Tiger, Cat, or Dinosaur?

Our work ethic is crucial to the overall competitiveness and innovations of the company we work for. The IIMD (International Institute for Management Development, yeah I know, a big name!) delineates three levels of worker motivation.

• Tigers are entirely devoted to company life, working more than seventy hours a week
• Cats focus on work-life balance, working forty to sixty hours a week
• Dinosaurs thrive on life-life balance; they prefer to work less, under forty hours a week, and convert benefits into time off, sabbatical leaves and other non-monetary rewards

Asian countries generally fall into the Tiger category. Much of the Anglo-Saxon world falls into the Cat category; workers work hard — sometimes too hard — but they do have a life away from the workplace. A number of countries in Europe have become Dinosaurs. For example France and Italy are reducing their workweek from 39 to 35, with no cut in pay. Germany has the highest wage rates and longest vacation in the world.

Anyway, what category do you fall into, or would like to fall into :-)? Think about it.