Americans need to be more French

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It’s meant to be a damning indictment of the US healthcare system but the most shocking revelation for American viewers of Michael Moore’s Sicko is that the French get 30 days paid holiday a year.

America is the only advanced economy in the world that doesn’t guarantee its workers any paid vacation at all. Not one day. And even among the minority of US workers who are lucky enough to get paid vacation benefits, the average number of days enjoyed is just 12. Studies show that most Americans would gladly sacrifice income in return for more time off, yet they keep working harder. Why? It’s what economists call a smart for one, dumb for all problem. Although Americans as a whole would like more holiday, the incentives for individuals, if they want to keep up with the Joneses and retain a reputation as a good employee, is to abide by the norms.

The solution is to emulate us Europe, which uses the government’s role as an enforcer of collective sentiment to legislate the preferences that individuals could not, on their own, enact.

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Originally posted 2008-11-19 00:02:16.

The problem isn’t Facebook, it’s apathy

Banning employees from using networking websites such as Facebook, as an estimated 70% of UK employers have done, is hopelessly naive. The reality is that wherever you have large offices, state-run or private, you will have people finding innovative ways to waste time. Banning Facebook will simply lead to a revival of other quaint time-fillers, such as the fictional dentist appointment.

The real issue is that most people either hate or are indifferent to their jobs.

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According to Gallup, one in five workers is actively disengaged from their job and a further three in five are described as sleepwalking through their day. Confronting this apathy requires a huge shift away from mass employment in large offices towards entrepreneurship and self-employment. A global survey by the Career Innovation Group reported a significantly higher level of job satisfaction among the self-employed. The work itself may be identical, but people feel a closer connection with their output and have an incentive to make their business work.

In other words, they are paid for being productive, not for turning up.

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Originally posted 2008-11-16 22:11:04.