Is UK work ethic different from US work ethic?

[GonvilleBromhead]

It certainly used to be the case that the British work ethic was somewhat lacking, but the 80's changed that. Prior to then, the norm was pretty much to spend the morning recovering from a hangover, get pissed at lunch, try to sober up in the afternoon so you could drive home, and go to the pub in the evening. Competition with the US pretty much stopped that.

Nowadays...bit more of a mixed bag. It's harder to get rid of a lazy employee over here than the States, but easier than much of the continent. Private sector tends to be a bit more meritocratic, which means the lazy don't really get promoted, whereas the public sector can be a bit more seniority based (though this has been changing for a while)

 

[LordFish]

The UK has been predominantly a socialist country for some time

Que?

Playing a bit fast and lose with the term socialist there. We certainly have elements of socialism, but we're far from predominantly socialist. Especially compared to the rest of Europe.

Nahh, I'm with wadderz here, have been extremely left wing for a little too long. Fucking Hug-a-Hoody nonsense... When this current generation retires and we're left with a load of soft-degree media students and drug addled benefits-for-life rioters to keep the country ticking over.. we're all doomed!

Obviously I know society isn't polarised like that, there are plenty of well balanced middle people like myself (just got a new job today! ) that will in fact be in charge, but the aforementioned extremes at both ends of the scale will indeed be doing their best to slow us all down, that's my view anyway


Captcha: How about that!... How about that indeed captcha..

 

[Lethos]

snippidy

Another centrist? Pleased to meet you.

Just so I'm OT for once, I'd say US and UK have pretty similar work ethics. You guys do more hours than us though.

 

[Reiper]

Maybe a bit off topic, but people were talking about public sector vs private sector
http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2012/06/22/kelly-mcparland-federal-bureaucrats-laid-low-by-union-disease/

Not to say that belonging to a union is a bad thing, but it certainly seems to make claiming sick days more attractive...

Though this is the Canadian perspective, which is like 1/2 British 1/2 American (well probably more like 7/8 American, but wutevs)

 

[Rawne1980]

My wife is a nurse and her hours are long and she works damn hard.

During my time in the army I worked damn hard.

Now I work for myself I tend to have more free time.

I don't "need" to work anymore. We have enough savings to live comfortably and own our house but I do it because I enjoy it and it gives me something to do. My wife has been saying she wants to cut her hours down for the past 4 years but even though she is worked incredibly hard she loves her job.

My friends and family all go by the same thing with regards to work. They do it to put food on the table not because they want to.

It depends on the person.

Me and my missus are opposites now. She loves her job and won't even consider giving up whereas I do it to pass the time when i'm bored (perks of being a self employed personal trainer). The way I see it is I spent 12 years of my life working my arse of and now i'm going to enjoy the rest by doing whatever I want to do.

 

[Frission]

Well the U.S is the most hardworking in the sense that they have the longest hours. The office system for the U.S though is notoriously inefficient, so they don't necessarily produce more.

 

[Mouse One]

The thing you Brits are missing with the US tipping custom is that in a lot of states certain jobs (like waiter) can pay less than minimum wage with the assumption that the workers will get roughly 15% in tips. Theoretically, in most of these states, the employer is supposed to make up the diff if tips fall below that (very theoretically).

http://www.dol.gov/whd/state/tipped.htm

In other words, it's less of a "thanks" and more of a semi-voluntary surcharge that comes out of the paycheck of the waiter if you stiff them.

Heh-- my British father in law (OT: totally workaholic) still can't bring himself to routinely tip 15% in restaurants, and he's lived in the US for a couple of decades now.

 

[willsham45]

Yeah, just look at their tipping culture.

In the UK: People give good service and a tip is a nice bonus
In the US: You have to give a tip and not doing so is used as an insult and you will probably get your food spit in if you return.

In the UK wages are good and tips are an added extra, most people don't expect them.
In the US wages are less and so tips are required to help keep the on the right side of things.

 

[Phoenixlight]

Errr, it's considered douchey not to give a tip.

The people who work as waiters or whatever get paid for doing their job, there's no reason you should feel like you have to throw money at them to do they've already agreed to do.

 

[Raven's Nest]

Yeah, just look at their tipping culture.

In the UK: People give good service and a tip is a nice bonus
In the US: You have to give a tip and not doing so is used as an insult and you will probably get your food spit in if you return.

