法國人上班並不清閒 每週工作50小時大綱
In the collective imagination, there are two Europes: the industrious north, with relatively low unemployment and dynamic economies, and the sluggish south, where people would just as soon kick back, sip an espresso and watch the world go by.
在公衆的印象裏，有兩個歐洲：勤勞的北部，擁有低失業率和生機勃勃的經濟；還有一個是蕭條的南部，人們寧願悠閒地喝着濃咖啡，看着匆忙的世界。Many people would lump France, the land of the 35-hour workweek, long lunches and even longer vacations, with the south. But anyone who has worked as a professional in the country knows otherwise.
很多人誤解法國像南部一樣，一週工作35小時，午餐時間長，甚至更長的假期。但是，任何一個在這個國家工作的專業人士所瞭解的則是另外一種情景。
Olivier, a senior counsel in a large French multinational in the construction industry in Paris (he requested his surname not be used), described his workweek one recent evening in his office. “I work about 45 to 50 hours a week, from roughly 09:00 till 19:30, ” he said.
巴黎一大型跨國建築公司的高級法律顧問奧利維爾(Olivier)(他要求隱祕他的姓氏)，在一個晚上，在他的辦公室講述了他一週工作時間，“我一週工作45到50個小時，從大概早上9點開始工作到晚上七點半。”
So what about the infamous 35-hour workweek, which is the envy of much of the rest of the professional world? Is it merely a myth?
哪裏只有每週35個小時工作時間，其他的職業世界嫉妒什麼呢？這只是一個神話嗎？Contrary to many stereotypes, 35-hours is “simply a threshold above which overtime or rest days start to kick in”, according to French economist Jean-Marie Perbost.
據法國經濟學家讓-馬裏-普羅布斯特(Jean-Marie Perbost)所述，與一貫的認識相反，35小時“僅僅是加班或休假的負薪臨界線”。Blue-collar workers are expected to work precisely 35 hours, but the hours white-collar workers (cadresin French) amass each week are not clocked. Like professionals in, say, the United States, most cadres work until the tasks at hand are done. But unlike in the US, French professionals are compensated for the hours they work beyond 35 with rest days, which are negotiated on a company-by-company basis (there were nine rest days, on average, given by companies in 2013).
藍領工人的預期工作時間正好是35小時，但是白領的每週累計工作時間(法國的幹部)是無法計數的。像美國的專業人士，大部分的幹部需要把手裏的工作幹完。但是不像美國，法國的專業人士超過35小時的工作時間會得到補休，這需要單獨與企業協商(2013年公司平均提供了9天的休息日)。Even blue-collar workers work more than 35 hours. According to French government statistics, 50% of full-time workers put in paid overtime in 2010. That percentage was likely to be higher in 2013, said Perbost. Of course, compared to the hours certain professions tally on a weekly basis, the average worker in Europe doesn’t have it so bad. Take lawyers. According to France’s national bar association (CNB), 44% of lawyers in the country logged more than 55 hours on a weekly basis in 2008. In the United States, surveys show that many attorneys work about 55 to 60 hours per week in order to meet the billable hours requirements most firms maintain.
即使是藍領工人工作也超過35小時。根據法國政府的統計，2010年，50%的全職工人得付加班費。普羅布斯特稱，2013年，這個比例會高得多。當然，比較的只是某幾個行業的每週統計，一般來說歐洲的工人工時沒有那麼糟糕。拿律師來說，根據法國國家律師協會(CNB)的數據，2008年，44%的本國律師每週工作超過55小時。在美國，調查顯示爲了滿足大多數律所要求的收費小時數，很多辯護律師每週工作時間在55到60小時之間。World of Work
世界的工作情況Average annual hours worked by full-time employees in 2011 around the world:
2011年世界範圍全職僱員年平均工作時間Germany: 1, 406 hours
德國：1,406 小時Norway: 1, 421 hours
挪威：1,421 小時France: 1, 476 hours
法國：1,476 小時United Kingdom: 1, 650 hours
英國：1,650 小時Spain: 1, 685 hours
西班牙：1,685 小時United States: 1, 704 hours
美國：1,704 小時Japan: 1, 706 hours
日本：1,706 小時Canada: 1, 708 hours
加拿大：1,708小時Brazil: 1, 841 hours
巴西：1,841 小時Korea: 2, 193 hours
韓國：2,193 小時Singapore: 2, 287 hours
新加坡：2,287 小時Source: Federal Reserve Economic Data
來源：聯邦儲備經濟數據庫Not just France
不僅僅是法國It’s not just France where the laid-back workweek is more myth than reality. Professional hours in Spain also contrast with the country’s popular image. Pablo Martinez, a senior sales and engineering manager at a German multinational in Madrid, said he starts at 08:00 and rarely leaves before 18:30.
