I remember thinking about this years ago. My thoughts try to explain ‘work’ in a non-judgmental way, reducing the so-called moral arguments to a minimum. As I see it there are 2 ways to contribute and get paid for work: By the hour, or by the piece.
The hourly people consider ‘hours worked’ as their contribution, so the notion of leaving early is wrong in their minds. Also, there is no need to define ‘success’ because success to them is putting in your time, regardless of what you
accomplish. Thank God for them, they are why we can count on a bank or grocery store being open when we expect it to be, or a plane, or a train, being on-time.
The piece work people contribute by achieving some predefined goal. If it takes 1 hour fine, but if it takes 20 hours, so be it. Without a defined goal, they would have no way of knowing when to go home.
Instead of liberal & conservative; democrat or republican; terms which tend to get everybody’s emotions all stirred up – Hourly workers and Piece-work workers can talk more rationally. To me it’s like the MBTI types*, no one is any ‘better’ than any other one. But for each Individual, whether by DNA or experiences, one definitely ‘fits’ better. Perhaps Mother Teresa said it best:
No matter who says what, you should accept it with a smile
and do your own work.
– Mother Teresa (1910-1997) Albanian Missionary
* Myers-Briggs Type Indicator