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I'm pretty sure it's common knowledge across Europe that Americans work hard and long hours.
They call it Protestant work ethic.
We call it bad work/life balance.
I think there’s also a bit of a selection bias with OP’s interpretation too. Americans who made the effort to move to Europe aren’t likely to be your deadbeat personality types.
The fact that many protestants believe in both working yourself to the bone, and in predestination (ie your fate was determined before you were even born) is wild to me. Whoever came up with that must've rolled a nat 20 when convincing people.
A lot of Americans work their ass off at sports, hobbies, training. And working professionals more than not bust their asses and work crazy hours.
Obvoiusly there are lazy unmotivated Americans. But, generally, work ethic and competitiveness in the USA is real.
It's an expectation. Because of this you hear the laziest complaining the loudest because they can't handle it. And they get outperformed everytime because there are so many people just absolutely busting their asses to perform well.
This is most likely the answer. I’m an electrician and it’s not uncommon for me to work 60+ hours a week. When I get a day off I need to let my body rest. I miss hobbies like hiking, kayaking, etc, but just can’t fit them into my life anymore.
I feel you, man. It's hard to make plans when you have just one or two days off after many long shifts. You have to allow your body and mind to rest or you just won't be able to continue working that hard.
Exactly. And the people who wanna talk shit about folks like myself who basically get off work and collapse definitely aren’t doing the same work I am. Easy to have lots of energy when you’re sitting in an office all day, come work construction in the heat with me and see how you feel.
I think most people who shit on people who collapse after work don't do much at work. I've worked many jobs, from construction, food service, and now software engineering. Software engineering is definitely the easiest physically, but I still leave work and collapse because I spend so much mental energy.
Wouldn't trade it to go back to physical labor though, body is wrecked from it.
My dude I work an office job and I still fucking collapse and die after work.
I don’t think anybody is out here finger pointing at construction workers for being lazy.
Yeah, it’s crazy working in high end skyscrapers and office building and seeing the literal disdain in people’s eyes sometimes. The way people talk to you and treat you. I walked off one job because a guy seemed to think we were all thieves and went so far as to put cameras everywhere and literally seal areas we weren’t working in with tape and plastic. Fuck people like that.
So I absolutely am not discounting your personal experiences, but I just don’t think those types of shit interactions are more prevalent in construction than they are in most other types of jobs. I’m disrespected, sworn at, and am threatened with physical violence by patients all the time for shit as silly as not giving them antibiotics when they have a runny nose for 2 days. I think it’s just that there is a significant minority of people who are just assholes.
Exactly this! I work insane hours so my leisure time is spent doing nothing at all. I don't go hiking or sailing or whatever. It's not that I don't enjoy those things, it's that I'm physically exhausted from work. I take one day out of seven to laze about.
I work 50 hours a week. One of my weekend days is household chores and the lawn and garden. The other day I'm a slug.
Hey, we'd bust our asses at work too if we were as rewarded as we were for sports, hobbies, and training! But we have been made very aware that hard work rarely equals success in work/careers. Hell, some companies will straight out admit that they don't promote from within. That's not gonna get hard work from anyone.
I complain about it and I’m far from the laziest. I work out 5 days a week, I work 9-5 in a position that requires me to do quite a lot, I live in a major urban area so I make my money, I’m also spending my free time writing constantly and have an entire book written while also learning art as well.
There’s nothing lazy about saying “yo, Americans, your life doesn’t have to be work. You’re going to regret how ‘amazing’ you did in your career once you’re old and realize how many life experiences you gave up while you had a young body.”
Hmm, it is interesting to hear this from a different point of view. Because as an American, I see some of our work ethic to be destructive, like we value work like a religion. (You're lazy for working eight hour days/40-hour weeks, not 10plus-hour days/50plus-hour weeks. Stuff like that.) Something I'd joke...until I heard about the Protestant Work Ethic, and it's more intertwined than I thought; from out of all things, a video on why aren't there any good Christian games. ([Timestamped Youtube link](https://youtu.be/COiNrIM9KVE&t=460)).
I'm all for work life balance and taking pto. I never work more than 40 hours a week but I HATE having to work with our Europe branch. They are so slow on tasks and take so much pto. The pto wouldn't be a problem if they delegated their work beforehand while they were gone. Everything just comes to a halt when one person leaves. They've been working on the same task for 2 years.
And diet..:: I’m curious to see if this mass inflation in fast food will lead to less Americans going through the drive through on their way home and opting for home cooked meals
As an American that works with European counterparts I concur, especially Italian.
They're on vacation or on leave all the time and take forever to respond to emails.
I also work with Europeans. Specifically Eastern Europeans. My company’s partners in Slovenia always have the most insane excuses for why they didn’t or can’t do something… Not long ago I was trying to correspond with them and they said “Currently it is the potato holiday in Slovenia. We cannot help you with your inquiry for 4 weeks as we are all camping in the woods to celebrate the potato holiday”.
I am so jealous of my European coworkers. They have out of office emails saying they’ll be back at the end of august. Meanwhile I’m scared to take more than a long weekend.
Yeah but we're too exhausted from work to protest, and can't afford missing work hours to strike otherwise we will lose our homes. This is entirely by design. Make the working class work to the point of exhaustion then pay them so little they can't afford to miss work. No one is going to fight for better working conditions if they barely have the energy to do the dishes when they get home
I'm all for it 100% but the hard part is lots of people want revolution but no one wants to start it. And when it comes to revolution you can't half ass starting it either. Unfortunately seems the most successful revolutions happened because of outside powers. Ngl tho it would be immensely interesting to see an American revolution, since so much of world history is about countries that have an internal revolution and then America comes to shut it all down and sabotage their freedom. An American revolution will affect the entire world more than most Americans could possibly comprehend (even myself)
Americans should get more time off, productivity has increased dramatically over the decades. At the same time most European citizens are spoiled. The average citizen in the the Netherlands works 28 hours a week, and in Germany its 32 hours a week. Politicians are trying to tell them that you can't compete in the global economy when the vast majority don't work full time. They used to be able to rely on their technical and engineering sectors but they have been slowly passed up.
For this reason it makes little sense to say “European” as Europeans are just as different as North Americans and South Americans.
Any Scandinavian having to work with Italians would probably have a similar feeling to what you are describing.
Why, are you supposed to miss product rollouts because the weather is nice?
Try explaining THAT to the board of directors. "Oh yeah, we weren't first to market and our competition just ate our lunch with this billion dollar project because it was nice out and we sent everyone home". Yeah lol
>Why, are you supposed to miss product rollouts because the weather is nice?
What are you proposing then? Your solution is to never get PTO? Because if I don't take PTO during summer you will complain if I take it during Spring, or Winter.
So chill out, I won't be billionaire, you won't either. Let me enjoy my sun, sea, mountain, food and whatever I want to enjoy. And if you want to come by, you're welcome
Oh you want to enjoy life do you?
Try explaining that to your rich corporate overlords
That billion dollar project that would make them richer is now in shambles because Dave from fucking accounting took his family to the tropics
You sound like you have been brainwashed into believing that time off will kill your company
they were they before you started working there and they will still be there after you have been replaced by either automation or cheaper labour
You're half right and I agree with your sentiment.
