Working in Europe VS Working in The USA – What No Ones Talk About

Working in Europe VS Working in The USA – What No Ones Talk About

[Music] Hey there fellow travelers or should I say fellow worker abroaders. Mark here with Walter’s World and today I want to talk about are some of the differences that Americans notice when they come to work in Europe because a lot of people their dream is I’m going to move to Europe. I’m going to work there and everything’s going to be great and it can be. I’ve actually lived in Europe for like 12 years, 13 years and worked in a lot of different places. I worked in Lithuania, I worked in Portugal, I worked in Austria, I’ve gone all over, worked with the locals, been part of the team, had to pay the taxes and all those things. And I kind of want to go through some of the differences that American workers really kind of notice when they come to work in Europe. And sometimes you’ll see the jokes that, oh, they get all the vacation time. Haha. Yeah, that’s true. But there’s also some more serious things as well. Okay. And I want to start with the one that people talk about the most. You have so much more time off when you work in Europe than when you work in the US. And I’m not just talking the vacation time they give you. I’m talking about just normal holidays they give you off, which is really nice because you can have a much better work life balance when you’re in Europe than in the US. Okay? Because you just have more time to be you. You have more time to be with your family. You have no more time to exist on your own without just having work be everything. And that’s one of those nice things to it. So, I think that’s probably the biggest thing that people notice is just that amount of free time you do have because another thing that Americans notice when they come to Europe is work stops when work stops. If work is 9 to5, you work 9 to5. You could be mid-sentence. It’s 5:00. We’re out. And no one holds it against you. There’s no like, oh, we need to stay in for the team. Oh, we’re pulling an all nighter tonight. We need you to work an extra 10 hours this weekend. No, that stuff doesn’t happen here. Like, I mean, it can happen, but it doesn’t really happen. It’s much more, oh, work’s over. We didn’t get it done. We got done. moving on till Monday. I got stuff to do this weekend. Bye. And that’s it. There’s the boundaries that are here. Like work is not everything. You you don’t get defined by it, which is really kind of cool. So, you’re not staying late. You’re not working the weekends. You’re only there when the hours you’re supposed to work, which is really nice. And I will say another thing you notice is work is a bit slower because you don’t have that going overtime, doing all this stuff. Things do take more time. And that’s where a lot of Americans sometimes get frustrated with their European colleagues cuz like, oh, can we just knock this project out and move on? Why are you taking so long? Why? You have a lunch break. Uh, you have a coffee break. Uh, can we just can we just move through? And so they get that fr US get that frustrated with kind of the slow work kind of stuff or at least I would say the not hurry up and rush kind of thing. It’s like, hey, we’re going to get it done when we get it done. Don’t worry about it. And that’s the thing is people they’re not worrying about it. It’s not like work is everything. And I think that’s a big thing to mention is you are not defined by your work in Europe. In the US it’s like I live to work and here in Europe it’s more like I work to pay for the fantastic food. I mean it’s just part of life but like that’s not my life. Like I honestly can say like when I did my PhD and masters and stuff and I did it in Europe. When I look back on it I don’t think of it like I did my PhD in Portugal. It was oh I lived in Lisbon. Like it was a life and you had that separation and you’re not defined by it. And that’s one of those things that’s really nice is that you can be you. Like that’s one of the things I really loved about working here. But one of the things that you’ll notice that you might not like uh when you do work in Europe is uh you’re not really truly friends with your co-workers. Now you can be friendly with your co-workers and you’ll probably more likely to go get drinks on a Friday after work with people, but making that close friendship bond, it’s not as much there here in Europe because a lot of people they live and work in the city they grew up in. So they have friends since they were little kids. they’re still friends with their buddy from kindergarten, first grade when they’re 50 years old, 60 years old, you know, 30 years old, 20 years old, whatever. And therefore, you as a foreigner coming in, it’s hard to get into a friendship circle cuz they already have their friends. And that’s why sometimes expats end up leaving destinations that are super cool cuz they’re lonely. You live in a city with millions of people and you don’t have friends. And it is really tough. That’s why I’m saying sometimes it’s easier if you’re going to be an expat in a place to be an expat in a Paris, a London, a