Going to work

In China, “going to work”, is just that: going to work to be at work. Whether or not this means doing anything while you’re there or not, the most important thing is that you’re there, at work. In the Western world, “going to work” is largely associated with being engaged in tasks at one’s workplace. Whether or not this means the tasks are meaningful or even helpful, the most important thing is that you’re busy doing something.

I finally understood this when I was discussing the differences between the Western-run internships and Chinese-run internships with Dean Jones from Yale, who came to visit/check up on us in Shanghai. The interns at Western companies have been busy round-the-clock at work, being put to tasks and always being given something to do (I recall one of my friends quoting her boss as saying, “give me a call if you’re being underutilized and I’ll give you something to do”). Their experience is more of a “program”, though the bulk of their work ends up being busy work and is unused in the company’s final product. At the Chinese-run companies (like MoCA), on the other hand, work is all about waiting for (or begging for) jobs until you’re given a task to complete. I have much more free time during the day (usually a few hours in the morning, a couple in the afternoon on a normal day), but the tasks I end up doing actually need to be done, and I’m often the only one who can do them (such as translating and meeting with people, etc.). So on the one hand, Western companies seem more productive because workers are constantly “working”, but on the other hand Chinese ones are more realistic in that they don’t understand the concept of “busy work” (though staying at work with nothing to do is often frustrating. I usually am constantly asking how I can help out so I won’t feel bad when I spend a couple hours reading a book or step out of the office early to go for a run).

This difference is extremely important to understand for any Westerner who plans on working with Chinese companies in the future. Understanding this subtle difference can save you from mounds of frustration (as it could have saved me a month or so ago).

And NOW YOU KNOW.