Co-worker works way more than he should

Question

I work in a research facility in Germany. I have lots of co-workers that are from other countries, mostly part of some international collaborative research projects.

There's one guy from China who's in his office almost every day including the weekend and also stays pretty late. I live more or less next to our office building and often see him at his desk while passing the building.

While it sometimes happens that we work on weekends during urgent projects, this should be an exception. However, this guy was in the office even during some public holidays (where we aren't even allowed to work as far as I know) and I see him almost every weekend.

I would usually say it's none of my business, but I have a feeling that he does not really know that he's supposed to rest on weekends and so. I know working culture is different in China and probably he thinks that he's expected to work every day or similar. HR is usually pretty good in telling us what our rights and duties are when we sign our contracts, but probably he simply missed this information. I assume that nobody is aware of it, since nobody else is here on these days.

We have fixed working hours that we should meet and we don't clock.

Should I approach this? If yes, should I talk to the co-worker or to our boss (who I think is responsible for having an eye on things like this)? I think I have a good relationship to both but don't want to step on their toes by approaching the wrong person and defying the other. I only want to make sure he knows that he really does not have to work every day.

Answer 1

Maybe he simply doesn't know what else to do with his time because of a lack of social contacts. Why don't you invite him over for BBQ on one of those weekends? (If you feel like investing your personal time in that matter)

It can be very hard to get to know new people when working in another country, especially if you are a little shy.

If you get along well, you can simply tell him that you noticed him working on the weekends. It is not a difficult issue at all and something that coworkers should be able to communicate openly about.

Answer 2

You do not know that he is working excessive hours. For example, he could be studying, and have a home situation that makes that difficult, such as a roommate with a loud TV. The office may be the most comfortable and suitable place for some of his non-work activities.

If you raise this with management they could be forced to notice something they are trying to ignore. He could be forced to go home, and left without a quiet place.

I am sure your colleague knows the normal working hours, because he sees people leave.

Answer 3

It doesn't matter if he enjoys or hates the job but there are rules like no work on public holidays that shouldn't be broken as that maybe against the law of the land.

In some cases it can also create bad name for the company for over working and create a culture of overworking like how it is in Japan, China and to some extent in India.

You don't have any responsibility in this case. HR of the company should take note of this and take proper action.

There are people who are paid just to check whether rules of the companies are followed or not. Let them do their job and you can focus on yours.

Most you can do is check your contract/handbook and see if you have any channels to report such incidence if not just let it be.

Answer 4

You should ask your common direct manager if he is aware that your colleague is at work for endless hours. If the answer is "yes", that's it. If the answer is "no", you can tell them what you know.

I said "is at work" because of the quote "you can make people be at the workplace for 80 hours a week, you can't make them work more than 40 hours a week".

It is well known (studies starting with Eysenck in the 1940's) that longer working hours don't lead to more productivity. People working 60 vs 40 hours for six weeks produce exactly the same (not the same per hour, but the per week), but then the person working excessively will be less productive per week.

If you talk to the colleague directly, you can tell them that his German manager will not think any better of him for working overtime, will not appreciate it whatsoever, and will not thank him. 37.5 hours a week is the norm. He should get a life instead of working.

Answer 5

Should I approach this?

Officially, No. Your co-worker does this on a regular basis. If he was under the impression that he "has to" work, by this time, he would have realized that's not the case and would have reached out to HR (or someone else in the authority) about the requirements. He's the only one who shows up on weekends / stays late - so it's not a group / team culture he is picking up.

• He never mentioned about it
• He never asked about it
• and to your knowledge, he never complained about it.

Given the level of comfort you say you have with this co-worker, should he have felt the same - I'd say he'd have mentioned about this "overtime" to you.

He made a choice, for whatever reason. The best option is to - Let him be.

If there is a possibility that he is breaking the law / office rules - let people who are changed with enforcing the rules deal with that.

Answer 6

The real problem here is that the this behavior puts the company at significant financial risk (liability for accidents, fines, salary payments for unpaid overtime, customers) if it is tolerated. Does his boss realize he works that much?

• If yes, then you may think about contacting HR in an informal way (or run from the company)

• If no, then somebody from the team (Teamlead?) should to bring this to the attention (in an informal way) of his boss.

Sensitive points:

• Be careful not to make legal statements (e.g. the work on holiday thing is a company/contract regulation, not legal). Be especially careful not ro misrepresent the laws (I nearly sued a Betriebsrat for defamation because he misrepresented the legal situation around my working time).

• Be careful not to appear to actually track him/her (e.g. do not show a list of observations, and btw dont create such a list from the beginning)

Update/Edit: To comment on the "research facility" aspect. Here the problem is that in research such things are accepted (as a former researcher I myself worked also more than my contract stated) or even encouraged by the superiors. Moreover, if he is a phd/post-doc this may actually even be encouraged by the competition. In these jobs the separation between "personal stuff to work on" and "work projects" is very fluent, however German laws also apply. So if it becomes very extreme (>60h/week average), consider to inform appropriate places (possibly anonymously)

Answer 7

There are plenty of reasons that can explain this kind of behaviour, and some can be far more dangerous than other to deal with.

• simple habit of always working : speaking with the person won't bring any bad, but not much good either, "that's just the way I am"
• cultural training : it's a little bit dangerous to go there, as the notion of hard working may be part of the person's identity. attacks against one's identity are always bad received - however true is the remark.
• simple wish to be more productive : there is plenty of litterature that shows that excessive working hours are not good for productivity, but there again, it's very delicate to convince a binge worker that' he's not as productive as he thinks.
• pleasure at work : there you'll be probably be welcome, but with not much effect anyways. Whoever loves to work, does work.
• fear of failure : fear darkens the mind, and consequences of speaking to the person are unpredictable.

