打破法國人每周工作35小時的神話

In the collective imagination, there are two Europes: the industrious north, with relatively low unemployment and dynamic economies, and the sluggish south, where people would just as soon kick back, sip an espresso and watch the world go by.

Many people would lump France, the land of the 35-hour workweek, long lunches and even longer vacations, with the south. But anyone who has worked as a professional in the country knows otherwise.

Olivier, a senior counsel in a large French multinational in the construction industry in Paris (he requested his surname not be used), described his workweek one recent evening in his office. “I work about 45 to 50 hours a week, from roughly 09:00 till 19:30,” he said.

So what about the infamous 35-hour workweek, which is the envy of much of the rest of the professional world? Is it merely a myth?

Contrary to many stereotypes, 35-hours is “simply a threshold above which overtime or rest days start to kick in”, according to French economist Jean-Marie Perbost.

Blue-collar workers are expected to work precisely 35 hours, but the hours white-collar workers (cadresin French) amass each week are not clocked. Like professionals in, say, the United States, most cadres work until the tasks at hand are done. But unlike in the US, French professionals are compensated for the hours they work beyond 35 with rest days, which are negotiated on a company-by-company basis (there were nine rest days, on average, given by companies in 2013).

Even blue-collar workers work more than 35 hours. According to French government statistics, 50% of full-time workers put in paid overtime in 2010. That percentage was likely to be higher in 2013, said Perbost. Of course, compared to the hours certain professions tally on a weekly basis, the average worker in Europe doesn’t have it so bad. Take lawyers. According to France’s national bar association (CNB), 44% of lawyers in the country logged more than 55 hours on a weekly basis in 2008. In the United States, surveys show that many attorneys work about 55 to 60 hours per week in order to meet the billable hours requirements most firms maintain.

World of Work

Average annual hours worked by full-time employees in 2011 around the world:

Germany: 1,406 hours

Norway: 1,421 hours

France: 1,476 hours

United Kingdom: 1,650 hours

Spain: 1,685 hours

United States: 1,704 hours

Japan: 1,706 hours

Canada: 1,708 hours

Brazil: 1,841 hours

Korea: 2,193 hours

Singapore: 2,287 hours

Source: Federal Reserve Economic Data

Not just France

It’s not just France where the laid-back workweek is more myth than reality. Professional hours in Spain also contrast with the country’s popular image. Pablo Martinez, a senior sales and engineering manager at a German multinational in Madrid, said he starts at 08:00 and rarely leaves before 18:30.

“Things have changed in Spain to keep pace with international markets,” he said. “It’s not uncommon for people to grab some lunch and eat it in front of their computers, which was rare 20 years ago when I started working .”

In fact, the number of full-time working hours per week across Europe is strikingly similar. According to Eurostat, in 2008, the Eurozone average was just under 41 hours per week, with France slightly under 40. The range was also slim, with a low of 39 hours in Norway and a high of 43 hours in Austria.

“It’s really the 35 hours that have created this false idea that the French don’t work a lot,” said Olivier. “The idea sticks in people’s minds. But it’s not a reality.”

Another factor that may have fed the short workweek legend: most people only consider full-time staff when they take a look at the average work week, but in much of Europe, more people are working part time. This has been a growing trend for at least 15 years and it was exacerbated by the global financial crisis that began in 2008.

“What countries with low unemployment like the Netherlands, the UK, Denmark, Sweden and Germany have done is, in effect, put one worker out of four in a part-time job,” said Perbost, the author of a study on work for the European Green Foundation, a Brussels-based political organisation funded by the EU Parliament. He added that 2012 statistics from Eurostat echo this idea.

Northern European countries, where Perbost said part-time jobs are much more common, have the lowest hours per week worked, for all workers, both full-time and part-time: the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, the UK and Germany all average around 35 hours per week, according to Eurostat’s 2012 figures. Meanwhile, Greece’s workers logged an average of 38 hours, followed closely by Spain, Portugal and Italy. French workers, collectively, clocked in at about 35 hours on average.

Take a close look at part-time working hours across Europe and a startling trend emerges. The French even work longer part-time hours than their peers.

The part-time workweek in France averages 23.3 hours, compared with 20.1 for most of the other European Union countries, according to a 2013 survey by the French employment ministry’s research group Dares.

That might help explain a few things to engineering manager Martinez. “When I call Germany after around 16:30 I’m always surprised at how few people are in the office,” said Martinez. “Maybe it’s us in Spain who’ve got it backwards.”

在公眾的印象里，有兩個歐洲：勤勞的北部，擁有低失業(yè)率和生機(jī)勃勃的經(jīng)濟(jì);還有一個是蕭條的南部，人們寧愿悠閑地喝著濃咖啡，看著匆忙的世界。

很多人誤解法國像南部一樣，一周工作35小時，午餐時間長，甚至更長的假期。但是，任何一個在這個國家工作的專業(yè)人士所了解的則是另外一種情景。

巴黎一大型跨國建筑公司的高級法律顧問奧利維爾(Olivier)(他要求隱秘他的姓氏)，在一個晚上，在他的辦公室講述了他一周工作時間，“我一周工作45到50個小時，從大概早上9點開始工作到晚上七點半。”

哪里只有每周35個小時工作時間，其他的職業(yè)世界嫉妒什么呢?這只是一個神話嗎?

