Interesting and Surprising Cultural Differences Related to Vacation and Holiday Time - Assignment Example

Interesting and surprising cultural differences related to vacation and holiday time. SummaryThe video presentation “Where does Workers Get Most Days Off? – The least and most slothful” looks at three elements of days off. The first part examines public holidays in a sample size of eight countries that are; Britain, Japan, Germany, United States, China, France and Bulgaria. It starts by tracing the culture of holidays to ancient Rome under Emperor Claudia and mentions that there were 159 public holidays with games staged in 93 of them.

The second part reviews number of annual leave days among the sample countries that are summed up with public holidays to determine the least and most slothful. The third part involves a look at the number of sick days off that are then added to the sum of public and annual leave days to determine the most slothful after taking into account the three aspects of days off. Video Analysis According to E.N. Vacance, from the sample, Japan has the highest number of public holidays at 16 days in a year, while Britain has the lowest at 8.

The remainder countries have holidays ranging between 10 to 13 days annually. On the basis of public holidays, Britain comes out as the most slothful. With regards to annual leave, Europe has between 25 to 30 days while China allows only five days for annual leave with the figure increasing to 10 days after a person serves for 10 years in a particular job. The later is an interesting scenario that seems to reward annual leave on the basis of commitment; it implies that for one to secure optimal leave days in china, then, they must show commitment to their employer for a decade (www.economist.com).

This perhaps explain the work ethics in this Asian giant and reasons for its growth as the global manufacturing place of choice otherwise referred to as the ‘world’s factory’. In America however, Vacance explains that employers are not compelled to give time off to their employees but in practice, the average number of days given to employees is 15 days a year while Japan and Bulgaria have 20 days each. The sum of public and annual leave in the sample counties depicts China as the most hard working with France as the laziest.

There is also the element of sick days off, Bulgaria leads on this front with 22 days in a year while The UK has six, Germany 7, the US 10 and France 8. China and Japan do not provide any sick days off and instead regards them as orniary days off. The sum of national holidays, annual leave and sick days takes Bulgaria to the top as the most slothful with China keeping its position as the hard worker (www.economist.com). Cultural Analysis From the sample size analyzed in the video, Europe stands out as the most slothful, looking at days off from a continental perspective.

This could be founded on the cultural heritage of this continent that goes back to the days of the Roman Empire. It appears that even with the modern changes, the continent has still kept its culture of slothfulness from ancient times and incorporated several ways of acquiring time off from work outside the stipulated public holidays. The work ethics of Asian nation comes out as very distinct in this sample. Chinese and Japanese cultures are known to have been founded on strict work ethics, and this dates to as far as their earliest civilization (Perry, p 56).

The building of the never ending wall of china and the various ancient Japanese cottage industries were the easiest sign of strict work ethics that gives minimal emphasis to times off. The cultural differences between the East and West with regards to work ethics has clearly come out in this presentation and provided a clear picture on the possible reason for a shift to the east that is presently happening in the world with a majority of products coming from Asia. This therefore gives useful insights into productive days for investors seeking to establish their organizations in Asia.

Conclusion People do need time off to be productive. Just like in the old saying; ‘all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy’, so does continuous work without days off make employees unproductive. It is therefore advisable that organizations give their staff time to relax and refocus for the larger benefit of the enterprise. Having employees work without a break has a significant effect on their morale and quality of output. Europe, from the study stands out as the most slothful continent and this is reflected on their economic challenges both past and present.

To truly achieve budget surplus and a positive balance of trade, a country must commit itself to wok. This is one way of attracting new investors and keeping the existing ones (Hoffman, p 91). It is therefore significant for countries with extremely high number of days off to make the appropriate legislative changes with regards to holidays to be able to compete in the 21st century marketplace where costs and output is the driver for most investors. Works cited Perry, Elizabeth J. Putting class in its place: worker identities in East Asia.

Berkeley, Calif.: Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California, Berkeley, 1996. Print. Hoffman, W. Michael. Emerging global business ethics. Westport, Conn.: Quorum Books, 1994. Print. http://www.economist.com/blogs/multimedia/2011/05/social_notworking?fsrc=nlw|mgt|05-04-11|management_thinking