I had heard all about it, but wasn't quite prepared for what it would appear like: during the months of July and August, a vast majority of Europeans head on multi-week vacations, leaving their workplaces as empty as a cube farm in Omaha during a Huskers game. Needless to say, productivity has dropped to an all-time low. Emails sit unreturned, Out of Office notifications come streaming in like spam, and the 5:30 tram home is as empty as a bus tour of Beirut.
An artcile from the WSJ online from 2004 blames low European productivity (overall, not just during the summer) on weak management. "Managing for mediocrity," a study published by Proudfoot Consulting, observed workers in nine countries for more than 10,000 hours and found that bosses are behind low productivity, a notion that debunks the conventional wisdom. 'The blame can be placed squarely at the feet of management, which is accused of insufficient management planning and control and of providing inadequate supervision,' says a statement accompanying the study." Blog entry with excerpts is here. This view of weak European management is one that's also held by buyout firms in the US who, for the past few years since the dot-com bust, have been snatching up poorly-managed European tech companies, replacing the management with multinationals or Americans, and selling it for a hefty profit.
Couple the incredible workload with the soaring heat and you can imagine what kind of ennui it might create. As I'm writing this, I'm sitting in an outdoor cafe feeling the sweat condense between my bum and the cheap plastic outdoor chair as the outdoor air temperature hovers somewhere around 80 degrees - and it's 10PM. Interesting enough, the cafe is called "Central Perk" and its early dispute with Hollywood has become the stuff of legend. It has good dinner specials and free WiFi (in case you're wondering why I might sellout).
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