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I got a remote job for a EU company, I'd find it hard to go back to a US-based
- bloqs 1y agowonder what the pay difference is
- HenryBemis 1y agoWait till someone gets a serious disease (as it happens in many families) and lose their home, car, and their shirt because US healthcare is ....(crickets). Also, imagine a woman having a baby and going back to work on Monday, and having to pay a full salary for care.. insane right?? Who needs babies. But sure, salary difference..
- lmz 1y agoThey're working remote from the US so not sure how your first point is relevant.
- HenryBemis 1y ago[flagged]
- elmerfud 1y agoI'm not saying that all US companies offer decent healthcare options, but that's often because employees don't value that as a negotiation point. I did, and my son was in a horrible car crash and died after many days in ICU and many surgeries. My out of pocket cost was a few thousand to hit the max. Because I cared about healthcare coverage instead of a slightly higher salary. People often forget that freedom of choice in the marketplace is freedom to allow some people to make dumb choices or bad choices. Often times when I hear people complaining about the lack of health care in the US It's because they prioritize short-term gains over budgeting for health care. They're gambling with their health, most people win but some people lose and they lose hard. They're hindsight isn't that they teach people that they should get health care and prioritize that in their budget. Rather they talk about socializing the costs because their irresponsibility somehow a burden to every other responsible person in society.
- amanaplanacanal 1y agoThis is a pretty privileged take. There are a lot of people who are never going to find a job with an expensive employer provided health plan.
- alex43578 1y agoSo doesn't that then leave Medicare/Medicaid/ACA Exchange plans with their significant subsidies? To anchor the ACA discussion, a calculator is showing someone making $26K at McDonald's would be paying $23 a month in premiums after subsidies (about 1% of their household income). They'll have copays, sure, but there is an OOP max; and while $23 a month isn't nothing at that income level, it's an important part of the budget IMO.
- elmerfud 1y agoYes, this is very true. I do think part of the problem is people aren't taught about this and adding it in to their budget. It's not nothing, but even for low wage earners it's the cost of a few energy drinks or maybe forgoing the newest iPhone/Samsung.
- tzs 1y agoThe "One Big Beautiful Bill" (OBBB) is changing some of that. It will be $23 a month after their application of the tax credits is approved. Currently you get the credits immediately and if it turns out they are too high or too low that is taken care of next year when you do your taxes. With the change in the OBBB you will have to pay the full amount while the application for tax credits is being verified. Also currently if you are happy with your current plan you don't have to do anything to reenroll for the next year. The marketplace can automatically enroll you in the same plan next year (or an equivalent one if your insurance company has changed their offerings). The marketplace can automatically get your tax information and handle getting you set up for the tax credits for the next year. The OBBB is changing that so that every year you have to reapply for the tax credit, and so potentially each year you might have to pay the full amount while that is being verified. The net result of the OBBB will be about 1/3 of the people currently on ACA not being able to remain on it [1]. [1] https://www.aha.org/fact-sheets/2025-06-05-fact-sheet-one-big-beautiful-bill-act-would-significantly-reduce-availability-coverage-health-insurance https://www.aha.org/fact-sheets/2025-06-05-fact-sheet-one-bi...
- sokoloff 1y agoShe works in people ops, where I’d expect the US pay premium to be low or non-existent, at least as compared to tech.
- poisonborz 1y agoThe whole point is that this doesn't matter, it's a much less important factor than US employees would assume.
- jeroenhd 1y agoMichigan's average salary is a it below Austria's average salary. Not having American costs covered (healthcare etc) may change the salary impact a little. It's hard to tell without knowing what she does exactly, but as a white collar worker for a tech company she'll probably be earning similar to other white collar workers in Michigan. You won't be able to enjoy the same comfort working for a Bulgarian company in Silicon Valley, but this seems like a rather balanced pick.
- ghusto 1y agoWhen you find out, don't forget to factor in everything else she gets. The things your higher salary gets you can be had _right this instant_ if you took a different job with a (potentially) lower salary. Money doesn't make you feel good, the things money can _get_ you makes you feel good, and they are often free!
- onel 1y agoNot everything in life is about money
- supriyo-biswas 1y agoI'm not disputing the title per se as I have not worked for EU companies. Having said that, news articles of this sort usually interview a few people and then has the journalist draw a conclusion by way of storytelling. However, this article seems like an ad for a single company, where they post a direct link to their careers section and even heap praise on the interview experience, which is unusual unless the person is specifically talking about their career to another prospective employer or to an otherwise "professional" audience.
- ericmay 1y agoThat’s because it is an advertisement.
- buran77 1y agoThe points are generally applicable to any decent employer in the EU and most non-EU European countries, white collar work in particular. This is the norm not because companies are so much nicer. Most of this is codified in law. Some countries have better conditions than others. Minimum vacation period, paid overtime, the healthcare system, the public pension system, job security (protections from dismissal), employee representatives or union, etc. Your mileage may vary if you work remotely. The obvious drawback is the difference in pay. European salaries are lower for the same job. Probably still lower even relative to real hours worked. There's a less tangible and harder to quantify benefit of not having to deal with the same kind of job related stress a US worker has to deal with. The boost in quality of life that can't be gleaned from the size of your house or number of cars you own. So it's hard to factor that in when making a data driven comparison.
- always_imposter 1y ago[dead]
- paulcole 1y agoI love it when HR commenters discover PR.
- r0ckarong 1y ago"I didn't feel appreciated when I got sold back into slavery."
- constantcrying 1y agoWhen will Americans realize that the EU is not a monolithic bloc? She worked for an Austrian company and benefited from Austrian laws and work culture.
