European Expansion: Eye-Opening, Frustrating, and Possibly Not Worth It - Underperforming employee culture

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes this is obvious if you’re worked with Europeans.

Liberal websites laud their social benefits and ample leave, but rarely talk about how salaries are is incredibly low or the lack of job opportunities.

It’s painfully obvious it’s only a good place to work if you want to achieve the bare minimum.

It’s difficult to achieve much if you don’t go to work.

Most American don’t make much or achieve much, only the connected Executive class make real money. Are you one of those or just a wannabe they have fooled into thinking it could be you too?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes this is obvious if you’re worked with Europeans.

Liberal websites laud their social benefits and ample leave, but rarely talk about how salaries are is incredibly low or the lack of job opportunities.

It’s painfully obvious it’s only a good place to work if you want to achieve the bare minimum.

It’s difficult to achieve much if you don’t go to work.

Most American don’t make much or achieve much, only the connected Executive class make real money. Are you one of those or just a wannabe they have fooled into thinking it could be you too?

Statistically this isn’t true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How many millions does your ceo get paid? I bet he can afford to give some up for maternity leave. I’m not at all proud that our ‘hustle’ culture means moms in the US return to work still bleeding from delivery and infant babies are warehoused in childcare centers. Get some perspective. Leading in what? First in making billionaires? That just makes us suckers.

NP. I agree that CEO pay is out of control. Business owners are one thing, but CEOs are hired by the company. They shouldn't be paid 100x what the lowest paid person on staff is.

But I thought 3m of maternity leave was reasonable. Most jobs really can't have people missing for longer than that without having to hire someone to replace them. I would have liked for job security instead of maternity leave. Let me take a year unpaid and then return to my same job. That would have been ideal for me.

Europe has a much more robust temp worker industry than the US for this reason. Companies WILL hire a temp to replace that person for a year or two while they are out on leave. Or, if the new mom only comes back for 50% of the time initially, the temp worker will cover the other 50%. "Job sharing" is incredibly common in Europe and makes for much better flexibility while still maintaining skillsets (relative to dropping out of the work force completely).

Say all you want about this flexibility, but it’s incredibly difficult to find a permanent job in many European countries for this reason. Not everyone wants temporary jobs.

Frankly, everyone’s job is temporary. A lot of people have recently found this out the hard way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Work isn’t the most important thing in life. If you don’t know that now, you’ll likely realize it on your deathbed.

+1.

European work culture has it right.

Not if you want to actually earn money.

Incorrect. My entire family is in Europe and they make really good money. My H works for an international company and the European are getting paid very well. Americans are buried in debt, the net worth here is actually pretty low.

Exactly. Most Americans have been sold this BS that you have to hustle non-stop in order to make money because that's the only thing that matters in life. Europeans in general have a much better sense of balance and their lives on average are much better than those living in 4000 sq ft houses in the US

If you say so. I personally don’t want to work 5 fewer hours a week so I can cram my entire family into a tiny house. Make fun of large American homes all you want, but they are way more comfortable, and pretty much every European would buy a larger home if they could afford it.

But ask them if they'd give up their work life balance for that bigger paycheck and house, and most would say no. Look at the happiest countries in the world. US doesn't even break the T20. Countries with generous leave make the Top20.

I doubt this is recent. What year is it, PP?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Work isn’t the most important thing in life. If you don’t know that now, you’ll likely realize it on your deathbed.

+1.

European work culture has it right.

Not if you want to actually earn money.

Incorrect. My entire family is in Europe and they make really good money. My H works for an international company and the European are getting paid very well. Americans are buried in debt, the net worth here is actually pretty low.

Exactly. Most Americans have been sold this BS that you have to hustle non-stop in order to make money because that's the only thing that matters in life. Europeans in general have a much better sense of balance and their lives on average are much better than those living in 4000 sq ft houses in the US

If you say so. I personally don’t want to work 5 fewer hours a week so I can cram my entire family into a tiny house. Make fun of large American homes all you want, but they are way more comfortable, and pretty much every European would buy a larger home if they could afford it.

But ask them if they'd give up their work life balance for that bigger paycheck and house, and most would say no. Look at the happiest countries in the world. US doesn't even break the T20. Countries with generous leave make the Top20.

I doubt this is recent. What year is it, PP?

The US would rank much lower now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes this is obvious if you’re worked with Europeans.

Liberal websites laud their social benefits and ample leave, but rarely talk about how salaries are is incredibly low or the lack of job opportunities.

It’s painfully obvious it’s only a good place to work if you want to achieve the bare minimum.

It’s difficult to achieve much if you don’t go to work.

Most American don’t make much or achieve much, only the connected Executive class make real money. Are you one of those or just a wannabe they have fooled into thinking it could be you too?

Statistically this isn’t true.

Median Purchasing Power Parity:

the median equivalised disposable income in 2021 (USD PPP) showed:
* Luxembourg: $49,748
* United States: $48,625
* Germany: $35,537
* United Kingdom: $26,884
* France: $30,622

What statistics were you looking at?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I worked for a tech company that sounds similar and I was in charge of benefits packages. We paid a top consulting firm to help us with our European benefits to ensure they were top notch. We negotiated a very generous package with input with our office's top exec, and held a meeting with the employees to review the package. The local broker was screamed at (in the local language) by my colleagues. It was terribly embarrassing and turned me off from that country altogther. When I told my ILs (my husband is from the same country), they were laughing and like yep, they will push for everything and are deeply unhappy even if they get it.

Hmm…France?