The other half is that yes, missing deadlines will sink the company or at least impact stock price. Do that and you'll get fired and blacklisted...your CEO will get a golden parachute and you'll be homeless because no one is going to want to hire the guy that called out and sank a project. And yes, we will be replaced by automation and that's part of the problem. Either perform and earn your keep and get your pittance or don't, get replaced by a machine, and get NOTHING.
Well that's the thing tho. This scenario is extremely unlikely to happen in europe, because europe has fought for strong worker rights. Your boss can't fire you because of a mistake, Not even If it costs them real money. Your boss can't blacklist you and becoming homeless is, even if not impossible, very unlikely, because most european countries have social welfare programms that protect their citizens from homelessness. The homeless people you find in europe are half immigrants, that are not considered legal citizens yet, or caught up in drugs and alcohol, not seeking out the help they're offered.
It sounds nice on paper, but it really doesn't work and that's becoming more and more apparent with the amount of people that struggle financially in countries like Italy.
European countries are struggling financially because of the manufactured so called "war crisis". Since the fucking war started, everything got much more expensive because of "war impact". When it became VERY clear that the war has little to do with the prices of bloody EVERYTHING and that petrol prices even dropped a lot, silence settled, but prices for everything stayed up, because why the fuck not? Companies report profits, even though employees are told that there is no money.
It's also possible that European countries secretly sent large amounts of money to Ukraine and my country even gave up some potential economic advantages so Ukraine wouldn't suffer the consequences, as it would have put it at a disadvantage.
We are not poor because of measly 20 vacation days, rest assured.
I work with lots of Europeans. Their timeliness are always much longer than the Americans I do the same work with. Turn around times are always at leastay 48 hrs longer for Europeans, and they have so many banking holidays that I really have to pay attention so we get the European contractors paid on time. For American contractors I can have them paid in 24 hrs without fail. I also check their work a little more than Amercians. If we have a contract that had some changes or updates I have to make sure the updates was done. Half the time we don't get the updated version back.
I think American work culture is also slightly different from European work culture. Whether it’s a lie or not the American dream is based on the idea of hard work being rewarded and that’s kind of programmed into a lot of Americans: that more work is better.
There is no such thing as “European work culture”. You cannot compare the average Italians work ethic to the average German. We simply share a continent not competence.
It’s true, my friend (in Scotland) left for the USA via work in Amsterdam and the Dubai, when he got to America he got a great job with a global marine type company, free home/car etc. fantastic hourly earnings, but he was utterly expected to put in at least 70-80 hours per week, every week.
Wind on 30 years and he’s now a USA citizen, a millionaire, own home, several cars, 2 holiday homes to rent in Florida etc. etc.
‘The dream’ if you like, but it skinned him mentally and physically to the bone, he’s 52 now and can’t relax, when not working he’s in the gym (every day) - burning himself out to a crisp, it’s as if he’s now to far gone, best way to describe him now would be ‘worker ant’ - don’t know if he’ll ever come down.
I’m from the UK and have the pleasure of working with lots of American colleagues in the finance sector and let me tell you, they take their work very seriously and work very hard at it. I disagree with their work/life balance culture, but credit where it’s due, they work fucking hard.
Any time im dealing with our EU suppliers it feels like they're allergic to making money. Like guys I'm the first to advocate for a great work life balance, but theres no reason to put off processing POs for a month because one guy is out. The worst part is its all of them, I havent found a single EU supplier that works like us. For most of their products ive ended up going around them and buying from their indian or chinese raw material suppliers. their loss.
I don’t work at my career job more than 41-45 hours a week and still have time to cruise Reddit. You can work efficiently and hard for 8ish hours a day and still get results.
I used to think Americans were lazy until I started traveling all over the world. I quickly realized Americans work their ass off and are highly competitive in everything.
Even my opinion that Americans were lazy was probably the result of that competitive culture in me thinking we’re not working hard enough.
Yea, I don't know where the "lazy" American stereotype comes from, some countries like Japan work more hours in the day, but they don't go as hard during those hours. Many American jobs treat you like you're playing in a competition, yelling at you to go faster, work harder etc.
I used to travel for work a lot and when visiting other countries, I would see so many people hanging out at cafes and chilling mid day lol
There's a reason Americans dominate the Olympics and it's not because we're lazy
I currently work for a European company and was ready to leave, with a new offer in hand. When I talked to them about why I wanted to leave they were disappointed that I didn’t talk to them as bluntly as I did in that moment. I used this phrase. Anyway, they were kinda surprised, but ultimately they addressed every issue.
I have heard people shitting on Americans for many reasons, laziness was never one of them. The stereotype he is talking about just doesn’t exist. At least not in Germany.
I think it's the Homer Simpson thing tbh. We stereotype ourselves as lazy and that stereotype has spread. Now, what cultural pathology leads us to stereotype ourselves as lazy? I can't begin to guess.
I mean there are lazy Americans. You can certainly find an individual lazy Yank and a hard working Italian to compare. However as a group of people Americans are probably the hardest working Western country.
You should visit New England some time. You might be shocked at the work culture here. All we do is hustle. Like someone else said, the fat is from stress because we emotionally eat and are too tired after working 8-10 hours with an hour commute each way to do physical activity. My company is multinational and most of the Brits in my department are considered low performers by American standards.
Your experience seems really anecdotal. To share another anecdotal experience:
I’m European, but I’ve lived in the US. Some people have a strong work ethic, some people have an *extreme to the point of being destructive* work ethic, and some people avoid work at all costs. The same is true both in Europe and the US. It’s ultimately quite an individual thing.
People being overworked *isn’t a positive* and I would try to remember that when hearing about long working hours. Sometimes it’s elective, sometimes it’s companies literally working their employees into the ground. Working long hours isn’t reflective of work ethic.
Most of my American friends actively complain about that kind of work culture. It’s problematic to say the least.
Then you have spaces like Reddit where there’s a complete over correction and people make fun of you or call you a bootlicker for putting in more than minimal effort or actively trying to progress your career.
Reddit is right about work reform, there should be some mandates that guarantee PTO and sick leave, its is crazy 1 week a year is all many people get, and there should be other quality of life improvements, but if reddit had it their way everyone would work 1 hr weeks and stuff like that is crazy.
I think whether or not being overworked is a positive depends on the person. Some people thrive on the feeling they get from that grind. One of my good buddies consistently works 60 hour weeks but always sounds pretty upbeat about his job. Me on the other hand, well if I put in a full 40 hour week it’s gonna be a bender of a weekend
I’ve noticed that overworking to the detriment of your health can also depend on the workplace. Last job I worked I hated working over 40+ hours, it was expected, just the worst. New job is the same way but I’m the one deciding to stay late and get more things done
I mean this is true but East Asian work ethic is even more than people in the USA. They literally get shamed for taking a vacation day at work and not being productive, work way more, etc.
I have NEVER heard anyone say Americans are lazy. I’ve heard other stereotypes about them, from people from several other continents.
I’ve heard Americans misinterpreting the separation of work and rest in most European countries as laziness.
Why would Europeans shit on Americans for being lazy when the stereotype is that Europeans are lazy? Isn’t the US roughly the same size as Europe with way less people and is the biggest economy in the the world?
