Rethinking the French Work Ethic
Do the French like to work, or do they dislike their companies? This year, only 64% of a group of French professionals polled said they liked their company. This figure was at 79% in 2005, according to this article in The Economist. The article goes on to say:
Many outsiders conclude that French workers are simply lazy. “Absolument Dé-bor-dée!” (“Absolutely Snowed Under”), a book which came out last year, described how state employees compete to do nothing at work. Another title in this bestselling genre on avoiding toil, “Bonjour Paresse” (“Hello Laziness”) by Corinne Maier, an economist, explained how she got away with doing nothing at EDF, another utility.
The art of doing the least amount of work possible while on the job.
However, studies show that French professionals have a bone of contention with management, not with the idea of work itself, which may be leading to the lack of motivation and productivity while on the job.
…The problem with French employees is less that they are work-shy, than that they are poorly managed. According to a report on national competitiveness by the World Economic Forum, the French rank and file has a much stronger work ethic than American, British or Dutch employees. They find great satisfaction in their work, but register profound discontent with the way their firms are run.
Furthermore, 40% of employees, according to a 2010 study by BVA, “actively dislike their firm’s top managers”. What explains this discontent?
Thomas Philippon, a French economist, says that too many French organizations depend on academic and governmental elites as their leaders versus following the commonplace meritocracy that exists in France’s grandes écoles, or institutes of higher learning. Furthermore, logic and reason reign supreme within the realm of French culture.
Considering all of this, wouldn’t it be logical for French companies to promote individuals based on performance rather than engage in cronyism? If meritocracy is fiercely protected in the academic world, why doesn’t it apply to the private industry?
Please share your experiences working for French companies and with French colleagues – we’d love to hear them!
Sean
RW3 CultureWizard
When I worked for a graphics computer company, we sent a team to a French company to enhance their CAD/CAM product to take advantage of our hardware. Their estimate on how long the project would take was 2 years. Our team did it in 3 months. On return, our team said the French came to work at 10, took a 2 hour lunch break and went home by 5. They spent a lot of time talking in the halls, taking smoke breaks and generally not working. This was a very surprising discovery for us since our team arrived at 7:30am and worked until 10pm each night to get the work done.
My questions are, would this have anything to do with the socialistic nature of their country? Is there incentive, other than feeling good, to performing at peak potential?
Dear Chris,
I am French, I moved to LA 2 years ago, I started working at alcatel in 2002, I am a passionate,hard working and driven person. I am dedicated to my job and to my customers internally & externally. What you are describing about this French team is cliches. Management & employees come at work between 7 to 9 and some maybe leave at 5 but many of them work from home and late at night. Let me take my example I am project and offer manager for Business Operations, I am eager to accommodate my customers’ needs and meet tight delivery schedules. I also have no problem working during my vacation too to advance my work or take care of customers’ emergencies.
This has nothing to do with a socialistic country to answer your question. Everywhere you go you will meet lazy, inefficient people who take advantage of the company weaknesses for various reasons even in the US!