So You Think You Work Long Hours?
So You Think You Work Long Hours?
Greetings! I’ve decided to interrupt my article series for international students in order to provide some content that’s potentially interesting for all the readers here at WSO. I will however return to writing articles for international students in a couple of weeks, but for now I’m broadening my target audience!
When applying for a job in a foreign country it’s crucial to know what’s expected of you in terms of working hours – which might differ a great deal from your native country. I think this is especially relevant in the financial services industry, as hours appear to vary quite a bit depending on where you work, at least that’s the conclusion I draw from comparing hours in my home country in Scandinavia, and hours here in the U.S.
Meanwhile, in this post I would like to focus on how work hours vary across three different regions of the world – U.S., Europe, and Asia – and how the hours vary greatly depending on which region you find yourself in. I will not be focusing on the financial services industry specifically, but rather attempt to provide general statistics through credible and up-to-date sources.
Lastly I would like to be clear about one thing; I dont consider working more hours to equal working harder, it simply means working longer.
Countries With the Longest Hours in the World
So you think you work long hours? Maybe you’re under the belief that the U.S. and its citizens surely must work long hours compared to most other people in the world. Well if you are, you’d be wrong.
According to recent statistics published on Business Insider the average full-time U.S. employee works approximately 1,700 hours per year as of 2013. This might indeed sound high to some of you readers, as the European average is distinctly lower. However, 1,700 hours per year doesn’t even come close to the highest average annual hours worked in that of some countries around the world.
Enter the Three Asian Tigers – Hong Kong, Singapore, and South-Korea – each clocking in respectively at 2,350, 2,300 and 2,200 average annual hours worked per worker in 2013, utterly destroying the majority of their competition. This might not come as a surprise for some of you, but I was personally quite astonished when I first heard of the amount of hour’s employees pull in these East-Asian nations, especially as a European native. Another way to grasp these figures is by statistics published by Forbes in 2008 which contends that employees in the Three Asian Tigers will actually spend about 6, 5 hours working, every day of their entire lives.
Most nations doesn’t even come close to matching the Asian Tigers numbers, yet there are some who follow in their footsteps. According to the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development's OECD public statistics from 2012 portray the heavy workload carried by people in developing nations. Mexico, Greece, and Chile clocks in respectively at 2,226, 2,034, and 2,029 average annual hours worked per worker, not too far off our leaders.
What about Europe?
Let’s turn out attention to Europe for a moment, and amongst others, France, with its famously short work weeks and additional vacation time. As a native of Scandinavia myself, I’ve been indoctrinated with the idea of the 40-hour work week, which appeared totally normal and as nothing out of the ordinary during my early life – that is, before I discovered the financial service industry and moved to the U.S.
As it turns out, the French used to work even more than Americans in the 1980s, but since then they have taken a sharp dip down, and now average annual hours worked per worker in France lands at a meager 1,470 hours in 2011, quite far behind even U.S. numbers. The phenomenon of relatively low hours is consistent throughout Western-Europe with hours generally ranging from the 1400s to the 1650s, with the Germans sitting on a comfortable 1,397 hours worked annually according to OECD; even lower than the infamous French.
However, the comfortable hours has not reached Eastern-Europe.
As I previously mentioned, Greeks are the Europeans who work the longest hours, with their average of 2,034 hours annually. Meanwhile, other developing nations such as Poland, Estonia, and Hungary each respectively lands at 1,929, 1,889, and 1,888 average hours worked annually, putting into question what type of labor intensive work make up the grunt of these hours.
Final Words
I was initially quite amazed at the difference in average annual hours worked throughout the world, as I had grown familiar with the steady 40-hour work weeks that my parents pulled growing up. I think everyone who is considering working in a foreign nation owe him or herself, as well as the potential employer, to research what kind of hours are expected of employees in said nation, and even of the specific employer. Ultimately, being aware of potential culture-shocks such as differences in work hours can help ease a transition to a foreign society, and also avoid awkward office conversations.
Were you all aware of these differences in average workhours? If you weren't, what do you think of them?
Seems a bit flawed to judge a country by hours worked. It's not apples to apples. Of course Hong Kong is going to have longer working hours on average, the entire country is a financial center. Same thing in Singapore. The U.S., on the other hand, has a far more diverse range of industries. Now, if you were to take the average working hours of Hong Kong and the average working hours of NYC, then you'd have a more fair comparison, in my opinion.
Thanks for contributing. I'm really not trying to judge a country by the average hours worked. This post is simply informative of something that I found interesting personally.
Be reassured that I do not think that working long hours = working harder.
Even assuming 48 working weeks in a year (ie 4 weeks holiday), and assuming you only work M-F, 2300 hours a year equals ~9.5 hours per day....that's not much at all. None of the average statistics in the sources actually list long average hours.
Interesting post though.
Yep, but think about those that are part time or marginally employed. Some of them are only offered 20 hours a week, and/or work in jobs that are under the table/off the books. Lots of missing data here, I think. Interesting nevertheless.
"I dont consider working more hours to equal working harder, it simply means working longer."
"Greeks are the hardest working people in Europe, with their average of 2,034 hours annually."
Hmm..
They just don't pay taxes on the work they actually do ;)
Typo fixed.
Number of hours worked is utter bs. If you look at what "working" for a bank sometimes means in terms of how busy you actually are, then you are probably hanging out for 4-6hours and the rest is divided between lunch, dinner, meetings and some work. Yet, you spent 20 hours on th floor. Does that count?
And every child always said... "I wish that my dad worked more so I could have more shit." Yeah, not so much. I'll take my 80k/yr job working 40-45 hours a week and leave the all-nighter stuff to the ambitious 22 year olds on Wall Street. My kids are thankful for that choice.
You're right. Better to spend your time living vicariously through other people's posts, why else would you lurk these boards.
That's right, I come here because I want to live vicariously through your posts, NOT because I actually enjoy finance...
Hours of work measure is a joke. Some of the most inefficient people I ha e met in my life are the ones who have been "working" long hours. And yes, that includes IB analysts. Japanese workers are notoriously known for working long hours... I mean doing face time. It's utterly disgusting.
What sources are you using for your data? Didn't know Germans worked less than French.
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