Ethical Dilenma Are U.S Workers Overworked?

Why do you think the quality of life is lower in the United States compared to many European nations? Do you think quality of life in the United States would increase if the government required a minimum number of vacation days or limited workweek hours?

The quality of life is lower in the United States compared to European nations because, in my opinion, most Americans are overworked and stressed out. The European nation’s tribute their high quality of life to their nation’s free healthcare, generous unemployment benefits, and greater emphasis on leisure as opposed to work. In the United States, free health care is not available to all individuals and most of the population is without healthcare, therefore the quality of life for some is low. I don’t think American’s would like the government to mandate or require a minimum number of vacation days or limited workweek hours. One reason being that the longer a person stays with a company the vacation time allowed is usually increased over a period of time. If the government mandates a limited amount of vacation companies would see a lot of turnover.

Therefore, I doubt the quality of life would increase by another government mandate and employers may not like increased turnover because it is costly. Many employers and employees see the quality of life increasing with balanced work-life integration, flexible hours and less stress. Also if we look at the situation in which U.S is a larger country and Europe countries compare to size wise are much smaller, not only that, but U.S need to work the extensive hours to keep up their exceptionalism and make their people to be on a certain standard. U.S not only “fix” or improve their countries but others countries to, so they already have that burden to carry for extra-work.

Do you think the French parliament was right to eliminate the 35-hour workweek limit? Do you think the quality of French life will suffer? The French parliament did the right thing by eliminating the 35-hour work week limit. There is added pressure on the employee when there is a limit to the amount of hours they have to work. There is also added stress involved because the employee is pressed for time to complete various tasks at work. The quality of life in France may diminish due to the new laws because maybe there is limited balance between work and personal life. Sometimes we might think it’s like a big Yes, since less work means more laziness. This statement is wrong due to the fact that France is a country with different set of moral and ethics. Different countries have different standards so implementation of the same law might not be helpful in some countries.

Do you think employers have an obligation to watch out for the quality of life of their employees? Could that translate into protection employees from being overworked? Employers do not have an obligation to watch out for the quality of life of their employees. Employers should consider the quality of life of their employees. Employers should try to maintain a balanced work and personal environment in order to make their employees happy. Because studies have shown that happy employees are more productive. Balanced work-life integration could translate into protecting employees from being overworked.

Does it make a difference that the unemployment rate in Europe is roughly double that of the United States and that Europe’s gross domestic product (GDP) is about half that of the United States? The only difference that the unemployment rate being doubled in Europe compared to that of the United States is because Europeans are well compensated with their generous unemployment benefits. A person in the US can hardly live off unemployment benefits because there are limits as to how much you can get. Who wouldn’t want to live in a country where you can be unemployed and still uphold your status in society because the unemployment benefits are very compensating? -ARMY AND WELFARE