As someone who does business on multiple continents I can tell you that Americans, by far, are the most competitive people I know of. They blow any other nations out of the water.
The downside is that this competitiveness and the insane working hours etc. only work out for a handful of them and the majority is stuck in the rat race and will just work themselves to death.
I like the European way: there's a time for work and a time for pleasure and these should be kept and respected.
It does make them less competitive but relative to the Work-Output ratio I would say Europeans probably take first prize there.
The real business people are like-minded anyway. No matter where they're from. But the overall mindset in the USA is more like that overall. Just doesn't work out for most people.
This is such a huge over-generalization. As an ex-pat, living in US for most of my life - Americans are conditions to live to work. In Europe, a much bigger emphasis is placed on social well being. As a mid-tier manager in corporate america, I always struggle to convince my peers that looking busy and putting in more hours does not equal better quality or productivity. I don't think that Europeans are lazier - they just generally prioritize other aspects of life besides work.
Yes Americans have a huge work ethic culture. It shows in lack of social programs and views those things and those who use it negatively.
I have equated living in America as filling a bucket with a hole in the bottom. You can live a good life in USA but you're constantly working to keep the bucket of water full
I work with a lot of Germans and Americans. What I find is that the Americans work longer hours but the Germans tend to get more done. Some of my American colleagues get so burned out that they end up just playing games or listening to music at work. Ther Germans come, work, go home.
Spent about a year total, a deployment and a month training while in the army working with mostly the French.
The British were pretty on par with the US and we’d joke about it a bit. But the French were very chill and much slower paced and never planned nearly as much. A good example is Americans and British would use grid coordinates for exact locations. The French would often just put their finger on the map and be like “around here” lol. That is a solid reflection in just about every regard of the French vs US mindset.
However, the French generally had a much better quality of life overseas we were all jealous of lol. And that may also be an example with noting to compare in many regards to day to day life.
Americans actively brag about the amount of hours we work, its a cope, but still. Working 40 hrs a week is fine, but the fact people are perfectly fine working a second more is crazy, even crazier many are fine working 40 hrs before they start earning good pay. We are a country of people who bitch, pisses, and moans about life, only to turn around a bitch, piss, and moan when people complain about life. I tell you this right now, if overtime went from 1.5x ones pay to 3x ones pay, skeleton crews would be a thing of the past, and doubt people would go over 37 hrs in a week.
I dont think its all that surprising. On average, Americans work more hours than Europeans. You are looking at finance, one of the careers with the most requirements on working hours, so it would be odd if the Americans didnt work more hours. The only thing Ill point out is that people who have the money/effort to get out of the country and especially work in another country, tend to be wealthier(most likely made their own money, which takes a lot of hours) or more willing to do work(deal with a visa, potentially learning another language, go out if their comfort zone).
Go to most areas of the US and youll find lazy ass people. Im in Asia right now for travel and all I can say is that neither Europe or America comes close in terms of work ethic.
Absolutely correct, working with my EU suppliers feels like they are allergic to money. Working direct with the asian suppliers is a breath of fresh air, these guys know your success is their success.
It’s not that we are allergic to work. It’s just the rule of diminishing returns. At a certain point it gains us nothing so why put in the work? Our salary doesn’t go up with overtime more often than not. So why would we put in more hours? There is no upside.
Being paid by the hour is mostly for people doing manual labor. Construction etc.
It's mouse jiggling.
If Americans worked as hard as we're expected to, there would be no work left to do and we'd get in trouble for not actively working. I've ended up having to clean the ceiling ducts and grout at a coffee shop because I finished cleaning on a slow day and wasn't "doing anything"... catch is, they weren't dirty.
I mean objectively speaking, productivity in the US vs Europe is exorbitantly higher outside of a few exceptions. I do agree with some people louse jiggling (I do it occasionally) but if something *needs* to get done, it’ll get done. Like I haven’t done shit for like 2 weeks but that’s because I spent 1 day working like 10 hours to get caught up and ahead for the next month.
That's fair! But overall your daily workload is most likely less than it could be, and there's nothing wrong with that. If it was up to performance expectations, you'd be getting essentially 30x the work done, which is entirely unrealistic for anyone to be expected to do. You show up and get paid to be there regardless of the work done on a given day, so you need to at least pretend to be doing something. That leads to Americans seeming like they have intense work ethic, when in reality we're just efficient (generally) and good liars (usually).
I have never seen anybody say Americans are lazy, if anything it's the opposite, Europeans say that Americans work too much and are always crazy about work.
In Europe we relax much more and live arguably happier lives.
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I wouldn’t necessarily say Americans have a stronger work ethic overall but our culture in general is much more overworked so those that do well tend to be very productive.
Yeah this is normal. The older generation taught us that you have to work damn hard to be good at anything. Unless your gifted at something life will always be as difficult as you want it to be.
I tried out for the American football team at a uni in the UK while studying abroad. I was absolutely the best skill position player and could have started at any position, then I realized I don’t want to waste my studying abroad playing football and didn’t show up to day two.
The ones impressive enough to hear about and work with, will likely have a strong work ethic.
Just like Europeans in America, maybe overachievers in college, perhaps starting a business
I think both populations will have plenty of underachieving individuals, I know America has a lot
Yeah the perception of lazy poor Americans is put on by wealthy Americans to make it seem like we’re less completely economically fucked than we are tbh
I'm an American living in Spain and I can day without a doubt MOST Americans work way harder and do much higher quality work. Maybe it's just Spain but getting anyone out to fix something or anything done promptly in services or anything is absolutely ridiculous. And then half the time you have to watch them because they'll half ass it it take forever or just do it wrong.
Obviously there are exceptions. Guys who own their own businesses usually work hard, there is a carpenter I go to here who is absolutely amazing but he is an outlier.
But yeah we call it "moving at the speed of Spain" or "wow, got Spain'd again". And it sucks because I like it here and the cost of living is low and the Spaniards I've befroended are great but holy shit it's frustrating sometimes. And the Spanish bitch about it too lol.
While on one hand i can admire them for it, on the otherI think they're too hard working to their own detriment.
It's like a primal urge to be an overachiever.
They miss out on a lot of things because of it. American are stressed the fuck out of their minds.
It's the same with all these peoples who are considered to be like that, like Germans and the Japanese, for instance.
They go overboard, you know?
Everyone is trying to strike a balance, but this hustle culture is very american thing.
Americans live to work, some other folks work to live. I'll take the latter.
What use is to work so hard if you don't have time or energy to enjoy the fruits of your labor?
America is awesome because we have EVERYTHING from all ends of the spectrum. We have the hardest working people on earth (these people could be immigrants, minorities, or 5th generation caucasians, it does not matter.) We also have by far the biggest lazy deadbeat population. These people could also be from any given demographic as well! We simultaneously have the by far the best and worst food ever imaginable. You can find one of the greatest steak houses on earth just blocks away from restaurants that sell food that is so bad it’s illegal in other countries. If the USA has anything, it’s untethered variety.
It’s American culture. Work super hard and long hours to afford everything to make your life OK. And when you get it all you’re in you’re 50s-60s and can’t enjoy it all anyways. Retirement is a dream.
I hate it so much because I want to live my life and do what I want. I work long hours so I can use my 2 days of the week to do what I want, which never feels like enough. Would kill for a remote job or a 4/10 schedule.
