I've lived/worked in both the USA and France, and this guy's comments are so transparently uninformed. To simplify things greatly: In France, there is more time off, but people are more sérieux while at work. In France, time off is taken outside of work, while in the US, time off is taken at work -- at the coffee machine, on reddit, chatting about banal stuff with coworkers, complaining about stuff (that's usually related to working too much)...

On a different note, I've noticed numerous CEOs lately bringing up politics in reference to their work. The most common example is, "my company isn't doing as well as expected, and it's a certain politician's fault, not mine." Gotta love the personal responsibility, there.

Have you read his letter to the French Minister Arnaud Montebourg? (at the bottom of this article http://www.lesechos.fr/economie-politique/france/actu/020257...)

WSJ talks about "blistering critiques of French work habits". I just think he's pretty objective about the situation.

Meh. Old article and quotes like -

"Though productivity in France is higher than Germany's and close to that of the U.S. according to 2011 data "

"Can I remind you that Titan…is 20 times smaller than Michelin…and 35 times less profitable?"

Are a good comeback.

It just seems like a sore loser who wanted a cheap deal but didn't get it under his terms so he's crying. A sad story really.

When France is a laid back nation that values home life over work AND is poor and in crisis then these business leaders might have a point.

This is an example of the kind of dumb partisan journalism that the Journal has been doing more and more of. Who cares what some "U.S. CEO" subjectively thinks of "French Work Habits". That's a question the CEO is answering to a newspaper. And sure, it's going to be colored by the fact that the CEO is almost certainly an anti-labor Republican.

The question the same management is asking on behalf of its shareholders, however, is an entirely quantitative one: how much will it cost to open a factory in France? Obviously labor policy (not "work habits") is a factor there. But how much? The article doesn't say.

So what was the point of my reading this?

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