Why We Work so Hard: Analyzing the American Work Ethic

In the American get it done yesterday society, your job and personal identity go hand in hand. Families have two parents that work, younger workers are putting in excessive overtime, job satisfaction is low and the stress level of the average American is undeniably high. Consumerism is King in America and landing that high-paying job is the only way to afford all of the objects you desire. The idea is this: if you work really hard and stick with your company for thirty or more years, when you retire you will be able to relax and enjoy the fruits of your labor. This idea is what has saturated the American society's mind, but why do people buy into this work ethic?

Our highly commercialized and consumerism-oriented society has transformed the media into a breeding ground for corporate ideology as millions of messages saturate our lives each day. There is an extreme and obvious influence that consumerism in media has had in America; from logos to fast food chains, it has permeated the American lifestyle.

Marketers and advertisers use multiple techniques to sell their product, to be number one, to be well-known, whatever the consequences. Whether it is food chains spending more than 3 billion dollars a year on advertising or commercialization invading the school systems with company sponsored learning programs, consumerism is everywhere (Special Issues). Through manipulation of advertisements, company ideologies, and even psychological tactics, the media is in complete control of the American audience.

"We are, all of us, awash in media. Television. Movies. The Internet. Billboards. Newspapers. Magazines. Radio. Newsletters. Individually and collectively we spend more time with more media than ever before-an average of 10.5 hours a day, about 25 percent of that time using two media simultaneously, according to a recent study by the University of South Carolina." (Shaw). An estimated 68 percent of kids two and younger spend an average of two hours a day in front of a television or computer. This complete saturation of the average person is astronomical. With the amount of media usage, it is easy for companies to manipulate their audience.

This saturation is exactly how companies use the media to get consumers to spend. The flashing of a new toy on a children's only station or a fast food commercial after a favorite cartoon show is a way to start with the young audience. And it doesn't change as we age. More aggressive messages are sent, the older the audience becomes. Magazine ads, commercials, pop up ads on the Internet, billboards, and of course; celebrity endorsements catch the average adult and feed their want for products. "Want creation through sales promotion techniques and political opportunism are inherent components of the modern economic system" (Harris).

This breeding of want in American society drives the value of material objects way up. And how do we afford the things we desire? We work our whole lives to pay for them. Following this path from consumerism to why we work so hard, we stumble upon the needs and shifts in technology.

The advent of Internet, speech recognition software and automation in general, makes it easier for workers to work from home or put in less man hours. However, technology and the workplace offers up another set of issues.

"Teleworking is being heralded by many as a way to improve your working life. Increasingly people are choosing to work from home - a practice made easier by the introduction of high-speed unmetered internet access and a greater willingness to invest in the necessary technologies such as virtual private networks. However, research has shown that teleworkers put in even longer hours than their office-bound peers" (Sturgeon).

This teleworking is a double edged sword. Although technology provides a way for workers to work from home, it also opens up that door to increased accessibility. "That helps explain why time pressures seem to be getting worse. Globalization and the Internet create great new opportunities, but they also ratchet up the intensity of competition and generate more work - especially with the existing corporate structure still hanging on tightly" (Farrell).

The hope holds out that "the stuck-at-work epidemic will turn out to be a transitional phase. Historically, as countries and individuals get richer, they work less" (Farrell). The idea that society is on its way to a lighter work and stress load is optimistic and hopeful. "Adding new software and more people to reduce the cost of collaboration is great - as long as it doesn't create even more work. To really ease the work overload - and, not coincidentally, make corporations more nimble - it's also essential to identify and eliminate unnecessary interactions" (Farrell). The idea that there needs to be a separation between your work life and personal life is simple, yet foreign in today's society.

With all of the advancements in the world of technology, there seems to be one goal these technological improvements are striving for: more output. It comes as no surprise (or at least it shouldn't) that companies want to make money. No matter how many company picnics or inspiring meetings a business may have; the objective is clear. Everyone is there to make money. From the president of the company, to the receptionist at the desk.

This desire for more and more output (and more and more income) is what drives the heart of American companies. "...The free market system favors those with more income in the sense that not only do these people obtain more output but also they have a greater influence on the kinds of commodities that are produced" (Harris).

Using the media as the worm and technology as the fishing pole, corporations can reel in the money. (Please excuse corny metaphor.) Looking closely at the pattern being created, it is obvious what this increase in output gives birth to: more want.

The desire for wealth is one that seems to have lived in America as long as people have, but of course that isn't true. It all began when the Puritans came to "the New World", seeking a "clean slate" to write their ethics and ideas upon. The Puritans, being a devout religious people, believed "that suffering is required to redeem our 'original sin' as human beings" (Dean). This "no pain, no gain" mentality underlies American society even today.

"The Puritans believed that honest toil, if persevered with, led to mundane and spiritual rewards. The modern equivalents of these archaic religious beliefs are:

i) Hard work is the main factor in producing material wealth

ii) Hard work is character building and morally good" (Dean).