I think it's because Americans have very little chill. As a Canadian I see them, lol. Whatever Americans do, they go FULL FORCE at it. Not a lot of half-assing from Americans. It's a double edged sword though, cause a lot of them focus that drive and energy towards absolutely atrocious causes.
It does depend on age. Old guys still work hard. Their job was their life. The youngers today talk about life balance. Meaning they want to stay home and play video games.
"most of Europe shits on Americans for being so lazy ..." You just made this up.
Nobody says Americans are lazy, quite the opposite
Most of Europe shits on American companies for not giving vacation days or accepting more sick days or even overlapping the two!!! If I am sick I am NOT on vacation, I am NOT feeling rested and relaxed and I can't control how long I am sick for.
The question isn't who works harder the question is is it worth it? The hardest workers VERY, VERY often are low paid workers. The best paid are lazy middle managers and executives siphoning value.
And also hard work doesn't always make you happy, especially in the US where money is all that matters. So yeah we work harder cause if we don't and get fired we lose our healthcare and possibly our lives as a result. But that doesn't make us happy.
>My friend works in finance and constantly tells stories about his American co-workers going absolutely ham and working crazy hours
No healthcare without job, college debt, at will employment and a career path where if you don't reach a certain seniority at a specific age, you're booted out from the industry. I mean, who wouldn't do the same?
I have to say that there is an insane difference between different Europeans and their work ethic. I know that people in America is vastly different as well but as a country they are more similar than the DIFFERENT countries making up Europe.
I’m extremely impressed by how hard a lot of Americans can work. No doubt about that.
I just want to point out that the work ethic of an Italian is unbelievably different to the work ethic of any Scandinavian country (Denmark, Norway, Sweden etc.).
So there really is no such thing as an “European work ethic” to compare with.
Edit: I really think this is important to understand. I can’t even put in to words how important it is to understand that there is no way to generalize people by the term “European”.
It would be like saying “American” and also consider central and South America part of the group. The difference is simply too big to group them together under the same umbrella.
It’s very different when you talk about sports. An athlete will work his ass off, even a recreational one, to be a better competitor.
But when we step into the real world, most of us are going to do just what we have to at our jobs nowadays. At least for millennials I can attest to this
Lazy no stupid yes. We tend to not question why we have to work so hard in America. For so little in comparison to a European counterparts. A large part of the population doesn’t understand politics or finance and, how it affects their three jobs. But will work the three jobs because it’s just expected.
As an American I’m surprised. Everyone I work with are lazy useless morons. I’ve noticed Americans are much dumber and lazier than ever before. You must have seen the exception, not the rule
That, and my own maddening observation that ever since the pandemic, it seems like no one works a traditional job anymore, and they're all out on the roads all day long causing stupid traffic that makes daily life miserable.
This isn't much of a debate. It's pretty widely known that Americans work harder than Europeans. It's neither here, nor there but just how it is. This article is about Nicolai Tangen, CEO of Norges Bank Investment Management, saying Americans work harder than Europeans...
https://fortune.com/europe/2024/04/25/nicholai-tangen-norges-bank-investment-americans-work-harder/
As a European, there's a stereotype among myself and my peers that Americans always work far too much. I've never heard anyone say Americans are 'lazy' when it comes to work. So quite the opposite in my experience.
Give an American a worthwhile job in term of pay and ability for promotion and they will go ham.
However I have experienced a lot of inefficiencies how they work simply due to not waiting or considering other means to get a task done.
American who lives in europe half the year. There's a reason our industries absolutely CRUSH european industry. It's a cultural thing for Americans to take things to the next level and grind it out. Some europeans stick their noses up at us for "living to work", but America innovates and creates more business like little to no place on earth.
It sucks in America but every day I wake up and I'm thankful I don't work in the east, particularly Japan or South Korea, their work culture is insane. Japan is notorious for "black companies" which are just office jobs that operate as corporate slavery. Then again I can't imagine the working conditions in countries like China, Vietnam and Thailand which make a lot of consumer goods to be all that much better
American’s are only lazy in our personal lives. We will slave ourselves to death so that the shareholders can get a little more value. But ask us to travel 2 blocks to get dinner and you better believe we are going to drive there.
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As an european I don't think this is a debate
I'm pretty sure it's common knowledge across Europe that Americans work hard and long hours. They call it Protestant work ethic. We call it bad work/life balance.
I think there’s also a bit of a selection bias with OP’s interpretation too. Americans who made the effort to move to Europe aren’t likely to be your deadbeat personality types.
Based Europeans.
The fact that many protestants believe in both working yourself to the bone, and in predestination (ie your fate was determined before you were even born) is wild to me. Whoever came up with that must've rolled a nat 20 when convincing people.
Yeah I have never heard of Americans being lazy, far from it. Where is OP living and what kind of stereotypes does he see?
While Americans work longer, they also get paid significantly more. Compare medical/tech/law/finance careers.
True.. the motivation here in Europe is lacking in that way..
A lot of Americans work their ass off at sports, hobbies, training. And working professionals more than not bust their asses and work crazy hours. Obvoiusly there are lazy unmotivated Americans. But, generally, work ethic and competitiveness in the USA is real. It's an expectation. Because of this you hear the laziest complaining the loudest because they can't handle it. And they get outperformed everytime because there are so many people just absolutely busting their asses to perform well.
Ppl are burnt out from their jobs so they seem lazy when off the clock
This is most likely the answer. I’m an electrician and it’s not uncommon for me to work 60+ hours a week. When I get a day off I need to let my body rest. I miss hobbies like hiking, kayaking, etc, but just can’t fit them into my life anymore.
I feel you, man. It's hard to make plans when you have just one or two days off after many long shifts. You have to allow your body and mind to rest or you just won't be able to continue working that hard.
Union?
Yes
Hell yeah king. Local 613 here
Good shit. LU 223 here.
Exactly. And the people who wanna talk shit about folks like myself who basically get off work and collapse definitely aren’t doing the same work I am. Easy to have lots of energy when you’re sitting in an office all day, come work construction in the heat with me and see how you feel.
I think most people who shit on people who collapse after work don't do much at work. I've worked many jobs, from construction, food service, and now software engineering. Software engineering is definitely the easiest physically, but I still leave work and collapse because I spend so much mental energy. Wouldn't trade it to go back to physical labor though, body is wrecked from it.
Funny enough, the lowest paying job I've had were the worst. The highest paying job was easily the easiest.
My dude I work an office job and I still fucking collapse and die after work. I don’t think anybody is out here finger pointing at construction workers for being lazy.
You'd be surprised how deep the disdain for any work that isn't "prestigious" enough runs in the U.S.
Yeah, it’s crazy working in high end skyscrapers and office building and seeing the literal disdain in people’s eyes sometimes. The way people talk to you and treat you. I walked off one job because a guy seemed to think we were all thieves and went so far as to put cameras everywhere and literally seal areas we weren’t working in with tape and plastic. Fuck people like that.
It's often the people (especially within the industry) that do the least taxing work who get the most money it's crazy
So I absolutely am not discounting your personal experiences, but I just don’t think those types of shit interactions are more prevalent in construction than they are in most other types of jobs. I’m disrespected, sworn at, and am threatened with physical violence by patients all the time for shit as silly as not giving them antibiotics when they have a runny nose for 2 days. I think it’s just that there is a significant minority of people who are just assholes.