Said otherwise, whatever the situation, it's hard to project an outcome where speaking to the person would be efficient. Especially if you have no management power over the person. I know manager who complain that some of their team members are doing excessive work times, and have a very hard time correcting the situation. You do have even less leverage.

Your concern seems valid to me, but I don't see any tools that could help you to solve it.

Answer 8

Just discretely ask. Next time you're helping him just say "Wow you've progressed real far on this, have you been working extra?"

Then progress the conversation from there. If he mentions working weekends and late then gently question it. "Oh really? Do you not enjoy having some time off?"

If he doesn't mention staying late at all then just leave him to his own devices, it's very possible he just likes to work and enjoys the job.

Like you say, it's possible he is unaware of the norm here, no harm in asking. If you're certain he knows the employee laws and the norms then leave him be.

Answer 9

I have worked for a German Company in the USA. Analysis below:

1) Immigration, Most people who come into a different country want to move to that country. For this, The workers have to prove their potential, so the Company can sponsor them an Immigration VISA. Especially the people from the East, ( India, Taiwan, China, etc)

a) In East Asian culture, They believe in quantity over quality. For example Schools in India are from 8 am to 4 pm and most kids are forced to attend tutors after that from 6 pm to 9 pm, Similarly, at work, The manager's impressed if the worker works after hours even though there is no productive work being done.

This could be one of the reasons why the worker is staying late, which he thinks would help him with an immigration visa.

b) Working in a German company in the USA,

I noticed a trend,

i) Most American workers (Includes Indian/Chinese born in America) work the 8 hours Mon-Thursday and 5-6 hours on Friday. Most people leave at 2 pm on a Friday

ii) German Workers and European Workers love their vacations, They organize their time (work-life), On some days they work 10-12 Hours, So they can free up other days for vacations

iii) Asian(Indian/China) who are in USA on VISA, work 8-10 hours every day. They would even come in on weekends

2) Lifestyle: In most western cultures, they like to socialize at bars/ lounges/ Comedy Clubs after work, In Eastern, it's usually family time.

a) When they are working in western countries, it can be a culture shock. So they don't like to expose themselves to something new.

b) Also, most local people in western countries tend to be with their own group/social circles (This is not true in Mega Cities like NYC, LA, London but applies to smaller cities and suburbs). They are not open to welcoming new people into their life.

Answer 10

I understand your concern, but different people have different work ethics. Some people need a ton of work to be happy, others will be miserable when they are slightly above what they can handle. Let it be.

I am similar to your coworker and I work more hours than most of my colleagues. I'm happy that way. I am not unfriendly, but I socialize at the bare minimum required. I don't have the same social 'needs' as some of my other colleagues.

I would say leave your colleague alone. If HR explains the working conditions as well as you say they do, then your colleague knows it full well, and is only working that hard because they want to. I don't see why you feel the need to snoop into their work habits or impose what you think a healthy work-life balance needs to be. Do what works for you and respect and tolerate the choices of others.

The only legitimate thing in your question is regarding him/her working during unauthorized hours. That you could potentially raise as a concern, and they need to know that they need to respect what is authorized and what is not.

I am personally a workaholic. The same 'well-intentioned' colleagues who have told me not to work so hard often end up resenting and trying to bully me me for that reason. I have had to put many in check who don't agree with my work ethic and think they are entitled to tell me how to live my life or how much I need to work. It may become a form of harassment on their part.

Check yourself, your 'concern' here is really none of your business. If you see something illegal happening in the office or if your coworker is bullying or harassing others then sure you need to intervene. But in this case, leave your coworker alone.

Answer 11

I think the best argument for your colleague is that long working hours increase excess risk of coronary heart disease by 40%. So the idea that a job can kill you is not just empty words. Also there are some articles where researchers found decreased brain activity for those working long hours. And this means that productivity drops too. At some point, your health problems will become too great for any amount of money to fix. You should find another job if your manager does not value the health of employees. You can always find a new job, but you will not find a substitute for your good health. So that should be always in our minds.

Even if your co-worker doesn't have many friends or many places where he could spent free time, still there are possibilities. He can watch movies or TV, go to parks for a walk, read books, making dinner, or even drinking beer. Any activity will be better than simply to continue performing job duties no matter what.

EDIT

Of course you should approach this problem somehow. But I think it's best to talk with your co-worker and not to manager, because this problem involves more personal things than company culture. Besides managers usually opts for a long working hours because they thinks it's useful for a company, albeit it does more harm to it in reality. So try to approach your colleague somehow.

How to do this ? If you want to be very tactical - when going home after a work at least ask your co-worker if he/she goes home too ? (If co-worker replies "NO" - you may ask "why not ?" or "what's so important you are trying to finish ?" ) This question seems not very important at first, but it is. It implies that your colleague must re-think current goals/tasks again and at least unconsciously he/she may start raising a question - Is staying late at work worth it ?

Answer 12

Having lived in Germany for much of my adult life, and then in China, I find this question extremely interesting.

One bit of scientific knowledge can be turned into an amazingly lucrative industry in the PRC. China has a family-oriented and strongly nationalistic society. Gaining technical know-how overseas can lead to incredible rewards at home.

Staying late at work is a very good way to gain insights. Focusing on work is normal in Chinese culture.