Milan, a Berlin where a lot of people have come and moved to, but not just international expats coming there, but also people from all over Italy move to Milan. People from all over Germany move to Berlin. So, they’re looking for friends as well. So, it’s a little bit easier to make friends. But, that is one of those things is you might have it that you’re not really super friends with your with your uh colleagues. And some of them you’ll still call hail vultas after you’ve been working with them for 30 years. You’re still hail on a first name sometimes. So do be aware of that. Now it’s not always the case. You can make friends, but I think it is one of those things that’s important to mention because finding that good friend base when you first move abroad is really important so you have that social connection. Now another thing that um I will definitely tell you is true is if you come and work in Europe, you do not make anywhere near the same amount of money as you do in the US. Like that’s why a lot of Europeans like going to the US cuz they make a lot of money. They can get more stuff. And so you do have that. And so when you think about it, maybe that’s something when you think about your retirement, you’re thinking about, hey, what am I going to do in the future? You have to think about those things. That’s why when I have students like, oh Mark, I want to go work in Europe. Like, all right, well, do you have college loans? Because you still got to pay them off and you might make as much money to pay it off as fast as you do in the US. But then they’re like, yeah, but in Europe we don’t pay for our education, so it’s doesn’t matter. Like, yeah, that’s why there’s a little bit of difference. But the pay gap is a real thing. Like between the US and the EU, I mean, I I won’t lie to you. Like some places you do get paid better. Switzerland, Germany, um you know, England, you get paid really well. Like those are like, okay, comparable, you know, you’re doing okay, but go work in Portugal. Go work in Eastern Europe. Like the money is, you know, literally like a fraction of what you make in the US. So that’s one thing I think is important to mention. However, you do get more with your money when you live in Europe, when you work in Europe, because you do have more benefits. Maybe you get paid a 13th month out of the year or fun sometimes a 14th month out of the year. So those there maybe you get credits for child care or you get credits for you know transportation allowances. So there’s a little bit more like freebies in Europe that they give with you versus just oh look a pizza party thanks boss that you get in the US and kind of looking at things in general. I know when I worked in Europe I made less money than I did when I worked in the US but I will say life in Europe is cheaper. I mean, living, existing, loving life is just cheaper in Europe than it is in the US. I mean, that’s why I tell people all the time, if you’re going to go on vacation, if you once you get to Europe, it is cheaper to enjoy Europe than it is to enjoy, you know, the US. I mean, I’m here in Torino, which is a relatively expensive city in Italy. And it’s still cheaper than going to Orlando for me. Accommodation, going out to eat, it’s better than than there, right? And so, you think about that. It’s like, yeah, I don’t make as much, but I don’t need as much money as well because you are more in the city and more things are going on, right? And that’s why it’s important to mention your transportation to work is a lot different. It’s not a car-based society in Europe. You are switching to public transportation. Now, if you worked in the big city in the US, probably you might already use the L in Chicago or the the you know, the trains, you know, in in New York, but public transportation isn’t a thing in the US. And when you come to Europe, it becomes integrated into your thing. you learning when I need to take the bus, when does that metro go by? I remember when I lived in Berlin. I know exactly where my esbons were going and I’m like, I got to get up that escalator. Like, it’s definitely different than, oh, I got to sit in the traffic jam to get to work. Now, don’t get me wrong, you can get a car. And believe me, you drive in Europe, you’re going to be in a traffic jam every day cuz there’s not a lot of space. But also, just the getting to work is a different experience. And you’ll notice there’s a reason why in the US, our cars have nice cup holders and really good stereo systems because we sit in our cars all the time. We’re drinking on our way. Whereas here in Europe, it’s a shorter commute, but also with the crazy drivers and so many more packed things, you don’t have time to change the channel. You only have time to focus on what you’re driving. Now, another money thing you’ll notice is a bit different is uh taxes. Yeah, you’re you’re going to pay a lot more taxes when you are here in Europe than you are in the US in general. I’m just going to say that if you’re making decent money, a lot more comes out, especially if you’re going like to Sweden or, you know, Norway, Finland, like taxes do get a bit higher. So