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Overworked Americans vs. Motivation

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(@ad487)
Posts: 46
Eminent Member
 

A large part of the reason why Americans put in substantially more work hours compared to other countries is due to the individual company cultures that the workers are situated in. This also varies from industry to industry,  but generally entry-level workers in large level companies are expected to earn their stripes by putting in more hours than what they are paid for. By doing this, they prove their value to their higher-ups by showing their ability to work hard and thus, these individuals rise up the ladder quicker. Rewarding employees that work hard is a good tenet to have in a company, but it can get out of hand when employees get over-competitive in order to rise up. This is why large companies that value collaboration over competitiveness are also successful and have generally less stressed employees because they find that employees that work together to accomplish tasks rather than compete with one another can innovate more. 

 
Posted : 29/04/2020 11:03 am
(@ka234)
Posts: 26
Eminent Member
 

It has to be fear, insecurity, and/or peer pressure. Companies should not expect their employees to work over 40 hours a week if they are salaried employees. If they can earn overtime, that's a different story. Sure, a few weeks of the year when a big project is due, you might have to work 50 hour weeks. That's normal.

I think people confuse working more with being more essential and more valuable. That's not true. Companies don't care about the number of hours you put in (to a certain degree); they care about your efficiency, your ideas, and your impact. People think if I am in the office 50 hours a week, my coworkers will think I am a hard worker and valuable to the company. I think the people constantly working 50 hours a week are either inefficient, or like being taken advantage of. Go to your manager and say "I am working 50 hours a week, I need more support". If your manager doesn't do anything to help, you're in the wrong company. 

 

 
Posted : 03/05/2020 1:21 pm
 dyc6
(@dyc6)
Posts: 79
Trusted Member
 

I think Americans are putting more hours in, because of a variety of factors, including motivation, peer pressure, and a heavy workload. The combination of all those factors inevitably leads to more hours worked per day. I would like to add that the capitalistic nature of America will only facilitate competition between companies and between workers. Thus, many workers compete to get a promotion or be more competitive. On the contrary, many Americans are also just simply putting in their hours, not necessarily being productive during work. Putting in more hours also does not equate to greater productivity. I think more than anything, work-life balance in America is very difficult to achieve, especially seen in the paid vacation time for Americans. So how many paid vacation days do Americans get? 0.

In fact, Americans do not have a federal law that requires a certain amount of paid vacation time off, but the amount of paid vacation time is totally up to the employers. This is not the case with other first-world countries, where they have federal laws requiring paid-time off. We have countless studies showing the benefit of vacation time to productivity and general well-being, but the American government cannot agree that paid vacation time is a must. Of course, you could score a job with a good employer that provides paid vacation time, but shouldn't everyone be entitled to basic paid vacation time? 

Here is the reference: https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/workhours/vacation_leave

 
Posted : 03/05/2020 2:41 pm
(@266)
Posts: 78
Trusted Member
 

I think the answer to these questions greatly depends on the individual, their company, and the project they are working on. I know someone who was certainly overworked by their company and it eventually caused them to not only leave the company, but also change their career path entirely. They would frequently work 3-5 hours after clocking out of work in order to produce results that were not properly recognized by the company. Eventually, they became so fed up with this situation that they resigned and changed careers altogether. I am fortunate enough to work for a company that recognizes such motivation by providing increased overtime wages, spotlight awards containing bonus pay, and sincere recognition from management. These company benefits certainly motivate me to work above and beyond because I understand that I will be rewarded for my hard work. I can imagine the lack of motivation I would have if these benefits were not provided for my volunteered time after work.

 
Posted : 03/05/2020 3:26 pm
 eh76
(@eh76)
Posts: 75
Trusted Member
 

I think people in America are perfectly worked, not specifically overworked. If I did have to lean one way I would say overworked is more true that more motivated. People don't work more hours per week because they are motivated by their goals; their bosses make them work more and if they so no they will get fired and replaced with someone who will work the required hours. If you leave the corporate life and make a startup company, you'll probably work 7 days a week to actually get your business started and prospering. In this case you may say that the person is motivated because no one is making them work more other than themselves, but you could also argue that banks need their bills paid, as well as utilities, children, travel; life is expensive! So I think maybe there's more financial pressure on individuals in America which makes them work hours that they wouldn't have considered if they lived in another country under some other circumstances.

