The large information out of France today is that President Macron’s controversial plan to lift the retirement age from 62 to 64 years previous was truly authorized by the constitutional court docket earlier this month. This has sparked quite a few debates about French folks’s work ethic.
If you recognize the French, you recognize that putting and protesting is a part of their tradition. Outsiders who reside in nations the place the retirement age is increased than 64 suppose the French are fortunate and don’t have anything to complain about since they’ve it so good, which begs the query we see thrown round time and again. Are the French lazy? Let’s speak about it.
Alright, this can be a large subject, however let’s attempt to sort out it by first defining what laziness means. In accordance with the Oxford Dictionary, laziness is “the standard of being unwilling to work or use vitality.” And I must say this proper out of the gate that there are lazy folks of all nationalities together with France and the U.S. I’ve encountered lazy folks all around the world.
It’s not a attribute of individuals simply from France, however with the latest information, it’s a query that has come up time and again within the media. Does that stereotype depicting the French as lazy maintain any weight or are they getting an undeserved unhealthy rap?
I believe to correctly try and reply that query, we want to check out some context, French historical past and a few details about working in France.
It was 1864 when France legalized the precise to strike and the explanation why the French go on strike are fairly advanced, so simply know that issues just like the nation’s academic philosophy, unions, and much more play into it. The correct to strike is within the French structure…Younger, previous, left wing proper wing, wealthy and poor…. all forms of French folks strike. It’s in French blood and it’s nothing new.
Concerning rights, nicely Within the U.S., folks like to speak about their rights — issues like freedom and the precise to bear arms for instance. The French are happy with the rights they fought for too, however they’re simply totally different rights. In France, the precise to strike and having the ability to relaxation in a single’s retirement are extraordinarily vital. They battle for what’s theirs.
Subsequent, in response to the Organisation for Financial Cooperation and Growth (OECD), the typical working week in France is 35 hours — that was put into follow within the yr 2000. Now 35 hours every week is decrease than the OECD common of 38.3 hours per week.
Within the U.S., we take into account a typical work week to be 40 hours per week. That breaks right down to the common French employee working 1490 hours/yr and employees within the U.S. at 1791 hours/yr, for comparability’s sake. It’s clear that on common the French work lower than the OECD common of 1716 hours/yr.
However, does that imply French individuals are lazy? Let’s take a look at one other statistic. The OECD additionally reviews that the common productiveness per hour labored in France is increased than the OECD common. In truth, French employees are among the many most efficient on the earth, coming in at 25 p.c increased than the OECD and EU28 averages. They’ve nailed the entire working good, not onerous factor.
So, if French individuals are lazy, how can they be so productive, you ask?
Effectively, one doable rationalization is the idea of “work-life steadiness” which France does relatively nicely. French employees worth their free time and prioritize it over work. That is mirrored within the French labor legal guidelines that assure a minimal of 5 weeks of paid trip per yr (because of President François Mitterrand in 1981), amongst different advantages like a piece contract, parental go away, childcare, unemployment, and so on.
However, let’s not neglect that productiveness isn’t the whole lot. French folks additionally rating extremely on different measures of well-being, comparable to happiness, life satisfaction, and well being. This means that the French means of balancing work and leisure time may very well be useful for general well-being.
Now, let’s tackle the retirement age difficulty. The French authorities’s choice to lift the retirement age to 64 has been met with main criticism. You’ve seen the protests and trash piling up in Paris from a number of weeks again.
Nevertheless, it’s vital to notice that France nonetheless has a comparatively beneficiant retirement system in comparison with different nations. In truth, the retirement age in France has traditionally been decrease than many different European nations.
The change in retirement age could also be seen as a obligatory adjustment from the president to deal with demographic challenges, comparable to an getting older inhabitants and growing life expectancy. It’s additionally value noting that the retirement age just isn’t the one issue that impacts the labor power participation charge. Different components, comparable to employment alternatives, training, and well being, additionally play a task.
I additionally wish to word that the 35-hour work week I discussed simply earlier than was carried out with the intention of enhancing the standard of life for employees, relatively than selling laziness and in addition as a result of the left wing authorities on the time considered it as a approach to create extra jobs. And naturally you’ll discover individuals who work nicely past that 35-hour mark.
It’s additionally value noting that France has a robust custom of labor activism and employees’ rights. The nation has a historical past of combating for honest wages, affordable working hours, and protected working circumstances. French employees are recognized for his or her sturdy unionization and usually are not afraid to strike to demand higher working circumstances. Air site visitors management, pilots, railway employees, lecturers, medical doctors… you identify in, they strike!
That brings me to cultural variations. Certainly one of them is that in France, the French work to reside whereas within the U.S., Individuals reside to work. And there are causes for this and techniques in place that maintain issues the best way they’re.
The French are masters at residing nicely and having fun with life, which is less complicated to do when you’ve gotten a job contract and all of the protections that include it like 5 weeks of necessary paid trip annually, and healthcare protection no matter your work standing, as a result of in France healthcare is a proper afforded to all, not a privilege.
So, are the French lazy?
If you need my opinion as somebody who has lived in France since 2012, my brief reply isn’t any. The French usually are not lazy. Whereas they might have shorter workweeks and longer trip time, the stats present that French individuals are truly extra productive than employees in different nations. Their concentrate on the work-life steadiness and robust labor rights traditions have led to a greater high quality of life for employees and the next general productiveness charge.
It comes right down to this: France prioritizes folks over earnings.
It’s straightforward to be extra relaxed about work and prioritize your work-life steadiness whenever you don’t rely in your job for healthcare, that beneficiant trip time is a employee’s proper and never a profit supplied by good employers, and when you’ve gotten all types of employment protections that received’t go away you with no roof over your head whereas working you to the bone.
Anyway, my ideas listed below are simply the tip of the iceberg. It is a actually advanced subject however hopefully that’s given you some meals for thought. I’d love to listen to from you beneath, in the event you’ve labored with French folks, what do you suppose? In your expertise, do you are feeling that French individuals are lazy? Do you see a distinction within the non-public versus public sector?
