Americans Working Their Fingers to the Bone

What has happened to our so called “free time” in the United States of America?  Does it make sense that neither we nor our government is taking care of our time off?  I am holding in my poor, tired hands, a report  that says many companies doing business in the U.S. are starting to realize that our super connectivity, our twenty-four-seven ping availability by mobile device, laptop, desktop or Skype, has left us vulnerable to working all the time. Well now some companies are trying to step up and say, “Hey your personal time is important. Maybe we shouldn’t squeeze this until it pops.”  Goldman Sachs is urging junior staff to take weekends off. BMW is planning rules that will keep workers from being contacted after hours. Some analysts have suggested that workers may be working longer hours, but are so burned-out that they are not as productive. It may go even deeper than that. My wife and I, while on vacation on Maui ironically, ran into a woman from Germany who does basically the same thing I do. She was on “holiday” and making stops in many different places. She said she had six weeks a year, mandated by the German government.

So I’ve checked several different sources to find out how we stack up. Bottom line: We are terrible, awful, horrific. We are at “the bottom.” Loosely figured in weeks, vacation and holiday time, Portugal, Austria, and Russia mandate seven weeks. Germany, Australia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Ireland: Six weeks. Heck, Iran is four weeks. Ecuador and Canada are three weeks. Saudi Arabia is between three and six, based on years worked.  One of the tables I checked listed over 80 countries. Every one, with the exception of one, had government-protected vacation time. Only one didn’t: The United States of America. Now we are the world’s economic leader, and I’m sure there are some things here that we don’t understand, and maybe I’m just naive or not too smart, but—we are alone here.

Back to my original point: We are “hot wired.” We have the ability to produce more, know more and be vital for every minute of our real and virtual lives. Should we self impose blackout periods for our own good?  Should the government be involved? What do we do?  Should or can this continue?  Will we reach a breaking point?  Or should we do nothing?  Laissez-faire?  What makes sense?