Reply to European Expansion: Eye-Opening, Frustrating, and Possibly Not Worth It

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

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[quote=Anonymous]Yes, we have 3 European offices and all are vastly different than our various US offices. Sometimes I'm envious of them. Sometimes I let out a silent scream at how slowly they do things. It depends on the day.

Biggest thing I've noticed is that Europeans work to live. They don't care about titles, upward mobility, raises, promotions, etc. They have very good work/life balances and have zero problems telling you something will have to wait until tomorrow.

Americans live to work. We're clout and achievement chasers. If you don't think that's true, look at the signature field in some emails you receive from your US colleagues. You will probably see at least 5+ designations/certifications. Now compare those signature fields to European clients/vendors. You may see one or two designations/certifications. If something is due and I'm running behind, I work extra to make sure it is done on time. I can't imagine ever telling my boss "Sorry, I'm going to miss this deadline and will have to work on it more tomorrow. I'll let you know if it's completed then and submit." But that happens all the time with my European colleagues.

Also, I probably would use up all my generous vacation time if I was only a hop-skip-and-a-jump away from many of the countries they are. It's no big deal for most to pop over to another country for a long weekend but not economically practical for us to do that in the US. The colleague I'm closest with in our London office was shocked that the trip I have planned for my family of 5 to Europe this summer is coming in at around $10k right now. [/quote]

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