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).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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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.

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.

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.

I grew up in Europe in one of those tiny houses you can't fathom living in. Never felt crammed or uncomfortable. Many, many Europeans CAN afford something different but they simply value different things. It's so typical for Americans to go over there to try to do business and be so annoyed they don't want to do it your way.

Look around you, true DCUMers - plenty of us living in 1400 sq foot condos and 1930s brick boxes as a trade-off for quality of life with short commutes, walkability, and lower taxes.

Anonymous wrote:They have higher taxes / lower salaries. Simply not worth working as hard when you keep less.

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.

I grew up in Europe in one of those tiny houses you can't fathom living in. Never felt crammed or uncomfortable. Many, many Europeans CAN afford something different but they simply value different things. It's so typical for Americans to go over there to try to do business and be so annoyed they don't want to do it your way.

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.

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.

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.

I don’t know whether their system is better but salaries could be much lower if govt provides health insurance, pension, subsidized public transportation, and food /hosuing is generally cheaper.

+1 Europeans don't worry as much as we do about healthcare and college costs. We need higher salaries here because of the insane cost of living.

My spouse is British, and they and their Brit friends did a col comparison. These people are all professionals. They determined that the col here is higher than there. They were actually floored by our col.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Working with our Europe branch has been quite an intense endeavor. As part of a large tech company expanding aggressively across the region, I’ve been leading hiring efforts for multiple new office locations — and I’ve hit a wall of cultural and structural friction.

Simply put: they don’t want to work long hours. They don’t want to commit. And they have a lot of demands — mandatory holidays, strict work-hour rules, protected leave policies, the list goes on.

Yes, salaries may be half the cost of U.S.-based employees, but in many cases, it feels like you’re getting half the output. And no, that’s not an exaggeration.

Here are some of the realities we’ve faced:

One employee took a full year of maternity leave, then extended it into a second year for a new baby — with no firm return date.
A male employee took one year of paternity leave, returned just in time for “mandatory” summer PTO — a month off, like clockwork.
In Spain, we’re required to offer additional vacation banks separate from standard PTO, and summer laws restrict work to no more than 5 hours a day.
New hires often start with 20+ hours of vacation built in. Day one.

The structure seems designed to protect mediocrity — not reward performance.

Ironically, our best hires in Europe have been Americans who’ve relocated, or folks from post-Soviet countries who still bring hunger, accountability, and a willingness to go above and beyond.

I get that Europe values work-life balance. But when that balance tilts so far toward comfort that productivity suffers, it raises a real question: Is it worth it?

If you’re trying to run a business, grow fast, or compete globally, these restrictions are more than just frustrating — they’re counterproductive.

No wonder the U.S. keeps leading. Say what you will about hustle culture — it gets things done.

Imagine this is frustrating for you to work with given your handling the day-to-day operations. However, it sounds like your company just did not do its due diligence in developing plans for its European expansion. I used to see this a lot when I worked with American companies buying or expanding operations in Europe. They would see the market potential and crunch the numbers and fail to understand the complexities, often making a lot of assumptions. Most did not understand the differences between the countries in any substantive way and many did not understand much about what being an EU member actually entailed. I think a lot assumed that it would be enough to adopt a positive ‘can do’ approach, hire a bunch of lawyers (because that’s what you do in the US), and exhibit some humility around being willing to learn. Eventually they would all become very frustrated by how long it took to get things done and resolve difficult issues particularly relating to labour. They would throw up their hands and admit they hadn’t realised what they were getting into.

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.

I don’t know whether their system is better but salaries could be much lower if govt provides health insurance, pension, subsidized public transportation, and food /hosuing is generally cheaper.

Except obviously they have to pay much higher taxes to fund all of this. They pay either way.

They pay more. The average European has much less disposable income and household wealth, which is a great way to determine if the social benefits make up for the lower salaries. The answer is they don’t.

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.

I don’t know whether their system is better but salaries could be much lower if govt provides health insurance, pension, subsidized public transportation, and food /hosuing is generally cheaper.

Except obviously they have to pay much higher taxes to fund all of this. They pay either way.