解密法国一周工作35小时的神话 - BBC理查德·文图里（Richard Venturi）(2023年7月24日)
如今，法国的上班族很少有时间去咖啡馆吃午餐。（图片来源：Thinkstock）
在公众的印象中，世界上有两个欧洲：一个是勤勤恳恳的北欧，那里失业率相对较低，经济生机勃勃；另一个是节奏缓慢的南欧，工作之余，人们喜欢悠闲地生活，细品咖啡，看着时光流逝。
很多人会把法国归为南欧，那里一周工作35小时，午餐时间长，假期更长。但是任何在法国工作过的人却认为实际情况并非如此。
奥利维耶（Olivier）在巴黎的一家建筑行业的大型法国跨国公司担任高级法律顾问（他要求隐去了他的真实姓名）。最近的一个晚上，他在办公室里描述了他每周的工作情况。“我每周工作大约45至50个小时，从早上9点左右一直工作到晚上7点半。”
那么名声不好的每周35小时工作制是怎么回事呢？难道这一让全世界大多数职场人士所艳羡的工作制只是一个美丽的神话？
和许多固有印象相反，35小时“只是一个标准，超过这个工作时限以后就算作加班或可以申请补休”。法国经济学家让·马里·普罗布斯特（Jean-Marie Perbost）说道。
蓝领工人可以精确的计时工作35小时，但是白领（法语称为cadres）每周工作并没有精确的计时。和美国的上班族一样，大多数法国上班族需要把手上的任务完成才能下班。但是和美国不同，法国的上班族在35小时以外的时间工作能享受补休，具体的情况视每家企业的协商情况而有所不同（2013年法国企业的平均补休日为9天）。
甚至蓝领也会加班，工作超过35小时。根据法国政府的统计数字，2010年50%的全职工人表示曾获得加班费。普罗布斯特说，2013年这个数字应该更高。当然，从一些行业来看，欧洲员工每周的工作小时数并不算多。以律师为例，根据法国全国律师协会（CNB），2008年法国44%的律师称其每周工作55小时以上。而在美国，调查显示，为了达到律师事务所普遍设定的付薪工时标准，很多律师需要一周工作55至60个小时。
不止法国是这样
不止法国，在其他国家，这种悠闲的工作周时安排也往往是言过其实。西班牙人的工作时长和它给人们的印象也有巨大的反差。帕布鲁?马丁内斯（Pablo Martinez）在首都马德里的一家来自德国的跨国企业担任资深销售和工程经理，他说他每天早上8点开始工作，下班时间几乎从未早于晚上6点半。
“为了跟上国际市场的步伐，西班牙人的做法也在发生变化。”他说，“现在，人们随便买份午餐，坐在电脑前面吃，是很常见的。但20年前我刚开始工作的时候很少见到这种现象。”
事实上，欧洲各个国家全职雇员的周工作时长惊人的相近。根据欧洲统计局（Eurostat）2008年的数字，欧元区平均周工作时长为41小时，法国略低于40小时。各国差距很小，挪威最低，为39小时。奥地利最高，为43小时。
“正是35小时这个说法造成了对法国人不怎么干活的错误印象。” 奥利维耶说，“这种成见根深蒂固，但是事实却并非如此。”
造成法国周工作时长较短的神话可能还有另一个因素：大多数人在理解周工作时长时只考虑到了全职雇员。但是在欧洲的很多地方，兼职工作的人也不少。在过去的15年中，兼职工作的人口呈增长趋势。2008年开始的全球金融危机更是助长了这一趋势。
“像荷兰、英国、丹麦、瑞典、德国这样低失业率的国家，它们的做法实际上是让四分之一的人成为兼职雇员。” 普罗布斯特说。他在欧洲绿色基金会（European Green Foundation）工作期间曾发表过相关研究，该基金会是一个欧洲议会（EU Parliament）资助的、总部位于布鲁塞尔的政治机构。他说欧洲统计局2012年的统计数据印证了他的看法。
普罗布斯特称，在北欧国家，兼职更加普遍。他们有最少的周工作时间，既包括全职也包括兼职雇员。 欧洲统计局2012年的数据显示，荷兰、丹麦、瑞典、英国和德国的平均工作时间都在35小时左右。同时，希腊人的平均周工作时长38小时，紧随其后的是西班牙、葡萄牙和意大利。从整体而言，法国人的平均工作时间是35小时。
如果我们认真年研究一下全欧洲的兼职工作时间，就会发现一个惊人的趋势。法国人的兼职工作时间比其他国家都要长。
根据法国劳工部研究小组Dares 2013年的调查，法国兼职雇员的平均周工作时间是23.3小时，而其他欧盟国家大部分是20.1小时。
这可能有助于解开工程经理马丁内斯的一些疑惑。“每次我在下午四点半左右打电话到德国，都会惊讶地发现在办公室的人怎么那么少。” 马丁内斯说，“现在可能是西班牙在这方面落后了。”
（责编：路西）
Busting the myth of France’s 35-hour workweek - By Richard Venturi
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
Blue-collar workers are expected to work precisely 35 hours, but the hours white-collar workers (cadres in 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).
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.
Not just France
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.
“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 .”
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.
“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.”
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.
“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.
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.
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.
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.
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.”
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- Average annual hours worked by full-time employees in 2011 around the world…