Anonymous wrote:

a day away from Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve is not a holiday, nor is the day before Christmas Eve

true. OP has an attitude problem.

There is some truth (or it least there was) to the old adage that Americans live to work while the rest of the world works to live.

South Korea is very competitive I heard.

Anonymous wrote:Eastern Europeans work a lot too.

Nah

Clearly you've never worked in Asia

The difference between asian countries and the USA is the "hustle" culture, and the bragging rights americans think working gives them.

Sure, Japan and Korea work longer hours. But it's just part of life, it's not something to brag about. People on here brag about working 80h weeks and how little time they spend with their families. People there work 80h because anything less is considered poor. They aren't bragging to other people about it. Like, napping at your desk is acceptable because you've been working so hard! But Japan also boasts one of the lower productivity markers. They are busy/working so much but don't accomplish anything. It's all for show, performative work ethic. It's weird.

That said, Japan specifically (and likely others as well) is going through the same quiet quitting phenom that western countries did.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

a day away from Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve is not a holiday, nor is the day before Christmas Eve

When my dh worked for a British company, they took off the last two weeks of the year.

That's company specific, not country. Even in the US some corporations shut down between Christmas and NY.

Anonymous wrote:Overtime compensation is awesome. Working late or picking up extra shifts means money, money, money. No tax on overtime was an unexpected gift.

Who is paid hourly? That's for entry level jobs.

Japan, S Korea, and Singapore all are worse.

Anonymous wrote:I think China, Japan, and South Korea are all worse. It's no surprise their birth rates are plummeting, they are all very stressful cultures.

That being said, I think the top 10% of American households are far wealthier than if they lived in Canada, UK, or EU. It's the price we pay for lack of worker protections and safety nets - easier to get hired and salaries are much higher. Though for middle class and below, it seems way better to live in these other places.

Japan and South Korea require lots of face time. They don’t actually accomplish more than someone fully engaged for 8 hours, they just know you have to stay until 9 or 10pm and you spread your work over those extra hours. This is why worker satisfaction is so low, but nobody can manage to break the culture.

China is actually working crazy hours, but there’s a reason US and China have created new global companies in the last 30 years, while Korea and Japan haven’t created any and it’s still the same stale brands like Hyundai or Sony or LG.

South Korea is worse.

Anonymous wrote:I’m a day away from Christmas Eve and we are on calls dawn to dusk. Is everybody’s work life like this?

2 years ago I hired a recent college grad for a division in Dublin Ireland.

On her first day, she got more vacation and time off than I received in US after 30 years of working.

I think China, Japan, and South Korea are all worse. It's no surprise their birth rates are plummeting, they are all very stressful cultures.

That being said, I think the top 10% of American households are far wealthier than if they lived in Canada, UK, or EU. It's the price we pay for lack of worker protections and safety nets - easier to get hired and salaries are much higher. Though for middle class and below, it seems way better to live in these other places.

Overtime compensation is awesome. Working late or picking up extra shifts means money, money, money. No tax on overtime was an unexpected gift.

No. I've had a number of clients in India and China who were happy to take meetings with me during my EST business hours.