- messe 1y agoI would challenge you to find a country in the EU that has worse worker protections than the US, whether through statute or culture (for example norms about unionization). I live in Denmark at the moment, and if my company wanted to lay me off without cause, they would have to give me three months notice. I have 6 weeks of vacation (with the option to take more unpaid; this 6 weeks is not including public holidays), private health insurance on top of the public health system through my company, pension both public and private, have no practical restrictions on sick leave, and work 37.5 hours a week (much of which can be done remotely). I have not once been asked to, or needed to work overtime, or be on-call unpaid. When I return home from work, unless I have planned to put a few remote hours in (to reduce my time spent at the office that week), I am neither expected nor required to answer emails or messages. If I do lose my job, I will still receive a significant portion of my salary for a year, thanks to insurance through my union (I work as a software engineer).
- constantcrying 1y agoThe working culture and laws between Bulgaria and Denmark are drastically different. It is absurd to talk about Denmark as if it were universal EU law. What you are experiencing is particular to Denmark. It is Danish law and work culture you are benefitting from.
- poisonborz 1y agoEU laws are mostly scynchronized. Bulgaria has 1 month guaranteed minimum, IT companies typically give 3 as well.
- constantcrying 1y ago
- newswasboring 1y agoI have worked for a european tech giant for over six years now. And when talking to my US friends, this is the biggest difference I have seen. > In the US, it can often feel that your work is your identity. My European colleagues take pride in their work and are extremely hard workers, but their job is one facet of their identity. In a non-office setting, I would sooner introduce myself as an improviser and bouldering enthusiast than an engineer. Although, I am the kind of person who codes to relax, not letting my job take over my identity is my last resistance in this boring dystopia. edit: forgot a negation which totally changed the meaning of last sentence.
- NalNezumi 1y agoThis difference is probably also why my brother who moved to US, and Now back to Europe (with his American wife) struggle with European colleagues. They're both passionate about their work (game devs usually are) but feel like no one at their office share that sentiment. When it's 5Pm, even before deadline, people just leave. During breaks, they rather talk about local football teams than most recent news about their profession. So that's the other side of the coin
- spacemadness 1y agoLeaving at 5pm seems entirely reasonable to a non workaholic. When is a reasonable time that you think people should leave to prove their worth I wonder. At some point it’s a performative race to the bottom. And yes I know the game industry loves to abuse peoples passion by demanding crunch and burning out young engineers for crap pay.
- h1fra 1y agohttps://archive.ph/tiaLg https://archive.ph/tiaLg
- farceSpherule 1y agoBusiness Insider... What a rag of a publication...
- creshal 1y agoA German-owned rag, courtesy of Axel Springer SE, the continent's most famous yellow rag sweatshop
- mcntsh 1y agoI've worked for major US companies in the Bay Area/NYC and German companies here in Europe so I feel like I can weigh in here. In Germany I make way less, it's true, but I have a much higher quality of life and feeling of security here and I'd never willfully move back to the US. There's more to life than money, as they say...
- xnx 1y ago> I'd never willfully move back to the US Do you think there's benefit to working for an EU company from the US?
- mcntsh 1y agoCulture. You probably don't have to take PTO for sick days, you probably get a lot of vacation days and won't get pressure not to take them, you probably won't get called past 5 o'clock or on weekends, etc.
- nicbou 1y agoI run a website about migrating to Germany. I have to teol people that they should take sick days when they're sick, and that they should not even look at their emails when they're on vacation. It's not just laws, but a culture that backs them up. A favourite fact of mine is that if you're sick when on vacation, you get your vacation days back.
- b3ing 1y agoI had this same situation but if you are located in the US they will lay you off accordingly to US laws, which means it can happen anytime, but they will be nicer about it and maybe pay you a month to do nothing, on top of severance pay. The vacation time was high though.
- stuaxo 1y agoI worked in Glu Mobile when EA took them over. The US folks were all told to leave immediately. In the UK they had to give us notice and pay, also negotiate with employee representatives.
- austin-cheney 1y agoI have had a federal security clearance since I was a teenager and most of that time it’s been a top secret clearance. Yet, I never worked as a government contractor until my current employment. Huge mistake. It’s so much better than the corporate world even as a software developer and even with all the draconian security restrictions. Actually, the restrictions are nearly identical to working at a major bank. The primary reason it’s so much better is the people. The people tend to skew much older with far more experience, they tend to be better educated, and they all must have clearances and IT certifications. That eliminates so much of the entitlement, insecurity, and general stupidity I saw in my peers as a 15 year corporate software developer.
- glimshe 1y agoHow do you solve the catch-22 of security clearance? It seems that a lot of jobs require it but not so many people want to pay for me to get it. Is it possible to get clearance by myself on the side (assume I'm willing to deal with the fees and paperwork)?
- austin-cheney 1y agoNo. You must have a sponsor that pays for the clearance. The government officially claims that a secret clearance costs around $3000 and a top secret costs around $15000. That does not include the actual investigation of sending people into the field to perform interviews. The actual costs can be well into 6 figures. You don't want to pay for that. If you have critical skills then a large contractor like Raytheon or McDonnelL Douglas will gladly pay for it. The cost of the clearance is absolutely worth it to fill a position that drives a project forward.
- jcadam 1y agoI worked in defense contracting for most of my ~20 year career up until a few months ago. So I'm experiencing this culture shock the other way around. Being the oldest person on a team is... strange. Still have my clearance for a couple years I suppose - perhaps all this anti-remote madness will be over before then.