The "Puritan work ethic" is undeniably still alive today in America, and has spread around the world. Working hard means you can afford and collect more material wealth. Working hard means that you are a good person, you have a "good work ethic".

Having a good work ethic automatically gives a person credibility in American society. You are defined by what you own. Your car, your home, your clothing; all of these things define you. It is exactly that "worthiness" that the Puritan work ethic is all about.

"The hard work ethic has conditioned us to see happiness as something that must be earned through toil. In effect, this is saying you have to suffer in order to get happiness, or to put it another way, you must be unhappy to be happy" (Dean).

Why is the opposite of working hard being lazy? Once again, we can trace the answer back to the work ethics that were founded along with America. If working is salvation and worthy, then not working means abandonment and dishonor.

There is no doubt that in American society (as well as around the globe), there is a focus upon "what you do". When asked "What do you do?", one might assume that it is their profession that is being inquired about. However, around the world this has different meanings. "What do you do?" can mean what you do for "fun", something that might never enter an American's mind when asked. The real question that should be asked is; do you live to work or work to live?

Even children are focused on what they want to "be when they grow up". The focus of achieving job success is implemented even from the time of childhood. This ideal is sown into young minds and watered with the promise that with success, your wealth will grow.

Long hours at work are becoming an epidemic. "More and more UK workers are pulling in 60-hour weeks and suffering from stress as a result of the rigours of office life" (Sturgeon). If you are working a 60 hour week, where is the time for personal enjoyment? The family is now the great multi-tasker; wake up, get the kids ready for school, work all day, come home, take the kids to their extracurricular activity, make dinner, eat dinner, get ready for bed, sleep. How can this speedy lifestyle leave room to create valued relationships in a family?

"About 60% of us are sometimes or often rushed at mealtime and one-third wolf down lunch at our desks, according to a survey by the American Dietetic Association. To avoid wasting time, we're talking on our cell phones while rushing to work, answering e-mails during conference calls, waking up at 4 a.m. to call Europe, and generally multitasking our brains out" (Farrell).

It seems as though job satisfaction is rare to come by these days. With demands on needing a high income, many settle for jobs that pay high, but hold no personal fulfillment. Without being acknowledged for hard work, "you can never totally relax because nobody ever comes along to say, once and for all, that you've worked enough" (Dean).

Boredom with work is common as "75% of the work force engage in work that is little more than simple, repetitive tasks" (Dean). This of course leads to job dissatisfaction, for how can a worker feel confident in their job when their job seems meaningless and monotonous?

Low pay is truly a cause for work-related stress. When a person isn't acknowledged for the hard work and extra work that they put into a job, they have a definite reason to be stressed. "...Those putting in the hours aren't being rewarded by their efforts - most are on flat annual salaries with no added compensation for overtime. Three quarters of all employees regularly put in overtime and of these only one third are paid extra for doing so" (Sturgeon).

Increased accessibility is an invasion of non-work associated life. With rapid technological improvements on communications, workers are able be reached through so many ways. Email, cell phones, email on cell phones, all of these allow the workplace to be in constant communication with the worker.

Many jobs don't allow breaks and if they do, they are not of sufficient time to recover. Many workers eat their lunch at their desk and work simultaneously, not using the lunch break for relaxation. Vacation time is a hot topic amongst young workers, keeping tabs on how many days they've taken off on their calendars in hopes of not using them all up.

"'It is the American way of work and the American work ethic that very often we don't begin to take all of our vacation. And we even recognize a lot fewer holidays in America than they do in European communities'," said Linda Haneborg, senior vice president for marketing and communications with Oklahoma City-based Express Personnel Services. '...on the whole, I think you'll find the American work force tends to want to and need to work as much as possible...we live in a very fast-paced society today and sometimes we're more project-driven than leisure time-driven. We tend to work until we get the work done, even at the sacrifice of our leisure life'" (Brus).

In an article written by Gordon Anderson, a writer for CNN Money, entitled "Should America be France?", the differences between American and European workers are highlighted. "Americans, on average, work 350 hours more each year than Europeans. That's 9 weeks of labor". This number is large, but it is not the numbers that matter; it is the value that lies behind the number of hours. Americans, and those countries that reflect the same American work ethics, are living to work. Working has become the only way to prove your worth and to gain more belongings and in doing so the quality of life has decreased. (Anderson).

"In France...national law guarantees workers 11 public holidays, a minimum of five weeks paid vacation, and a 35-hour work week. Americans do celebrate 10 public holidays. Still, many companies don't honor all national holidays, and U.S. firms are the stingiest in the developed world when it comes to vacations" (Anderson). To an American worker, five weeks minimum paid vacation is only a dream. A dream that is hard to fulfill and is rubbed in one's face by television commercials for resorts in the Caribbean or cruises amidst the Hawaiian Islands.