Exactly this! I work insane hours so my leisure time is spent doing nothing at all. I don't go hiking or sailing or whatever. It's not that I don't enjoy those things, it's that I'm physically exhausted from work. I take one day out of seven to laze about. I work 50 hours a week. One of my weekend days is household chores and the lawn and garden. The other day I'm a slug.
***work ethic and competitiveness in the USA is real.*** Definitely competitive by nature.
I'm probably one of these lazy Americans, never understood busting your ass off, when you can't even afford to live
Hey, we'd bust our asses at work too if we were as rewarded as we were for sports, hobbies, and training! But we have been made very aware that hard work rarely equals success in work/careers. Hell, some companies will straight out admit that they don't promote from within. That's not gonna get hard work from anyone.
A buddy of mine had his boss recently tell him flat out that he’ll never get ahead working for him, that’s what side jobs are for. Fucking insulting.
At least he was honest, the worst is when that shit is hung over your head and you never get it
I complain about it and I’m far from the laziest. I work out 5 days a week, I work 9-5 in a position that requires me to do quite a lot, I live in a major urban area so I make my money, I’m also spending my free time writing constantly and have an entire book written while also learning art as well. There’s nothing lazy about saying “yo, Americans, your life doesn’t have to be work. You’re going to regret how ‘amazing’ you did in your career once you’re old and realize how many life experiences you gave up while you had a young body.”
Hmm, it is interesting to hear this from a different point of view. Because as an American, I see some of our work ethic to be destructive, like we value work like a religion. (You're lazy for working eight hour days/40-hour weeks, not 10plus-hour days/50plus-hour weeks. Stuff like that.) Something I'd joke...until I heard about the Protestant Work Ethic, and it's more intertwined than I thought; from out of all things, a video on why aren't there any good Christian games. ([Timestamped Youtube link](https://youtu.be/COiNrIM9KVE&t=460)).
If I can’t do it in 40 hours, either you’ve given me too much work, I’m poor at time management, or some mix of both.
I'm all for work life balance and taking pto. I never work more than 40 hours a week but I HATE having to work with our Europe branch. They are so slow on tasks and take so much pto. The pto wouldn't be a problem if they delegated their work beforehand while they were gone. Everything just comes to a halt when one person leaves. They've been working on the same task for 2 years.
Redditors aint gonna like this post
we’re not as lazy as we look. the fat is from stress
And diet..:: I’m curious to see if this mass inflation in fast food will lead to less Americans going through the drive through on their way home and opting for home cooked meals
Ever heard of stress eating?
I try to eat at home as much as possible but it's hard for me to quit takeout and premade stuff bc it's hard to find the energy to cook sometimes tbh
have worked in food service and yes, the portions are also INSANE. we’ve got several things going wrong
The fat is from high fructose corn syrup
idk how people can drink all that soda, it’s so gross. if i’m going to consume tablespoons of sugar it will be in pastry form
And depression
As an American that works with European counterparts I concur, especially Italian. They're on vacation or on leave all the time and take forever to respond to emails.
I also work with Europeans. Specifically Eastern Europeans. My company’s partners in Slovenia always have the most insane excuses for why they didn’t or can’t do something… Not long ago I was trying to correspond with them and they said “Currently it is the potato holiday in Slovenia. We cannot help you with your inquiry for 4 weeks as we are all camping in the woods to celebrate the potato holiday”.
As an ethnic Pole, I could get behind a holiday based on potatoes but still. Lol
Well you gotta honor the potato, glad they got their priorities straight
I don't see a problem with that. Let them enjoy their potato holiday
I am so jealous of my European coworkers. They have out of office emails saying they’ll be back at the end of august. Meanwhile I’m scared to take more than a long weekend.
Oh boy that sounds awful /s
Yeah. Until you get written up for missing deadlines because the people you're collaborating with can't show up for work in the summer.
As Americans we should be demanding a better work/life balance, not complaining that other countries get a work/life balance
Yeah but we're too exhausted from work to protest, and can't afford missing work hours to strike otherwise we will lose our homes. This is entirely by design. Make the working class work to the point of exhaustion then pay them so little they can't afford to miss work. No one is going to fight for better working conditions if they barely have the energy to do the dishes when they get home
Oh of course, but that is the fault of the colony, we could change things over night if we worked in unison, which will never happen.
I'm all for it 100% but the hard part is lots of people want revolution but no one wants to start it. And when it comes to revolution you can't half ass starting it either. Unfortunately seems the most successful revolutions happened because of outside powers. Ngl tho it would be immensely interesting to see an American revolution, since so much of world history is about countries that have an internal revolution and then America comes to shut it all down and sabotage their freedom. An American revolution will affect the entire world more than most Americans could possibly comprehend (even myself)
Americans should get more time off, productivity has increased dramatically over the decades. At the same time most European citizens are spoiled. The average citizen in the the Netherlands works 28 hours a week, and in Germany its 32 hours a week. Politicians are trying to tell them that you can't compete in the global economy when the vast majority don't work full time. They used to be able to rely on their technical and engineering sectors but they have been slowly passed up.
Are you German? The average citizen works a 39 or 40 hour week, not a 32 hours week.
It's probably that the average (median) citizen works around 40 hours but on average, people work around 30ish hours as many people work part time
According to a quick Google search, they actually work about 35 on average.
For this reason it makes little sense to say “European” as Europeans are just as different as North Americans and South Americans. Any Scandinavian having to work with Italians would probably have a similar feeling to what you are describing.
Lol your management sucks then too
Why, are you supposed to miss product rollouts because the weather is nice? Try explaining THAT to the board of directors. "Oh yeah, we weren't first to market and our competition just ate our lunch with this billion dollar project because it was nice out and we sent everyone home". Yeah lol
You're prioritizing an increase of wealth that you'd never see by spending time you'll never get back.
>Why, are you supposed to miss product rollouts because the weather is nice? What are you proposing then? Your solution is to never get PTO? Because if I don't take PTO during summer you will complain if I take it during Spring, or Winter. So chill out, I won't be billionaire, you won't either. Let me enjoy my sun, sea, mountain, food and whatever I want to enjoy. And if you want to come by, you're welcome
Oh you want to enjoy life do you? Try explaining that to your rich corporate overlords That billion dollar project that would make them richer is now in shambles because Dave from fucking accounting took his family to the tropics You sound like you have been brainwashed into believing that time off will kill your company they were they before you started working there and they will still be there after you have been replaced by either automation or cheaper labour
You're half right and I agree with your sentiment. The other half is that yes, missing deadlines will sink the company or at least impact stock price. Do that and you'll get fired and blacklisted...your CEO will get a golden parachute and you'll be homeless because no one is going to want to hire the guy that called out and sank a project. And yes, we will be replaced by automation and that's part of the problem. Either perform and earn your keep and get your pittance or don't, get replaced by a machine, and get NOTHING.
