainani.blogspot.com Abhishek Sainani

    If you’re working on something you’re interested in, then hard work doesn’t hurt, but i guess most of the professionals are NOT really happy with their job…!

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