Research done by consultancy firm Mercer for The Economist has shown that out of their selected countries for research, Bulgarians take the most sick days per year.
Have a look at the graph on the right, you can click it for a larger version.
Coincidentally, I don’t just live in the country with the highest number of sick days, but have also lived in the country with the lowest number of sick days taken per year; Turkey. Whereas Bulgarians take an average of 22 sick days per employee per year, Turks take just 5. This might be due to very different work mentalities.
In Bulgaria there is a saying: “They pretend to be paying me and I pretend to be working.” As you probably know, Bulgaria is a rather poor nation (the poorest of the EU), but besides that I’ve also noticed something else in the work mentality of many people. I’ve heard a lot of expressions of powerlessness. People believe they can’t change things, things are just the way they are… This is logical, given the history of Bulgaria, which consists of 500 years of Ottoman occupation, about 40 years of freedom, followed by roughly 50 years of a communist system.
I’m not saying everyone in Bulgaria is like this, but having worked in Bulgaria, I completely understand the above mentality… The pay for most jobs is quite low and when you try to make a difference, it’s really tough to seriously get things done. The high number of sick days could also be explained in a different way also. Since Bulgaria is a country with a very tough climate and it’s also quite poor, maybe the national health level is not so high. Who knows (research firm Mercer doesn’t).
For Turkey it’s very different. When I started a job in a restaurant, they wanted me to spend all the time that I wasn’t in university in the restaurant. I was working from 10 in the morning until 10 in the night on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and was working from 3 in the afternoon until 10 at night on Wednesday and Thursday. I had class from 9 to 5 on Monday and Tuesday and from 9 until 2 on Wednesday and Thursday. Every day I started early in the morning and finished late at night. It was very exhausting. This is the work mentality in Turkey though. They’re not the most effective workers, but they work a lot and they work very hard generally – even when they’re sick.
It’s a rather dangerous thing comparing Turkey to Bulgaria, so let me add that I don’t think either of the work mentalities is better than the other. The Turkish work mentality is quite fanatical and insane, although worthy of admiration. People seem very stressed and they need a break (come on, let people take a day off when they’re sick). The Bulgarian work mentality is generally lazy and a bit powerless. Most people I know here would agree with me. Bulgarians need to be given the feeling that they can actually change something, can actually make a difference, can actually achieve something, plus they shouldn’t feel like their bosses are “pretending to be paying” them. The Bulgarians I know that feel like this, are achieving great things and inspire me constantly. An injection of motivation would be great for the work mentality and with recent protests of farmers and students, things are looking up, because who would take to the streets when they feel powerless?
Photo by kozzmen
Is your country listed? How do you think your country racks up? What’s the work mentality in your country? Does it match with your own work mentality?
BasBasBas.com is about my life abroad. I regularly write about my adventures in Istanbul, Bulgaria and travels in the region, but like to ponder about the future also. If you’d like to stay up to date, you can subscribe to my RSS feed or get email updates in your inbox. You can also follow me on Twitter.
Comments
5 responses to “Bulgarian employees sick a lot, Turkish not – Work mentalities compared”
Hmm. I find this completely unsurprising – because, unfortunately, anyone who’s been in Bulgaria for more than a day (or, arguably, an hour) can tell that the mass mentality is a bundle of negativity and reservation. And since study after study of cognitive and behavioral psychology show “attitude” (meaning mental disposition) can affect physical well-being, this is not at all a shocker.
That, and the typical Bulgarian stick-it-to-the-man urge, exercised in the workforce by faking as many “sick” days as staying employed would allow. Sad, but obviously empirically true.
Hi Bas,
Interesting observation, I have to add that in my experience if a Bulgarian is off sick they are really sick! There is a lot of Bulgarian workers that have poor health, well at least on this side of the country, which compounds the statistics,
Then there is the poor working conditions and envornments they work in which adds to the problem. I know people who have to work in the freezing cold factories and shops all day for peanuts for money, it is no wonder so many people go off sick.
I agree that the attitude to work is ‘mnogo leka’ to say the least.
You’re right about the working conditions…. that doesn’t explain the difference between Bulgaria and Turkey though, since working conditions there mostly just as tough as in BG. 😉
Fascinating chart – glad I follow the example myself. It probably also has to do with the fact that Turks don’t usually get sick leave in their first year of employment – and it’s almost unheard of not to go to work due to illness.
Great quote btw:
“They’re not the most effective workers, but they work a lot and they work very hard generally – even when they’re sick.”
That was a fantastic read, I learned quite a lot about that. Here in mexico everyone just pretends to be working all the time. If you ask for anything, the default answer is Manyana (tomorrow)