How does the culture of a country influence the expectations of work/life balance? While in Spain I reflected on this with my American friend who lives in Spain. She told me how the locals balance work and life.
The division of work to family life seems balanced in Spain. The workday is spread out more, but includes breaks. In general, the workday starts at 10am and goes until around 2pm, there is a long lunch break, and then resumes around 4pm to end around 8. Whereas Americans generally work from 9-5 and eat at their computers, or work longer hours and still eat at their computers. Spaniards eat dinner at 9-10pm and might stay out having drinks until late. Holidays are respected as a time to be with your family, not as another day to work. Also, every Spanish worker is entitled to 3 weeks vacation a year. I also found out that Europe has a law against workers having more than a 48hour week, unless the extra hours are paid as overtime or the person opts out.
The culture of work is bred within each workplace and spreads to become the norm. In America, the norm of work/life balance is extremely skewed to the work side and people are pressured to feel they are weak if they cannot or do not want to work the prescribed amount. In Spain, people are expected to balance their work reasonable hours, long lunches, dinners with family and friends and vacations.
The focus on balance may seem to some ambition driven people as lazy, but I see it as natural, healthy and badly needed in America.