In the UK wages are good and tips are an added extra, most people don't expect them.
In the US wages are less and so tips are required to help keep the on the right side of things.

Yeah, I see the US tipping culture as being drummed up by the employers as a tactic to not pay the workers as much, and it worked like a charm.

They pay the staff much less and have made off like bandits, leaving the customers to happily foot the bill.

That's exactly what it is.

Maybe all you hard done by waiters and waitresses in the US should actually stand up together and demand a better wage and stop letting your employers cash in on the blackmail that is your tipping culture.

When I recently went to a restaurant in the states with quite a big group and spent $300 at the table (most of which was booze) You really think we left the girl a $45 tip? Fuck no!

 

[Black Arrow Officer]

Yeah, just look at their tipping culture.

In the UK: People give good service and a tip is a nice bonus
In the US: You have to give a tip and not doing so is used as an insult and you will probably get your food spit in if you return.

The thing is that in America, waiters and waitresses are paid poorly. Most of their income comes from tips, so everyone is expected to tip. There have been cases where angry managers have pursued people who left the restaurant without tipping.

 

[talideon]

The numbers seem to speak for themselves.
The US mean work week is 42.X hours
the UK mean work week is 36.X hours.

No. That's bad use of statistics. If you're doing it right, you need factor in hourly productivity. After all, it it *really* worth those extra hours if, when it comes down to it, you're doing nothing particularly productive with them? Of course not. If anything, it's *detrimental*.

 

[Broady Brio]

I don't have a job. I'm from the UK. Perhaps this will sway your opinion for the better or worse.

What do you do with your time then?

Currently, looking for one. Funny how unemployment is present yet the majority of recruiters say 3 years in said field is essential, but how can new workers get it without such experience. I'm also waiting for my AS results in August.

 

[revjor]

Yeah, just look at their tipping culture.

In the UK: People give good service and a tip is a nice bonus
In the US: You have to give a tip and not doing so is used as an insult and you will probably get your food spit in if you return.

In the UK wages are good and tips are an added extra, most people don't expect them.
In the US wages are less and so tips are required to help keep the on the right side of things.

Yeah, I see the US tipping culture as being drummed up by the employers as a tactic to not pay the workers as much, and it worked like a charm.

They pay the staff much less and have made off like bandits, leaving the customers to happily foot the bill.

Having worked ina. Few food service places that's not really true. Owning a restaurant is a real good way to not make a lot of money. Very very few restaurant owners will ever "make off like bandits" even if everything goes well.

 

[WaysideMaze]

Yeah, I see the US tipping culture as being drummed up by the employers as a tactic to not pay the workers as much, and it worked like a charm.

They pay the staff much less and have made off like bandits, leaving the customers to happily foot the bill.

This really does sum it up nicely.

Surely the idea of tipping is to reward an individual who has gone beyond what is expected of them. By tipping everyone it devalues the meaning.

Because this thread is rapidly derailing...
O/T I work between 40-50 hours a week in a warehouse. It's a very physical job, you are carrying around heavy parcels all night. We have a set number of fulltime employees, complemented by a small number of agency staff. And you would not believe the number of agency we go through.

I can't say if this is specifically a UK issue, or even just an issue specific to my workplace, since I have no frame of reference, but the number of people we get in who are out of work and thus using an agency, that leave within a week, sometimes in less than a night, is staggering. There are a lot of people in the UK that feel as though manual labour is beneath them, or simply can't hack working long hours, opting instead for something easier.

Like I say, this is just from personal experience. Make of it what you will.

 

[SenseOfTumour]

I'm going to sound like a dirty red commie...again.

My stance is, however, if your staff are getting paid for a 40 hour week, and they're working 40 hours, you don't expect an extra 10 or 20 hours out of them for free, you go employ some more people!

This is partly why we have unemployment, because we're expecting 3 or 4 people to do the work of 5. I'd go as far as to say the pressure people are put under at work is a high contributive factor as to way depression and other mental illnesses are so rife in western society.

Perhaps people off sick with depression aren't 'slackers' but in fact a sign that we're doing this wrong. When is 40 hours a week not enough?

I should also state I'm not at all against occasional overtime, even unpaid, when it's necessary, but expecting it every week, just to prove you deserve a job is plainly wrong.

EDIT: I should say, I've done enough physical jobs in my time, so I'm not scared of work, I was a postman for a while too, multiple 35lb bags of mail and 5am starts. Not the hardest job in the world, but not sat on my butt answering the phone all day either