4 ms·

When 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 ago
I 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 ago
  The 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 ago
    EU laws are mostly scynchronized. Bulgaria has 1 month guaranteed minimum, IT companies typically give 3 as well.
    - constantcrying 1y ago
      The article is specifically not about IT jobs. Also 3 months of paid time off seems totally unbelievable. That the EU laws are synchronized is somewhat irrelevant. Most of this isn't about laws, but what companies are offering.
      - poisonborz 1y ago
        > seems totally unbelievable. Had it multiple times, AMA. Actually more in real life, once I was laid off start of the calendar month, which I was not expected to work off either. This is regular employees, top managers get 6 months. US engineers thinking they live the top life, not knowing how exploited they are.
        constantcrying 1y ago
        Do you have a shred of evidence? How does a company function with managers only there 50% if the time.
        poisonborz 1y ago
        50% of the time? Maybe misunderstood, this was about resignation/notice period. You have to be employed 3-6 months to get employment protection. Paid off time is around 25-30 days everywhere.
      - kyriakos 1y ago
        I think they are referring to notice period for being laid off and not time off per year.
makeitdouble 1y ago
It's not monolithic, but with freedom of movement inside its bound, it creates enough competition it's structurally harder to have any single country with really bad labor laws.
jxjnskkzxxhx 1y ago
When will Europeans realize that the USA is not a monolithic bloc?
- deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]
ACS_Solver 1y ago
The EU is not a monolithic bloc, we have vast differences in overall culture, language, politics and more. Economy as well of course. To me, used to the northern parts, a place like Italy certainly feels foreign because so much is different. But employment laws are not as different as that. Four weeks (20 days) of vacation is an EU-mandated minimum even if some countries give more. Parental leave varies a lot, but the EU minimum is 14 weeks of maternal and 2 weeks of paternal leave. The concept of "five sick days" or whatever other number doesn't exist in the EU, sick leave policy varies by member state but it's never limited to a few days. At-will employment likewise doesn't exist for normal jobs, there's no firing people on a whim because you don't like their work, and there's no place with less than a month's notice. Healthcare is a bit different as it couldn't apply to a remote US worker, but still worth mentioning. The EU is very non-monolithic in the organization, quality and culture of healthcare, but each country has some kind of universal coverage model and so you cannot lose healthcare access by losing your job.
ghusto 1y ago
Sure there are cultural differences between countries, but everything she said applies to all EU companies as far as my experience goes. Work life balance, work not being identity, holidays, etc. it's all applicable to every country in the EU I've worked in regardless of the local culture.

messe 1y ago

I 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 ago
The 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 ago
  EU laws are mostly scynchronized. Bulgaria has 1 month guaranteed minimum, IT companies typically give 3 as well.
  - constantcrying 1y ago
    The article is specifically not about IT jobs. Also 3 months of paid time off seems totally unbelievable. That the EU laws are synchronized is somewhat irrelevant. Most of this isn't about laws, but what companies are offering.
    - poisonborz 1y ago
      > seems totally unbelievable. Had it multiple times, AMA. Actually more in real life, once I was laid off start of the calendar month, which I was not expected to work off either. This is regular employees, top managers get 6 months. US engineers thinking they live the top life, not knowing how exploited they are.
      - constantcrying 1y ago
        Do you have a shred of evidence? How does a company function with managers only there 50% if the time.
        poisonborz 1y ago
        50% of the time? Maybe misunderstood, this was about resignation/notice period. You have to be employed 3-6 months to get employment protection. Paid off time is around 25-30 days everywhere.
    - kyriakos 1y ago
      I think they are referring to notice period for being laid off and not time off per year.

makeitdouble 1y ago

It's not monolithic, but with freedom of movement inside its bound, it creates enough competition it's structurally harder to have any single country with really bad labor laws.

jxjnskkzxxhx 1y ago

When will Europeans realize that the USA is not a monolithic bloc?

deleted 1y ago
[deleted]

ACS_Solver 1y ago

The EU is not a monolithic bloc, we have vast differences in overall culture, language, politics and more. Economy as well of course. To me, used to the northern parts, a place like Italy certainly feels foreign because so much is different. But employment laws are not as different as that. Four weeks (20 days) of vacation is an EU-mandated minimum even if some countries give more. Parental leave varies a lot, but the EU minimum is 14 weeks of maternal and 2 weeks of paternal leave. The concept of "five sick days" or whatever other number doesn't exist in the EU, sick leave policy varies by member state but it's never limited to a few days. At-will employment likewise doesn't exist for normal jobs, there's no firing people on a whim because you don't like their work, and there's no place with less than a month's notice. Healthcare is a bit different as it couldn't apply to a remote US worker, but still worth mentioning. The EU is very non-monolithic in the organization, quality and culture of healthcare, but each country has some kind of universal coverage model and so you cannot lose healthcare access by losing your job.

ghusto 1y ago

Sure there are cultural differences between countries, but everything she said applies to all EU companies as far as my experience goes. Work life balance, work not being identity, holidays, etc. it's all applicable to every country in the EU I've worked in regardless of the local culture.