that’s one of those things you’ll notice it in your check that a lot more is missing when you’re working in Europe, but you do get more stuff with it. So that’s one of those things like I do have relatively cheap healthcare or free public healthare. Yeah, maybe NHS isn’t the greatest, but it’s included with living here. So huh, I guess that’s okay. But I will say like for the things you’re not going to like, the biggest one that Americans like have a tough time adjusting to is European bureaucracy. Like I know we’ve got the DMV in the US. That’s our one example of like annoying bureaucracy, but oh my gosh. Try to get internet at your house. Try if you’re in France, try to schedule a pickup of that Amazon package with a delivery driver. It’s insane, right? The levels of bureaucracy, the level of things you have to go through, the hoops you jump through, the forms you sign, the stamps you need. Oh, you know, and a lot of it’s these catch 22s like oh hey I need to get an apartment but in order to get in but in order to get an apartment I need a bank account but in order to get a bank account I need an apartment where I have an address. The bureaucracies here are such next level that for Americans they get very frustrated with it. Now another thing I think is important to mention about your workplace actually here in Europe is don’t expect everyone to fall in line with the boss. Like the boss isn’t necessarily God. Now, some parts of Europe, the boss is kind of like a godlike figure, but in general, you have a lot more discussion, a lot more consensus at work than in the US where it’s kind of like, well, the boss says this, so why are we even debating it? Here, you do have that open debate. And for some Americans, they’re like, oh my gosh, he’s talking back to the boss. What are you doing? You’re going to get fired. No, you have much more discussion that’s here. And I think one of the reason why you have that is another difference is you don’t worry about getting fired in Europe like you do in the US. Like I think I do a great job where I teach and I but every year I’m still worried that I’m not going to get asked to come back the next year. I mean it’s very much a worrisome thing. Like you have the at will work environment at the US that you never know, right? Whereas in Europe you have a lot more protections like you’re not worried that you’re going to get fired cuz your boss had a bad day because your union is there for you or there’s protections by law that if you do get fired they have to pay you for a year or two or something like that. Like those kind of things make a difference. mothers, they’re not worried about having kids because they have protection for maternity leave and they get paid maternity leave, paid paternity leave. I mean, those kind of things make a difference. So, you do feel more comfortable like you can share your true feelings about a project that hey, what do we need to do? And so, you have a different mentality. And also, I think another difference is the mentality of the workforce. It’s not as much like grind and the hustle and I need my side hustle kind of stuff like you have in the US. It’s much more of that laid-back attitude, that lazair attitude when it comes to work. And then I want to mention one thing that I did notice when I worked in Europe is um you’re not going to have as much diversity in your workforce here in Europe as you do in the US. Uh just because Europe in general, like you’re in Italy, it’s full of Italians. There’s a lot more Italians, a lot less diversity in the workers than you have in the US where it’s a melting pot of places. Now, if you go to like bigger cities, yeah, if you’re in Milan or Paris or London, you’re going to have more of that lot. Like the UK is much more diversity. France has much more diversity. But that’s one of those things when you work, you’ll notice that there’s not a lot of diversity sometimes in your workplace when you’re here in Europe. So, if you’ve been an expat working in Europe, tell us where have you worked? What was your experience? And what were some of the differences that you had? And don’t worry, I’m going to do a video on this about what Europeans find strange about working in the US. Like, boss, why do I have to be here 2 hours early and stay 2 hours late? Yeah, we’re going to talk about that as well. Anyway, I wish you all the best. I’ll say bye from here in Torino. And also, I loved working abroad. I mean literally it was like 10 15 years. Okay. So I would definitely do it again cuz I loved working in Europe and I wish you all the best of or choose or avid or ciao or whatever whichever buy you want in Europe. Go ahead and say it. Bye. It’s been a long day.

Having lived and worked in Europe for over a decade in multiple countries as well as the United States I saw quite a few differences between working in the US and working in Europe. Here we put together some of the biggest differences that people should know before they decide to work in Europe or the US. It is not always as wonderful as it seems, or is it?
Filmed in Torino, Italy

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