 
Posted : 03/05/2020 11:13 pm
(@cassiem)
Posts: 78
Trusted Member
 

I feel Americans are overworked because they want a good life. Their motivation, I believe, is money and not necessarily competition. Who wouldn’t want to live comfortably without any worries? The cost of living in the US can be expensive and a few hours a week isn’t going to cut it. Minimum wage workers will work 2 or even 3 jobs to be able to provide for their families. In my opinion, Americans push themselves a bit too much and it’s a very sad reality.

 
Posted : 18/04/2022 7:29 pm
(@ridmehta)
Posts: 79
Trusted Member
 

I agree that many Americans overwork themselves because it has become the norm to do so. Especially if you are trying to get a promotion it is expected to work long hours to show your dedication as opposed to be effective with the allocated 8 hours given. It almost seems like working 8 hours only is now considered lazy and not good enough for a promotional conversation. I also think they are highly overburdened with work and severely under resourced in an attempt to get the most out of their employees without having to hire more. 

 
Posted : 18/04/2022 10:05 pm
(@reginabarias)
Posts: 65
Trusted Member
 

Our culture and society has put on this “norm” of working Moree to produce either progress or compete with coworkers. Society has placed this norm on us that if we aren’t working hard or being the best at what we do, then we aren’t working hard enough which then entails to the longer than necessary work hours. I also think another reason for American’s over working could be due to personal reasons/incentives. Personal reasons could be economic hence people needing to work more financially or also to get incentives. These people work harder not because they want to work more but because if could hinder their at home lives/way of living, so they work harder to produce more results and gain from it specifically if they aren't set salary and paid hourly. 

 
Posted : 19/04/2022 1:08 pm
(@hodafattel)
Posts: 78
Trusted Member
 

In some cases it might be that Americans are motivated to work and would like to grow their career in a short period of time. However, in my point of view, Americans log long work hours in fear of losing their jobs. Moreover, the pay and benefits are much lower than in other countries. They work extra to put food on their family’s table because they are underpaid. I grew up in Europe, and I came here for college. I saw a huge difference when it comes to the workplace. Americans constantly work hard for basic necessities such as good health insurance that should've been provided by the government. Americans also don’t get a decent amount of vacations or sick days so that they can take a mental health break; they don’t have any work/life balance. Overworking definitely leads to demotivation and it might even lead to depression. This in turn leads to being less productive at work.

 
Posted : 19/04/2022 7:27 pm
(@ama224)
Posts: 59
Trusted Member
 

The American work-life balance is very poor however I don't think Americans are overworked because they are trying to one-up their peers. From my personal experience, I've noticed that there's a lot of acting and dragging when it comes to working in the corporate setting. So some folks will either drag their work to delay taking on new work or act like they're working so it doesn't seem like they have anything to do even though they don't and in both cases, they'll work overtime to get that extra money. In other cases, people actually have a lot on their plate and need to put in the extra hours to deliver on time. This can be because the team isn't big enough, or the company takes on a high volume of projects, etc. In any case, it has become the norm to be overworked and it is definitely demoralizing bc it's just a constant loop until you retire. Companies try to adopt a more personable culture nowadays but America has already cemented its moniker as a working country where everything even leisure time is just so systematic. Everyone works at the same time, is off at the same time, etc. and it's understandable because of how much content is expected from our country but I think over time there needs to be someway somehow that the work-life balance gets better.

 
Posted : 20/04/2022 2:30 am
(@alextzalav)
Posts: 27
Eminent Member
 

First of all, even though the US is a country where people tend to overwork, I think that this fact has been exaggerated sometimes. Based on the data that I share below, there are many countries that far exceed the weekly work hours of the US, which seems to fair on the lower end of the spectrum. 

There are countries, however, especially in northern Europe that have way fewer weekly work hours. 

The reason I think that this is not the case in the US is because of culture and peer pressure. Based on the American dream notion, which was strong in the mid-late 20th century, success was only a matter of hard work. The more you worked, the richer and more successful you would become. Of course, this is far from the truth. However, this belief helped businesses, especially large corporations because it somehow motivated, at least superficially employees to work longer hours. By reinforcing this belief, they made employees work longer without explicitly demanding so. After some time this became part of the culture and status quo. 

