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Work culture and ethics differ country to country, especially in Europe.
I myself used to work 9-5 in a horrible office and hated it. For the last 3 years i was working various shifts as an aircraft dispatcher.
My latest job was an aircraft marshaller where i worked constant nightshift which was usually a skive because of the credit crunch and winter - hardly any flights.
Scotland and England are usually stressful countries compared to the rest of Europe. We're the outcasts not typically "European"
My Italian family have it easy with their laid back lifestyles.
The company I currently work for allows very flexible work arrangements. I work 3 days a week, mostly the same days, but I can alter them to suit me or the work. Others also work varying part-time schedules, either leaving at 2:30 so they can pick up their kids, or working 3 or 4 days a week. It also allows you to "buy" another 2 or 4 weeks of holiday. You get paid less but it's prorated over the year so it's not a big hit.
I get in at 8, leave at 4:45. I take about 45 minutes for lunch, sometimes less, sometimes more. Nobody is taking note of my hours and I don't cheat them out of any time.
A company I worked for two years ago was far less accommodating. No part-time at all. No extra holidays, and core hours of 8:30 to 4. The flexibility is far nicer and from what I can tell, it's better for overall morale and satisfaction.
Shop trading hours here in Perth are a bit more restricted than the rest of Australia, with most shops closed on Sundays, and late-night shopping til 9pm on one day of the week (either Thursday in the suburbs, or Friday in the City or "tourist" precincts). The trading hours are a bit of a dog's breakfast, with car yards closing at noon on Saturdays, closed on Sunday, but late night on Wednesday. Many businesses close early on Saturday which can be frustrating for the DIY'er. Some smaller grocery shops can open on Sundays, as can big hardware stores, but not Ikea or the big grocery chains, department stores or shopping centres outside of the special zones. It's a bit frustrating but you adjust. It's why I couldn't stand working full-time because Saturday grocery shopping was a nightmare.
Here in Spain many businnesses and food shops start around 9am (other shops 10am). They go on until 2pm when offices have 1 hour break and they start again around 3pm until 7pm.
Shops reopen at 5-5,30pm and close at 8-8,30pm
Big shopping malls and many shops in touristic areas do not close at lunch time and tend to have 10am-9pm timetable.
You forgot to mention that it's almost impossible to have dinner at a restaurant before 10 pm. And most stores are closed on sunday.
It's not "my country", but I lived in Jordan for two years, and just about everybody there had only a part time job. The economy can't sustain full employment for everyone, so the typical practice is for people to just work 3 or 4 days a week, in order to enable more people to have jobs. A shop that would have enough work for ten full-time workers would hire about 15, and just have them come in a few days a week.
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I also lived in Bolivia, and I was impressed by the effort made there to make working conditions good. There is a special labor code for all employers who are government regulated, which would include banks, utilities, insurance companies, transportation, etc., as well as any direct government workers. They re entitled to vacations of at least 4 weeks, liberal sick leave, regular working hours with overtime, etc. Other private employers would typically offer similar benefits, to remain competitive for good workers.
You forgot to mention that it's almost impossible to have dinner at a restaurant before 10 pm. And most stores are closed on sunday.
Yes you are right. Actually most restaurant open around 8,30pm but you will find very few customers at that time.
As for shops being closed on Sundays, things are slowly changing. At the moment shopping malls open every first Sunday of the month and every Sunday in December.
I personally do not find anything wrong with shops being closed on Sunday. People spend more time doing other things such as excursions, visit family, play sports and generally being together.
Based on EU-Data the French work the least. Only around 35 hours per week on average.
doesn't that make them more productive tho? i mean knowing that there's so few hours in which to get things done? i have found in the UK (england) they do work long hours but this doesn't really equate to much higher output. I can only speak for my industry tho (IT) and again, only in comparison to my (third world) country of origin
I work some 45 hours a week. Quite flexible, although that flexibility usually means working free overtime.
I usually start work sometime around 8:30 in the morning, and finish around 7, sometimes 8. Lunch break is about an hour (around 2 pm), usually at the local canteen, but once a week drive to a nearby town (I work at a business park). Around 11 I pop out for a brief coffee break. On fridays I try to get out at 3 and have belated lunch at home. Coffee breaks usually serve as casual business meetings.
I have 22-working-day paid vacations a year
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