When doing research into China I asked four people about their experiences here. Two used to work at the school I now work at, one works in Taiwan, and the last one is in a town just above Shanghai. (Shout out to my buddy Skyler for hooking me up with the last two connections. You da best.) They all said that work ethic here is different and hard for Westerners to get used to. What are the differences?
First, people try to look busy when they aren't. According to Mr. Sison, "[The] Chinese job market is very competitive... Value is determined by how long they stay past work hours and working on weekends. " Delegation is basically not a thing here because of this. (If I don't delegate tasks then I will have to do it and look like I'm working hard!) People will try to do only urgent work and worry about future planning when it is right on their doorstep.
In just a week of being at my school this can be seen. Communication is pretty poor between parties because they all wait last minute to do it. There was event at our school and the time changed from 6:00, 5:00, to finally 4:30. The 4:30 time was then delayed 3o minutes due to some confusion about who was doing what tasks. I was prepared for this but one of my co-workers was not. She has been very frazzled by the lack of staying on time and communication.
Second, time is not a factor. People in China think of time as a fluid thing and not important. This is mind blowing for Westerners because we basically are slaves to the clock. I had a landlord that was supposed to come to my apartment at 5:30 to pick up the money for the utility bill. When it was 5:30 I was in a restaurant eating and was worried about being late and my friend wasn't worried at all. The reason is that the landlord didn't drop by my apartment until 6:00. When someone gives you a time it is more of an approximation of when they are coming. It stinks when you have to be somewhere and you are waiting for them for 30 minutes to an hour but you just have to deal with it.
Third, is following up. I hate doing this because I feel like a nag but so far haven't encountered a problem with it. Miss F has told me that when things are running low you have to request new things immediately. If there are two reams of paper left, order more right then and there. By the time the new paper comes in, those stacks of paper will be gone. You have to ask every few days to make sure it is coming too as the person you ordered from will say, "Yes, I ordered it. I'm responsible." When really they are just saying that so to appear they are good workers. My friend ordered a roomba and it took three weeks to get to her house. American Amazon you can live in Nebraska and get overnight shipping from California!
Fourth, you can sleep at work if you want. There are teachers with cots in their room for this reason. The idea is that if you work really hard then you must get tired (which you totally do) so why not nap? When I told my Chinese co-workers this didn't happen in the states they were shocked. I didn't tell them that napping at work in America could totally get you fired. I want them to live in innocence.
Fifth, the breaks you get here are AMAZING. I get an hour and thirty minutes every day for lunch. That is not even including a nap break ya'll! My first lunch break I tried to eat in 30 minutes but my co-workers were taking their sweet time. I asked how long we had and when they told me I almost cried in gratitude. In my Nebraska school we only got 30 minutes and that was including walking to and from the cafeteria. On my Chinese lunch break we literally took a nature walk and had a tour of the school.
Also the maternity leave and paternity (yes paternity leave) are great here. You get four months off for being a mom and two months off for being a dad. That means your kid can get as much as six months of constant parent care. My Chinese co-workers asked how much we can get off and I told them two to four weeks for maternity and paternity didn't exist at all. They asked if grandparents lived at home to help with child care and I told them no, we have daycare. They were stunned. America get it together!
Overall, the work ethic here is different but I wouldn't say it is worse or better than America. Ideally, I would love to have the timeliness of America with Chinese breaks.
One can dream...
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