據(jù)法國經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家讓-馬里-普羅布斯特(Jean-Marie Perbost)所述，與一貫的認(rèn)識相反，35小時“僅僅是加班或休假的負(fù)薪臨界線”。

藍(lán)領(lǐng)工人的預(yù)期工作時間正好是35小時，但是白領(lǐng)的每周累計工作時間(法國的干部)是無法計數(shù)的。像美國的專業(yè)人士，大部分的干部需要把手里的工作干完。但是不像美國，法國的專業(yè)人士超過35小時的工作時間會得到補休，這需要單獨與企業(yè)協(xié)商(2013年公司平均提供了9天的休息日)。

即使是藍(lán)領(lǐng)工人工作也超過35小時。根據(jù)法國政府的統(tǒng)計，2010年，50%的全職工人得付加班費。普羅布斯特稱，2013年，這個比例會高得多。當(dāng)然，比較的只是某幾個行業(yè)的每周統(tǒng)計，一般來說歐洲的工人工時沒有那么糟糕。拿律師來說，根據(jù)法國國家律師協(xié)會(CNB)的數(shù)據(jù)，2008年，44%的本國律師每周工作超過55小時。在美國，調(diào)查顯示為了滿足大多數(shù)律所要求的收費小時數(shù)，很多辯護(hù)律師每周工作時間在55到60小時之間。

世界的工作情況

2011年世界范圍全職雇員年平均工作時間

德國：1,406 小時

挪威：1,421 小時

法國：1,476 小時

英國：1,650 小時

西班牙：1,685 小時

美國：1,704 小時

日本：1,706 小時

加拿大：1,708小時

巴西：1,841 小時

韓國：2,193 小時

新加坡：2,287 小時

來源：聯(lián)邦儲備經(jīng)濟(jì)數(shù)據(jù)庫

不僅僅是法國

不僅僅是法國的懶散被夸大了。西班牙的工作時間也與大眾印象形成反差。馬德里的一家德國跨國企業(yè)的高級銷售和工程經(jīng)理帕布魯•馬丁內(nèi)斯(Pablo Martinez)稱，他八點開始工作，很少有18:30以前下班的時候。

“為了與國際市場保持同步，西班牙已經(jīng)變了。在電腦前面隨便吃點東西當(dāng)午餐也并不少見，但在20年前我剛參加工作時是很罕見的。”他說道。

事實上，縱觀歐洲的全職工作時間是十分相似的。根據(jù)歐盟統(tǒng)計局的數(shù)據(jù)，2008年歐洲區(qū)平均工作時長接近每周41小時，法國略低于40小時。差距也十分微小，最低的挪威是39小時，最高的奧地利是43小時。

“35小時真的制造了法國人工作少的虛假印象，這個認(rèn)知深深地植入人們的腦海中，但是那不是真實的情況。”奧利維爾說道。

另一個因素可能在工作時間短的傳說上也起了作用：大多數(shù)人在審視平均工作時間時僅僅注意到全職工作，但是，在歐洲很多地方，更多的人是兼職工作。在過去的15年里，兼職工作的人明顯增長，尤其是在2008年全球經(jīng)融危機(jī)后進(jìn)一步增加。

“低失業(yè)率的國家，如荷蘭、英國、丹麥、瑞典和德國的做法事實上是，讓四個人里有一個去干兼職。” 普羅布斯特說。他為歐洲綠色基金會(the European Green Foundation)做研究工作，那是一個由歐盟議會資助的布魯塞爾政治組織。他還表示，2012年歐洲統(tǒng)計局的統(tǒng)計數(shù)據(jù)反應(yīng)了這一觀點。

普羅布斯特稱，在北歐國家，兼職更加普遍。他們有最低的周工作時間，即包括的全職也包括兼職：荷蘭、丹麥、瑞典、英國和德國的平均工作時間都在35小時左右，這是根據(jù)歐洲統(tǒng)計局2012年的數(shù)據(jù)得出的。同時，希臘工人平均工作時長38小時，緊隨其后的是西班牙、葡萄牙和意大利。從整體而言，法國工人平均工作時間是35小時。

細(xì)看全歐洲的兼職工作時間，會發(fā)現(xiàn)一個驚人的趨勢。法國人比其他人有更多的兼職工作時間。

根據(jù)2013年法國勞工部研究小組的調(diào)查，在法國的平均兼職工作時間是23.3小時，相應(yīng)的其他歐盟國家大部分是20.1小時。

這可能對解釋工程經(jīng)理馬丁內(nèi)斯的疑惑有幫助。“當(dāng)我在大約16:30時打電話到德國時，我總是很奇怪幾乎沒什么人在辦公室了。可能在西班牙的我們已經(jīng)退步了。”馬丁內(nèi)斯說。