- Do you know that there are 134 countries
that have laws that cap the amount of hours
that you are able to work per week.
And you know, which country doesn't have these laws?
- This country is the only industrialized country
in the world that legally has no mandated paid time off.
Which country is it?
It's the United States.
Can we turn off the bells? They're loud.
Array, these are sad facts.
- But a lot of people are okay with this.
People love working hard in the U.S, but at what costs?
Like when did we all become workaholics!
- Okay. So here's some head-scratching facts.
The U.S is the only country in the Americas
without a national paid parental leave,
that's maternity or paternity.
There's actually an Act passed recently that allowed people
to take 12 weeks unpaid paternal leave.
But the Act only covered 60% of employees,
and it was unpaid.
And every other country has way better paternity
or maternity or any sort of parental leave.
- In Europe, the average paid paternal leave
is over 20 weeks, and that is maternal and paternal,
depending on the country.
That's like- - Congrats on your baby.
Mom or dad, you can enjoy an average of 4.6 months paid
so you can bond with your baby.
- Legally, we can ask you to come in the day
after you had your baby.
America.
- So if you look back at history, almost every thinker
said that in the future we would all rest more.
Even famous philosophers and economists
like John Maynard Keynes, what he predicted was with
the rise of technology we would all work 15 hour work weeks.
He thought we would all have more time for hobbies
and leisure and family time.
In the future, we will all rest.
- Yet, what happened?
The average American productivity increased by 400%
since 1950.
Yet, according to the International Labor's Organization,
American workers work 137 more hours than Japanese workers
per year, and 499 hours more per year than French work.
- We are not working 15 hours per week.
We're working more and more efficiently,
and we're not really getting rewarded for it.
- This is a problem that we are not talking about.
In Japan there's even a word for it, Karoshi,
which means death by overwork.
- Okay, what's wrong with overworking?
I'm fine, okay.
I said, I'm fine.
On a personal level, the people who are overworked
are more likely to have health problems.
They're more likely to get divorced.
They're more likely to have worse relationships.
- Research shows that working constantly actually
has no benefit to your career.
Studies have shown that people who take fewer vacation days
are less likely to get a raise or a bonus.
Hey, that's what he bleeds out take a seat.
- Yeah, hi boss.
So you've been working for many years
and you've never taken a vacation day?
Yes, exactly right.
Yeah, you need to get a life.
- Believe it or not our workaholic tendencies
aren't even good for companies.
Employees talk about toxic workplaces that they don't
wanna work at anymore, having vacation shaming.
That's right.
Vacation shaming is a very real reason why some employees
wanna leave the companies there're at.
- Not only does taking time away from your job,
lower your stress, lower your risk of heart disease
and give you more motivation.
But every study on productivity shows that productivity
actually increases when you take time away from your job.
- There's a lot of reasons why we're living like this.
For a lot of us work defines who we are, right?
Our identity is our job.
The American dream is directly tied to our capacity
to work hard and make it.
Also some people point to technology.
The fact that we are always connected,
it means that we can never leave the office.
The office follows us wherever we go,
'cause we can check emails anywhere.
- I was just talking about it with Esteban.
Why is there so much focus on energy drinks
and stronger coffee and stay up, stay up, stay up?
What are we staying up for?
This economy is very tough right now.
For a lot of millennials this isn't the second recession
of our working life, with student debt,
trying to keep our job, trying to find jobs.
It's really hard to not focus on working
in order to ensure a better future.
- Okay. So what do we do?
Remember that it's okay to ask for time off.
Remember that it's okay to go on vacation.
Recognize the system that we live in is flawed.
How do we shift culture?
How can we learn from other countries?
What happens if we don't let our jobs define us?
What happens if we identify ourselves by the people
that we are not the things that we do?
How do companies and bosses understand work-life balance?
How do we turn off notifications on our phones,
so we're not always plugged in?
Are you really gonna say, I wish I spent more time
at the office at the end of your life?
How do we redefine this flawed definition
of the American dream?
♪ It's the American dream ♪
♪ My work will set me free me free ♪
♪ Set me free ♪
♪ As far as I can see ♪
- Hm, yes.
♪ No paternity leave ♪
- Wait, no, that's bad, right.
♪ We have no problem in global society ♪
- Didn't we just say like you're up in Japan!
♪ No identity ♪
- What.
♪ Just work so hard 'cause we have equal opportunity ♪
- Array, you don't even believe this.
♪ In the five hour ♪
♪ Dream giver ♪
♪ Just drink it then you won't sleep ♪
♪ You never sleep ♪
♪ With the five hour ♪
- Can't beat him, join him. ♪ Dream giver ♪
♪ You will be stressed as you're trynna please ♪
♪ So stressed so stressed ♪
♪ The unattainable American dream ♪
♪ Pa la la ♪
♪ Ho la la ♪
♪ Pa la ♪
♪ Ho ho la la ♪
♪ Ho la la ♪
♪ Pa la ♪
♪ Ho ho la la ♪
♪ Ho la la ♪
♪ Pa la ♪
♪ Ho ho la la ♪