不僅僅是法國的懶散被誇大了。西班牙的工作時間也與大衆印象形成反差。馬德里的一家德國跨國企業的高級銷售和工程經理帕布魯•馬丁內斯(Pablo Martinez)稱，他八點開始工作，很少有18:30以前下班的時候。“Things have changed in Spain to keep pace with international markets, ” he said. “It’s not uncommon for people to grab some lunch and eat it in front of their computers, which was rare 20 years ago when I started working .”
“爲了與國際市場保持同步，西班牙已經變了。在電腦前面隨便吃點東西當午餐也並不少見，但在20年前我剛參加工作時是很罕見的。”他說道。In fact, the number of full-time working hours per week across Europe is strikingly similar. According to Eurostat, in 2008, the Eurozone average was just under 41 hours per week, with France slightly under 40. The range was also slim, with a low of 39 hours in Norway and a high of 43 hours in Austria.
事實上，縱觀歐洲的全職工作時間是十分相似的。根據歐盟統計局的數據，2008年歐洲區平均工作時長接近每週41小時，法國略低於40小時。差距也十分微小，最低的挪威是39小時，最高的奧地利是43小時。“It’s really the 35 hours that have created this false idea that the French don’t work a lot, ” said Olivier. “The idea sticks in people’s minds. But it’s not a reality.”
“35小時真的製造了法國人工作少的虛假印象，這個認知深深地植入人們的腦海中，但是那不是真實的情況。”奧利維爾說道。Another factor that may have fed the short workweek legend: most people only consider full-time staff when they take a look at the average work week, but in much of Europe, more people are working part time. This has been a growing trend for at least 15 years and it was exacerbated by the global financial crisis that began in 2008.
另一個因素可能在工作時間短的傳說上也起了作用：大多數人在審視平均工作時間時僅僅注意到全職工作，但是，在歐洲很多地方，更多的人是兼職工作。在過去的15年裏，兼職工作的人明顯增長，尤其是在2008年全球經融危機後進一步增加。“What countries with low unemployment like the Netherlands, the UK, Denmark, Sweden and Germany have done is, in effect, put one worker out of four in a part-time job, ” said Perbost, the author of a study on work for the European Green Foundation, a Brussels-based political organisation funded by the EU Parliament. He added that 2012 statistics from Eurostat echo this idea.
“低失業率的國家，如荷蘭、英國、丹麥、瑞典和德國的做法事實上是，讓四個人裏有一個去幹兼職。” 普羅布斯特說。他爲歐洲綠色基金會(the European Green Foundation)做研究工作，那是一個由歐盟議會資助的布魯塞爾政治組織。他還表示，2012年歐洲統計局的統計數據反應了這一觀點。Northern European countries, where Perbost said part-time jobs are much more common, have the lowest hours per week worked, for all workers, both full-time and part-time: the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, the UK and Germany all average around 35 hours per week, according to Eurostat’s 2012 figures. Meanwhile, Greece’s workers logged an average of 38 hours, followed closely by Spain, Portugal and Italy. French workers, collectively, clocked in at about 35 hours on average.
普羅布斯特稱，在北歐國家，兼職更加普遍。他們有最低的周工作時間，即包括的全職也包括兼職：荷蘭、丹麥、瑞典、英國和德國的平均工作時間都在35小時左右，這是根據歐洲統計局2012年的數據得出的。同時，希臘工人平均工作時長38小時，緊隨其後的是西班牙、葡萄牙和意大利。從整體而言，法國工人平均工作時間是35小時。Take a close look at part-time working hours across Europe and a startling trend emerges. The French even work longer part-time hours than their peers.
細看全歐洲的兼職工作時間，會發現一個驚人的趨勢。法國人比其他人有更多的兼職工作時間。The part-time workweek in France averages 23.3 hours, compared with 20.1 for most of the other European Union countries, according to a 2013 survey by the French employment ministry’s research group Dares.
根據2013年法國勞工部研究小組的調查，在法國的平均兼職工作時間是23.3小時，相應的其他歐盟國家大部分是20.1小時。That might help explain a few things to engineering manager Martinez. “When I call Germany after around 16:30 I’m always surprised at how few people are in the office, ” said Martinez. “Maybe it’s us in Spain who’ve got it backwards.”
這可能對解釋工程經理馬丁內斯的疑惑有幫助。“當我在大約16:30時打電話到德國時，我總是很奇怪幾乎沒什麼人在辦公室了。可能在西班牙的我們已經退步了。”馬丁內斯說。