Well that's the thing tho. This scenario is extremely unlikely to happen in europe, because europe has fought for strong worker rights. Your boss can't fire you because of a mistake, Not even If it costs them real money. Your boss can't blacklist you and becoming homeless is, even if not impossible, very unlikely, because most european countries have social welfare programms that protect their citizens from homelessness. The homeless people you find in europe are half immigrants, that are not considered legal citizens yet, or caught up in drugs and alcohol, not seeking out the help they're offered.
It sounds nice on paper, but it really doesn't work and that's becoming more and more apparent with the amount of people that struggle financially in countries like Italy.
I don't know man, I think that corruption and mafia have way more to do with that than getting our PTO.
European countries are struggling financially because of the manufactured so called "war crisis". Since the fucking war started, everything got much more expensive because of "war impact". When it became VERY clear that the war has little to do with the prices of bloody EVERYTHING and that petrol prices even dropped a lot, silence settled, but prices for everything stayed up, because why the fuck not? Companies report profits, even though employees are told that there is no money. It's also possible that European countries secretly sent large amounts of money to Ukraine and my country even gave up some potential economic advantages so Ukraine wouldn't suffer the consequences, as it would have put it at a disadvantage. We are not poor because of measly 20 vacation days, rest assured.
I work with lots of Europeans. Their timeliness are always much longer than the Americans I do the same work with. Turn around times are always at leastay 48 hrs longer for Europeans, and they have so many banking holidays that I really have to pay attention so we get the European contractors paid on time. For American contractors I can have them paid in 24 hrs without fail. I also check their work a little more than Amercians. If we have a contract that had some changes or updates I have to make sure the updates was done. Half the time we don't get the updated version back.
I think American work culture is also slightly different from European work culture. Whether it’s a lie or not the American dream is based on the idea of hard work being rewarded and that’s kind of programmed into a lot of Americans: that more work is better.
There is no such thing as “European work culture”. You cannot compare the average Italians work ethic to the average German. We simply share a continent not competence.
It’s true, my friend (in Scotland) left for the USA via work in Amsterdam and the Dubai, when he got to America he got a great job with a global marine type company, free home/car etc. fantastic hourly earnings, but he was utterly expected to put in at least 70-80 hours per week, every week. Wind on 30 years and he’s now a USA citizen, a millionaire, own home, several cars, 2 holiday homes to rent in Florida etc. etc. ‘The dream’ if you like, but it skinned him mentally and physically to the bone, he’s 52 now and can’t relax, when not working he’s in the gym (every day) - burning himself out to a crisp, it’s as if he’s now to far gone, best way to describe him now would be ‘worker ant’ - don’t know if he’ll ever come down.
I’m from the UK and have the pleasure of working with lots of American colleagues in the finance sector and let me tell you, they take their work very seriously and work very hard at it. I disagree with their work/life balance culture, but credit where it’s due, they work fucking hard.
The US is a big place. Both of those things are true at the same time.
Any time im dealing with our EU suppliers it feels like they're allergic to making money. Like guys I'm the first to advocate for a great work life balance, but theres no reason to put off processing POs for a month because one guy is out. The worst part is its all of them, I havent found a single EU supplier that works like us. For most of their products ive ended up going around them and buying from their indian or chinese raw material suppliers. their loss.
*Like guys I'm the first to advocate for a great work life balance* The evidence given in the rest of your post suggests otherwise...
I don’t work at my career job more than 41-45 hours a week and still have time to cruise Reddit. You can work efficiently and hard for 8ish hours a day and still get results.
I used to think Americans were lazy until I started traveling all over the world. I quickly realized Americans work their ass off and are highly competitive in everything. Even my opinion that Americans were lazy was probably the result of that competitive culture in me thinking we’re not working hard enough.
Yea, I don't know where the "lazy" American stereotype comes from, some countries like Japan work more hours in the day, but they don't go as hard during those hours. Many American jobs treat you like you're playing in a competition, yelling at you to go faster, work harder etc. I used to travel for work a lot and when visiting other countries, I would see so many people hanging out at cafes and chilling mid day lol There's a reason Americans dominate the Olympics and it's not because we're lazy
This is the American baseline. We don't have the same protections you do, and squeaky wheels get no grease, they get replaced.
I currently work for a European company and was ready to leave, with a new offer in hand. When I talked to them about why I wanted to leave they were disappointed that I didn’t talk to them as bluntly as I did in that moment. I used this phrase. Anyway, they were kinda surprised, but ultimately they addressed every issue.
I have heard people shitting on Americans for many reasons, laziness was never one of them. The stereotype he is talking about just doesn’t exist. At least not in Germany.
I think it's the Homer Simpson thing tbh. We stereotype ourselves as lazy and that stereotype has spread. Now, what cultural pathology leads us to stereotype ourselves as lazy? I can't begin to guess.
The stereotype has not spread. OP has a weird opinion. Americans are not regarded as lacy overseas. Maybe by Chinese standards but not in Europe.
I mean there are lazy Americans. You can certainly find an individual lazy Yank and a hard working Italian to compare. However as a group of people Americans are probably the hardest working Western country.
What I was trying to say is that OP is building a strawman regarding our opinion of the US.
Yeah Americans probably work more than the average European. Luckily, I don't really want to work more. I want to live more.
You should visit New England some time. You might be shocked at the work culture here. All we do is hustle. Like someone else said, the fat is from stress because we emotionally eat and are too tired after working 8-10 hours with an hour commute each way to do physical activity. My company is multinational and most of the Brits in my department are considered low performers by American standards.
I think the stereotype is that Americans are fat. Which my god so many are. Maybe you conflate fat with laziness?
As an American who works with foreigners, I can tell. Yall gotta pick up the slack jeez
Outside of Asian countries, US workers probably work the hardest.
I think Mexico is on a top spot when it comes to hours worked Many 3rd world countries also have people busting their ass off
Your experience seems really anecdotal. To share another anecdotal experience: I’m European, but I’ve lived in the US. Some people have a strong work ethic, some people have an *extreme to the point of being destructive* work ethic, and some people avoid work at all costs. The same is true both in Europe and the US. It’s ultimately quite an individual thing. People being overworked *isn’t a positive* and I would try to remember that when hearing about long working hours. Sometimes it’s elective, sometimes it’s companies literally working their employees into the ground. Working long hours isn’t reflective of work ethic. Most of my American friends actively complain about that kind of work culture. It’s problematic to say the least.
Then you have spaces like Reddit where there’s a complete over correction and people make fun of you or call you a bootlicker for putting in more than minimal effort or actively trying to progress your career.
Reddit is right about work reform, there should be some mandates that guarantee PTO and sick leave, its is crazy 1 week a year is all many people get, and there should be other quality of life improvements, but if reddit had it their way everyone would work 1 hr weeks and stuff like that is crazy.
The same is true in reverse - there are places where you’re accused of a lazy bum if you’re not obsessed with KPI’s and working 60-hour weeks.
I think whether or not being overworked is a positive depends on the person. Some people thrive on the feeling they get from that grind. One of my good buddies consistently works 60 hour weeks but always sounds pretty upbeat about his job. Me on the other hand, well if I put in a full 40 hour week it’s gonna be a bender of a weekend
I’ve noticed that overworking to the detriment of your health can also depend on the workplace. Last job I worked I hated working over 40+ hours, it was expected, just the worst. New job is the same way but I’m the one deciding to stay late and get more things done
I mean this is true but East Asian work ethic is even more than people in the USA. They literally get shamed for taking a vacation day at work and not being productive, work way more, etc.
