"work ethic" is a really fucked up term. The definitions of it are really vague and rely on judgement terms, like "moral".
I see many salaried workers in the USA who define it as working more than 40 hours a week, whether from the office or taking work home. I also suspect that there's many in Europe who subvert progressive labor laws by working unreported hours.
The fucked up part is many of these same people would never do this as independent contractors.
If I set a date as an independent contractor for a agreed upon amount of work, it needs to be done by that date or concessions must be made to the customer. If the customer adds work, then the date or the compensation needs to be renegotiated.
As a salaried software developer, I've never been involved in date agreements. I need to report if I think the date's invalid, and I can't be expected to meet the defined date. This communication post-agreement is bad business, but it is common IME.