Many companies do not offer any paid vacation over two weeks, no matter how long a worker is with the company. "According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, an American in his or her first year on the job gets 8.1 days of paid vacation on average. (The average doesn't rise above 10 days until year three)" (Anderson). This blatant disregard for the value of a worker's personal time has a direct effect on how a worker feels unappreciated and job satisfaction goes down.

Although some countries treat their workers differently, the hope of having an American society not focused on working seems slim. In the American society of corporate owned media outlets, the messages getting through to the public are not all that helpful.

The American media promotes work ethics and ideals through television programming, newspapers, movies, radio and the Internet. At any given moment, you can tune into the television to see a show based entirely around the workplace; shows from "Just Shoot Me" to "Stacked" that are both about the workplace and the employer/employee relationship. This workaholic ideal is embedded deeply within every aspect of American media.

Websites like CNNMoney.com and television channels like CNBC are all about stocks, jobs, money and the workplace. Newspapers have business sections and money sections, focusing on everything from stock options to how to spend your money on the latest gadget. Advertising through all of the aforementioned mediums holds a huge focus on the work ethic of America. Every television channel, Internet pop-up, magazine or radio station has commercials for buying something. An advertisement for the latest BMW model, the newest Coach purse, or Tiffany jewelry can be heard, read or viewed at any moment. The idea of whether or not the average American reader or viewer can afford these material goods is not addressed. It is a given that if you work more, you'll get more. It is assumed that everyone knows that in order to achieve the material success that is advertised, they have to work hard.

The media also enforces that only once you retire, can you rest and relax. As if this is good news. The focus is set on the future: retirement to achieve happiness. Once again, the Puritan work ethic comes to life; "happiness is earned through toil" (Dean).

One of the greatest examples of an American oxymoron has to be that of holiday stress. How can the word "holiday" and "stress" even be put together? Holiday in other parts of the world means just that; a vacation or celebration. Time off to relax and rest. But with consumerism running rampant in American culture, the holidays are turned into yet another money-spending, stress spree. The commercialism of holidays, whether it is Thanksgiving, Christmas or Hanukkah, is a sad testament to American culture. Holidays are focused around money; buying gifts and decorations to prove your families' worth is what it seems to be all about.

All of this evidence suggests complete hopelessness. Even when a holiday is offered, it is not spent relaxing and enjoying. Americans are pushed to work hard to get to their vacations so that they can spend the money that they worked so hard to earn. Is there an answer or an end to it all?

The hope holds out that "the stuck-at-work epidemic will turn out to be a transitional phase. Historically, as countries and individuals get richer, they work less" (Farrell). The idea that society is on its way to a lighter work and stress load is optimistic and hopeful. "Adding new software and more people to reduce the cost of collaboration is great - as long as it doesn't create even more work. To really ease the work overload - and, not coincidentally, make corporations more nimble - it's also essential to identify and eliminate unnecessary interactions" (Farrell). The idea that there needs to be a separation between your work life and personal life is simple, yet foreign in today's society.

It is promising to think that some day there can be "a less overloaded way of life that lets people take charge of their time while still making a decent living and a real contribution to society" (Farrell). To be able to separate your identity from the job that you work and the money that you make would be fulfilling, to say the least.

There is hope that such a life can exist in today's society. The goal of leading a purposeful life that has meaning and worth, regardless of what society enforces upon someone. A life that is worth more than the job someone works, the money they make, or the possessions they own. A life that is not postponed until old age to enjoy, but to harness right here and now.

"However unhappy a person may be, the moment he knows the purpose of his life a switch is turned and the light is on. If he has to strive after that purpose all his life, he does not mind so long as he knows what the purpose is. Ten such people have much greater power than a thousand people working from morning till evening not knowing the purpose of their life." --H. I. Khan

Works Cited

Anderson, Gordon T. "Should America Be France?" CNNMoney. 9 October 2003. 27 March 2006. .

Brus, Brian. "Studies find American work force tends to work more and vacation less. The Journal Record. 10 August 2005.

LexisNexis. Ramapo College of New Jersey Coll. Lib., NJ. 27 March 2006.

Dean, Brian. "The Puritan Work Ethic." In Business Magazine. December 1996.

Farrell, Hamm, Mandel, Matlack and Ann Palmer, eds. "The Real Reasons You're Working So Hard" Business Week Online. 3 October 2005. 3 April 2006.

Harris, C.P. "What Price Consumerism?" EBSCOhost. Ramapo College of New Jersey Coll. Lib., NJ. 27 March 2006.

Shaw, David. "Information Inundation Imperils our Children". Los Angeles Times. 30 November 2003. p. E.20.

"Special Issues for Young Children". 6 March 2006.

Sturgeon, Will. "Are you working too hard?" CNET Networks. 2 September 2002. 27 March 2006. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/business/employment/0,39020648,2121622,00.htm>