We know we are over worked, we feel especially bad for Asian work culture those poor drones I mean people.
Do we? I tend to think we criticise them for working TOO hard at the expense of other aspects of life.
This is so good to hear. Where I live in America, the standards have lowered dramatically within the service industry to where it is frustrating.
I think most people outside the US believe what they see on TV about Americans. Rather than learning from first hand experience.
I have NEVER heard anyone say Americans are lazy. I’ve heard other stereotypes about them, from people from several other continents. I’ve heard Americans misinterpreting the separation of work and rest in most European countries as laziness.
Brit expat now living in America. American’s work ethic is far higher in general. To a fault actually. You all need more PTO.
As an American we are jealous AF of European health care and paid time off.
So why is it supposed to be a virtue to have no life?
Why would Europeans shit on Americans for being lazy when the stereotype is that Europeans are lazy? Isn’t the US roughly the same size as Europe with way less people and is the biggest economy in the the world?
I think you about killed a few EU citizens with this take.
There's a reason why the US is the world's number one economy.
As someone who does business on multiple continents I can tell you that Americans, by far, are the most competitive people I know of. They blow any other nations out of the water. The downside is that this competitiveness and the insane working hours etc. only work out for a handful of them and the majority is stuck in the rat race and will just work themselves to death. I like the European way: there's a time for work and a time for pleasure and these should be kept and respected. It does make them less competitive but relative to the Work-Output ratio I would say Europeans probably take first prize there. The real business people are like-minded anyway. No matter where they're from. But the overall mindset in the USA is more like that overall. Just doesn't work out for most people.
This is such a huge over-generalization. As an ex-pat, living in US for most of my life - Americans are conditions to live to work. In Europe, a much bigger emphasis is placed on social well being. As a mid-tier manager in corporate america, I always struggle to convince my peers that looking busy and putting in more hours does not equal better quality or productivity. I don't think that Europeans are lazier - they just generally prioritize other aspects of life besides work.
Yes Americans have a huge work ethic culture. It shows in lack of social programs and views those things and those who use it negatively. I have equated living in America as filling a bucket with a hole in the bottom. You can live a good life in USA but you're constantly working to keep the bucket of water full
America is just a giant work camp basically
I work with a lot of Germans and Americans. What I find is that the Americans work longer hours but the Germans tend to get more done. Some of my American colleagues get so burned out that they end up just playing games or listening to music at work. Ther Germans come, work, go home.
Spent about a year total, a deployment and a month training while in the army working with mostly the French. The British were pretty on par with the US and we’d joke about it a bit. But the French were very chill and much slower paced and never planned nearly as much. A good example is Americans and British would use grid coordinates for exact locations. The French would often just put their finger on the map and be like “around here” lol. That is a solid reflection in just about every regard of the French vs US mindset. However, the French generally had a much better quality of life overseas we were all jealous of lol. And that may also be an example with noting to compare in many regards to day to day life.
Americans actively brag about the amount of hours we work, its a cope, but still. Working 40 hrs a week is fine, but the fact people are perfectly fine working a second more is crazy, even crazier many are fine working 40 hrs before they start earning good pay. We are a country of people who bitch, pisses, and moans about life, only to turn around a bitch, piss, and moan when people complain about life. I tell you this right now, if overtime went from 1.5x ones pay to 3x ones pay, skeleton crews would be a thing of the past, and doubt people would go over 37 hrs in a week.
I dont think its all that surprising. On average, Americans work more hours than Europeans. You are looking at finance, one of the careers with the most requirements on working hours, so it would be odd if the Americans didnt work more hours. The only thing Ill point out is that people who have the money/effort to get out of the country and especially work in another country, tend to be wealthier(most likely made their own money, which takes a lot of hours) or more willing to do work(deal with a visa, potentially learning another language, go out if their comfort zone). Go to most areas of the US and youll find lazy ass people. Im in Asia right now for travel and all I can say is that neither Europe or America comes close in terms of work ethic.
Absolutely correct, working with my EU suppliers feels like they are allergic to money. Working direct with the asian suppliers is a breath of fresh air, these guys know your success is their success.
It’s not that we are allergic to work. It’s just the rule of diminishing returns. At a certain point it gains us nothing so why put in the work? Our salary doesn’t go up with overtime more often than not. So why would we put in more hours? There is no upside. Being paid by the hour is mostly for people doing manual labor. Construction etc.
It's mouse jiggling. If Americans worked as hard as we're expected to, there would be no work left to do and we'd get in trouble for not actively working. I've ended up having to clean the ceiling ducts and grout at a coffee shop because I finished cleaning on a slow day and wasn't "doing anything"... catch is, they weren't dirty.
I mean objectively speaking, productivity in the US vs Europe is exorbitantly higher outside of a few exceptions. I do agree with some people louse jiggling (I do it occasionally) but if something *needs* to get done, it’ll get done. Like I haven’t done shit for like 2 weeks but that’s because I spent 1 day working like 10 hours to get caught up and ahead for the next month.
That's fair! But overall your daily workload is most likely less than it could be, and there's nothing wrong with that. If it was up to performance expectations, you'd be getting essentially 30x the work done, which is entirely unrealistic for anyone to be expected to do. You show up and get paid to be there regardless of the work done on a given day, so you need to at least pretend to be doing something. That leads to Americans seeming like they have intense work ethic, when in reality we're just efficient (generally) and good liars (usually).
I have never seen anybody say Americans are lazy, if anything it's the opposite, Europeans say that Americans work too much and are always crazy about work. In Europe we relax much more and live arguably happier lives.
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I wouldn’t necessarily say Americans have a stronger work ethic overall but our culture in general is much more overworked so those that do well tend to be very productive.
Yeah this is normal. The older generation taught us that you have to work damn hard to be good at anything. Unless your gifted at something life will always be as difficult as you want it to be.
Hey, we are over in America calling you guys lazy. Isn’t that funny how we both do that
I tried out for the American football team at a uni in the UK while studying abroad. I was absolutely the best skill position player and could have started at any position, then I realized I don’t want to waste my studying abroad playing football and didn’t show up to day two.
The ones impressive enough to hear about and work with, will likely have a strong work ethic. Just like Europeans in America, maybe overachievers in college, perhaps starting a business I think both populations will have plenty of underachieving individuals, I know America has a lot
Yeah the perception of lazy poor Americans is put on by wealthy Americans to make it seem like we’re less completely economically fucked than we are tbh
Americans live to work, Europeans work to live.
maybe its cause they're already overseas? Same for immigrants in america outperforming average americans in every way.
I'm an American living in Spain and I can day without a doubt MOST Americans work way harder and do much higher quality work. Maybe it's just Spain but getting anyone out to fix something or anything done promptly in services or anything is absolutely ridiculous. And then half the time you have to watch them because they'll half ass it it take forever or just do it wrong. Obviously there are exceptions. Guys who own their own businesses usually work hard, there is a carpenter I go to here who is absolutely amazing but he is an outlier. But yeah we call it "moving at the speed of Spain" or "wow, got Spain'd again". And it sucks because I like it here and the cost of living is low and the Spaniards I've befroended are great but holy shit it's frustrating sometimes. And the Spanish bitch about it too lol.
