French Workers Biggest ‘Whingers’ in the World

French workers are the biggest ‘whingers’ in the world according to an extensive study of attitudes to work, carried out by UK business consultants, FDS International. However, Anglophones should not be too quick wring their hands in confirmation of the stereotype, for French workers were closely in second place by workers from the UK, (jointly with Sweden) with the USA in third place. Most surprisingly, despite the fact that workers from the USA, UK and France are amongst the best paid in the world, they had the most complaints about their pay. French workers also worked some of the lowest hours per week, yet they ranked sixth out of 23 countries in the ‘whinge’ ranking about their working hours. Whilst those from the UK thought that, over a range of six criteria, the ‘work/life balance’ was their greatest priority, the French preferred a more interesting job and recognition for their contribution. UK workers also considered job advancement, salary and job security to be more important that the French. Most willing and satisfied workers in the study were the Irish, followed by workers from Thailand and The Netherlands.