> Pension? Parental leave? Medical costs? All of the above are codified in law. Whenever a (large) company has their own internal programs (for higher pension

> Pension? Parental leave? Medical costs? All of the above are codified in law. Whenever a (large) company has their own internal programs (for higher pension, additional coverage) the values are proportional to your income. This "makes sense" given the separation of concerns: one dept appraises your performance and indicates salary adjustments. Another dept is responsible for providing additional benefits/perks to all employees (based on their salaries). Each dept gets to focus on their core competence. > What about time off? Much more flexibility (in terms of work schedule, work load, commitment) is afforded to those above than those whose work is depended on. Whenever managers travel around the world for worldwide management conferences in e.g. Thailand they can spend their vacation days there (i.e. the company is flexible with the bookings). This "makes sense" because it is far easier to be flexible towards those whose work is on the move and abstract, as opposed to work done exclusively in a fixed location (eg factory worker). Knowledge workers are in a weird spot (because their work is super abstract but done from a cubicle/home) but have been lumped into the latter category because "they aren't managers". > I work in a European company Me too. I have (physically) worked in DE, PL, PT. And have worked for even more countries -- and I stand by my generalization. The exception to the rule will be small companies, but organizational culture in those will always be different due to the lack of size. Moreover, the bigger the company the more extreme that equivalence is. Now onto specifics that I have observed over my 20+ years: > Way of life Oh yes, I love being micro-managed by a manager with PhD with 2 years of "work" experience. > weekends are usually off limits Except when managers make commitments without bothering to check what the actual effort is (because it was in their personal interest to say yes to things), ultimately putting you into a lovely position. Say no and be punished during your appraisal, say yes and work weekends. > you don't have to own a car and waste hours in traffic depending on where you live Managers received that perk long before knowledge workers did.