Oui! I laugh about it now, but was frantically texting my husband from the next room asking him to walk in and tell me WTF was going on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How many millions does your ceo get paid? I bet he can afford to give some up for maternity leave. I’m not at all proud that our ‘hustle’ culture means moms in the US return to work still bleeding from delivery and infant babies are warehoused in childcare centers. Get some perspective. Leading in what? First in making billionaires? That just makes us suckers.

NP. I agree that CEO pay is out of control. Business owners are one thing, but CEOs are hired by the company. They shouldn't be paid 100x what the lowest paid person on staff is.

But I thought 3m of maternity leave was reasonable. Most jobs really can't have people missing for longer than that without having to hire someone to replace them. I would have liked for job security instead of maternity leave. Let me take a year unpaid and then return to my same job. That would have been ideal for me.

Europe has a much more robust temp worker industry than the US for this reason. Companies WILL hire a temp to replace that person for a year or two while they are out on leave. Or, if the new mom only comes back for 50% of the time initially, the temp worker will cover the other 50%. "Job sharing" is incredibly common in Europe and makes for much better flexibility while still maintaining skillsets (relative to dropping out of the work force completely).

Say all you want about this flexibility, but it’s incredibly difficult to find a permanent job in many European countries for this reason. Not everyone wants temporary jobs.

We don't have "permanent" jobs in the U.S. - we are largely at-will. A temp contract employee in the EU still has a lot more rights than the typical U.S. worker.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes this is obvious if you’re worked with Europeans.

Liberal websites laud their social benefits and ample leave, but rarely talk about how salaries are is incredibly low or the lack of job opportunities.

It’s painfully obvious it’s only a good place to work if you want to achieve the bare minimum.

It’s difficult to achieve much if you don’t go to work.

Most American don’t make much or achieve much, only the connected Executive class make real money. Are you one of those or just a wannabe they have fooled into thinking it could be you too?

Statistically this isn’t true.

Median Purchasing Power Parity:

the median equivalised disposable income in 2021 (USD PPP) showed:
* Luxembourg: $49,748
* United States: $48,625
* Germany: $35,537
* United Kingdom: $26,884
* France: $30,622

What statistics were you looking at?

I was looking at this:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disposable_household_and_per_capita_income

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How many millions does your ceo get paid? I bet he can afford to give some up for maternity leave. I’m not at all proud that our ‘hustle’ culture means moms in the US return to work still bleeding from delivery and infant babies are warehoused in childcare centers. Get some perspective. Leading in what? First in making billionaires? That just makes us suckers.

NP. I agree that CEO pay is out of control. Business owners are one thing, but CEOs are hired by the company. They shouldn't be paid 100x what the lowest paid person on staff is.

But I thought 3m of maternity leave was reasonable. Most jobs really can't have people missing for longer than that without having to hire someone to replace them. I would have liked for job security instead of maternity leave. Let me take a year unpaid and then return to my same job. That would have been ideal for me.

Europe has a much more robust temp worker industry than the US for this reason. Companies WILL hire a temp to replace that person for a year or two while they are out on leave. Or, if the new mom only comes back for 50% of the time initially, the temp worker will cover the other 50%. "Job sharing" is incredibly common in Europe and makes for much better flexibility while still maintaining skillsets (relative to dropping out of the work force completely).

Say all you want about this flexibility, but it’s incredibly difficult to find a permanent job in many European countries for this reason. Not everyone wants temporary jobs.

We don't have "permanent" jobs in the U.S. - we are largely at-will. A temp contract employee in the EU still has a lot more rights than the typical U.S. worker.

Many of us would disagree with you. The temp workers are mainly to avoid onerous European labor laws.

Strict labor laws can be a great thing, but they also limit the willingness of employers to hire, stifle growth and make for a less dynamic labor market. The effects are real and very easy to notice if you do any business in Europe.

[Anonymous]

I suspect the European style benefits aren't worth the tradeoff in salary and larger houses if you're a top earner in the US...but if you're closer to average, or even a moderate amount above average, they would be. Most people are not in the top 5% of their fields or income.

[Anonymous]

This is how I feel interviewing them

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is how I feel interviewing them

and you sound just as ridiculous as Kim

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Work isn’t the most important thing in life. If you don’t know that now, you’ll likely realize it on your deathbed.

+1.

European work culture has it right.

Not if you want to actually earn money.

Incorrect. My entire family is in Europe and they make really good money. My H works for an international company and the European are getting paid very well. Americans are buried in debt, the net worth here is actually pretty low.

Exactly. Most Americans have been sold this BS that you have to hustle non-stop in order to make money because that's the only thing that matters in life. Europeans in general have a much better sense of balance and their lives on average are much better than those living in 4000 sq ft houses in the US

If you say so. I personally don’t want to work 5 fewer hours a week so I can cram my entire family into a tiny house. Make fun of large American homes all you want, but they are way more comfortable, and pretty much every European would buy a larger home if they could afford it.

But ask them if they'd give up their work life balance for that bigger paycheck and house, and most would say no. Look at the happiest countries in the world. US doesn't even break the T20. Countries with generous leave make the Top20.

I doubt this is recent. What year is it, PP?

2025

https://www.happierlivesinstitute.org/2025/03/20/the-top-25-happiest-countries-in-2025-plus-our-four-favourite-findings-from-the-2025-world-happiness-report/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Work isn’t the most important thing in life. If you don’t know that now, you’ll likely realize it on your deathbed.

+1.

European work culture has it right.

Not if you want to actually earn money.

Actually, if you want to earn money by exploiting others, Europe has is it exactly right. See the earlier post about how European companies buy American companies and make Americans work much harder than Europeans, because they know Americans expect to be worked like that.