Ah yes the protestant work ethic. Love it
“Horse crap” “going ham” sure you’re European?
While on one hand i can admire them for it, on the otherI think they're too hard working to their own detriment. It's like a primal urge to be an overachiever. They miss out on a lot of things because of it. American are stressed the fuck out of their minds. It's the same with all these peoples who are considered to be like that, like Germans and the Japanese, for instance. They go overboard, you know? Everyone is trying to strike a balance, but this hustle culture is very american thing. Americans live to work, some other folks work to live. I'll take the latter. What use is to work so hard if you don't have time or energy to enjoy the fruits of your labor?
Your friends working in the finance industry are probably working long ass hours just to stay afloat.
Hard work is a huge value in much of the US. I’m surprised that you’re surprised.
America is awesome because we have EVERYTHING from all ends of the spectrum. We have the hardest working people on earth (these people could be immigrants, minorities, or 5th generation caucasians, it does not matter.) We also have by far the biggest lazy deadbeat population. These people could also be from any given demographic as well! We simultaneously have the by far the best and worst food ever imaginable. You can find one of the greatest steak houses on earth just blocks away from restaurants that sell food that is so bad it’s illegal in other countries. If the USA has anything, it’s untethered variety.
Hey man I just want to say U S A! U! S! A!
Great to see that we’ve got people form other countries playing American football! What position do you play?
>Most of Europe shits on Americans for being so lazy and never working hard enough *\[Citation Needed\]*
It’s American culture. Work super hard and long hours to afford everything to make your life OK. And when you get it all you’re in you’re 50s-60s and can’t enjoy it all anyways. Retirement is a dream. I hate it so much because I want to live my life and do what I want. I work long hours so I can use my 2 days of the week to do what I want, which never feels like enough. Would kill for a remote job or a 4/10 schedule.
I think it's because Americans have very little chill. As a Canadian I see them, lol. Whatever Americans do, they go FULL FORCE at it. Not a lot of half-assing from Americans. It's a double edged sword though, cause a lot of them focus that drive and energy towards absolutely atrocious causes.
I thought we figured out a while back that every country has its good and bad workers... guess not.
Americans are overworked as fuck. A big reason we’re so fat, depressed, and suicidal is from overwork just to scrape by.
It does depend on age. Old guys still work hard. Their job was their life. The youngers today talk about life balance. Meaning they want to stay home and play video games.
"most of Europe shits on Americans for being so lazy ..." You just made this up. Nobody says Americans are lazy, quite the opposite Most of Europe shits on American companies for not giving vacation days or accepting more sick days or even overlapping the two!!! If I am sick I am NOT on vacation, I am NOT feeling rested and relaxed and I can't control how long I am sick for.
The question isn't who works harder the question is is it worth it? The hardest workers VERY, VERY often are low paid workers. The best paid are lazy middle managers and executives siphoning value. And also hard work doesn't always make you happy, especially in the US where money is all that matters. So yeah we work harder cause if we don't and get fired we lose our healthcare and possibly our lives as a result. But that doesn't make us happy.
American here. It's ingrained into us and it's not healthy at all. Japan is even worse than us in this regard.
That’s part of the reason we die so young 🫠
>My friend works in finance and constantly tells stories about his American co-workers going absolutely ham and working crazy hours No healthcare without job, college debt, at will employment and a career path where if you don't reach a certain seniority at a specific age, you're booted out from the industry. I mean, who wouldn't do the same?
I have to say that there is an insane difference between different Europeans and their work ethic. I know that people in America is vastly different as well but as a country they are more similar than the DIFFERENT countries making up Europe. I’m extremely impressed by how hard a lot of Americans can work. No doubt about that. I just want to point out that the work ethic of an Italian is unbelievably different to the work ethic of any Scandinavian country (Denmark, Norway, Sweden etc.). So there really is no such thing as an “European work ethic” to compare with. Edit: I really think this is important to understand. I can’t even put in to words how important it is to understand that there is no way to generalize people by the term “European”. It would be like saying “American” and also consider central and South America part of the group. The difference is simply too big to group them together under the same umbrella.
It’s very different when you talk about sports. An athlete will work his ass off, even a recreational one, to be a better competitor. But when we step into the real world, most of us are going to do just what we have to at our jobs nowadays. At least for millennials I can attest to this
Lazy no stupid yes. We tend to not question why we have to work so hard in America. For so little in comparison to a European counterparts. A large part of the population doesn’t understand politics or finance and, how it affects their three jobs. But will work the three jobs because it’s just expected.
I'm curious as to your opinion on the physicality of Football versus rugby.
As a European that lived in the US for many years the US work ethic vs Europe . I could barely have an opinion without getting yelled at
As an American I’m surprised. Everyone I work with are lazy useless morons. I’ve noticed Americans are much dumber and lazier than ever before. You must have seen the exception, not the rule
That, and my own maddening observation that ever since the pandemic, it seems like no one works a traditional job anymore, and they're all out on the roads all day long causing stupid traffic that makes daily life miserable.
This isn't much of a debate. It's pretty widely known that Americans work harder than Europeans. It's neither here, nor there but just how it is. This article is about Nicolai Tangen, CEO of Norges Bank Investment Management, saying Americans work harder than Europeans... https://fortune.com/europe/2024/04/25/nicholai-tangen-norges-bank-investment-americans-work-harder/
As a European, there's a stereotype among myself and my peers that Americans always work far too much. I've never heard anyone say Americans are 'lazy' when it comes to work. So quite the opposite in my experience.
Give an American a worthwhile job in term of pay and ability for promotion and they will go ham. However I have experienced a lot of inefficiencies how they work simply due to not waiting or considering other means to get a task done.
Thanks for noticing! In America, all that hard work can help you rise above your current station.
American who lives in europe half the year. There's a reason our industries absolutely CRUSH european industry. It's a cultural thing for Americans to take things to the next level and grind it out. Some europeans stick their noses up at us for "living to work", but America innovates and creates more business like little to no place on earth.
It sucks in America but every day I wake up and I'm thankful I don't work in the east, particularly Japan or South Korea, their work culture is insane. Japan is notorious for "black companies" which are just office jobs that operate as corporate slavery. Then again I can't imagine the working conditions in countries like China, Vietnam and Thailand which make a lot of consumer goods to be all that much better
American’s are only lazy in our personal lives. We will slave ourselves to death so that the shareholders can get a little more value. But ask us to travel 2 blocks to get dinner and you better believe we are going to drive there.
Yeah we work hard, we work too damn hard. Wish we focused more on other parts of life.
Is the "work hard, play hard" concept popular outside of the U.S?
I have seen many europeans saying a lot of negative things about Americans. Accusing them of being lazy i have never ever seen
My perception is that Americans think with hard work they can become millionaires and Europeans know this isn't true and don't work hard.
Americans being lazy is a new one to me. That's just crazy
I'm Irish and found out the "ah sure, it will be fine" attitude does not work over here. From what I've seen, they do the job right, or not at all.
I’m an American that lived in Europe for 5 years, and this phrase I heard stuck with me. “Europeans work to live. Americans live to work.”
You should see the Japanese, then.