Nowadays, peer pressure has also kicked in. When an employee sees all his co-workers stay late, he feels an urge to do the same and might feel lazy or inadequate if he goes home after his normal 8-hour shift. Of course, this is not healthy.

There are various studies that demonstrate that fewer hours lead to increased productivity and increased workforce happiness. Also, the countries on the list below with fewer weekly working hours tend to also be the same with increased population happiness. 

Lastly, I think that it is unfair to compare the US with specific countries. The US is a vast country with states where different laws and cultures exist. In some states, work hours might be longer and the culture might be different. It might make more sense to compare individual states with each other and with other countries as well. 

 

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/average-work-week-by-country

 
Posted : 23/04/2022 2:58 pm
(@terril_vallikalam)
Posts: 39
Eminent Member
 

I believe this has a lot to do with whether or not you actually like your current role/job. Personally, I have gotten really into my work and sometimes stayed at work beyond the typical 8 hour work day so I can see what happens at the end of an experiment and what the results may be. If I'm doing a task that I don't like, it seems like time is barely moving and then I am itching to leave right at the 8 hour mark. Peer pressure is a large factor as well when it comes to staying late at work. I have heard that a lot of people are afraid to leave work before their boss leaves for the day. If that's the case, they may be sitting there waiting for the boss to leave for hours. Staying this extra time will lead to demotivation and make more less enjoyable and kind of dreading the work week. 

With the pandemic, work boundaries have shifted. Since a lot of companies are still remote and allow their employees to work from home, they may be required to check in more often with their bosses and sometimes work more than their allotted daily time to complete a task. They may even give you more tasks to complete since they know you are working from home. 

 
Posted : 23/04/2022 9:15 pm
(@leshan)
Posts: 33
Eminent Member
 

almost never worked in USA but worked in china before. almost all my coworkers working overtime. some of us are like it because we can get overtime pay which are twice on regular days or three times on holidays. I believe this is also a reason that China economy is growing fast. Other Asian county also have culture to working over time. My uncle were worked in Japan as a IT engineer. he said there is a culture in japan that everyone working overtime even their tasks is less than 8 hours a day. A same task will take three or four times for those Japanese employees to finish. They will slow down on purpose. I think this may be because they are already demotivate then need to work overtime.

 
Posted : 23/04/2022 9:28 pm
(@nk434)
Posts: 40
Eminent Member
 

I feel like Americans work 40+ hours because of the expectations of their management/employers, as well as receiving some overtime pay. Money can be a motivation for many individuals, and some are ok with putting in many extra hours to earn more money (past their expected pay). Likewise, I feel like the expectations of certain bosses or companies are high, so if goals are not being met, many workers feel as though they should be putting in extra hours to complete the necessary work, as it is important for their progression and reputation. 

Working extra hours for more pay could also be because of cost of living, as many areas in the US have higher costs of living, requiring more income. 

This post was modified 2 years ago by nk434
 
Posted : 24/04/2022 4:08 pm
(@veron_perez)
Posts: 78
Trusted Member
 

I do believe there is an air of peer pressure in the workplace. There seems to be a silent peer pressure to work as everyone else works and match their pace and timeline to not seem like the odd one out. People do not want to be seen as ‘the one to leave work early’ when on some occasions can be seen as leaving on time while others are putting in more hours. And this kind of mindset is very toxic and can be detrimental to the work life balance. Having someone work for so long that it slowly morphs into the only thing they know how to do. There is no time to form and learn new hobbies because any time spent outside of work becomes time for rest that there is no leftover effort for anything else. During the covid, there was an initial shock of what to do with the free time that some people were left with nothing to do. They had their time to rest but after a while no one knew what to do with themselves because they never had this much free time but this was also the time that allowed them to find new hobbies, spend more time with their families and just better their mental health. 

There should be a clear line in being a hard working and goal driven employee while also having time to be mentally and physically healthy without the peer pressure of work expectations.

 
Posted : 19/04/2023 5:30 pm
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