LinkedinLunatics

The whole "work hard" being a moral dictum really depends on the country.

I've worked in Portugal, Britain and The Netherlands for about a decade each and whilst the Brits have the "work hard" not just in the sense of long hours but also the bloody slogan and moral commandment, and the Portuguese too have the long hours but "work hard" really doesn't add up to a moral commandment, the Dutch have neither and in fact it's considered a bad thing if people are still at the office after 6 PM (many even come in earlier to leave at 4.30 PM) to the point that a manager is considered a bad manager if their people are still there at that hour (because it means they didn't plan the project properly), quite the opposite of the other two countries were the "bumms on seats" after 6PM are seen as a good think.

Interestingly, of all 3, the Dutch are the most productive, by far - you do a lot more in term of actual results delivered in 8h/day in The Netherlands than you do in 10-12h/day in Portugal or Britain.