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Funny how he refers to Europe as a whole country... > "Not only are forced severance pay packages a problem because most start ups fail and they still have to
by jordinl 14y ago
Funny how he refers to Europe as a whole country...
> "Not only are forced severance pay packages a problem because most start ups fail and they still have to pay them but also because start ups are constantly trying out people and the concept of trying out people is very costly in Europe"
I've been an unpaid intern in UK. My first full-time job in Spain clearly stated that I was on trial for the first three months and after that they didn't have an obligation to hire me... Oh, if this guy wanted to try different people, he could hire them as freelancers.
> "In Spain, France, Italy, health care is free."
No, it's not. People are taxed...
> "You could argue that it is healthy to take sick days but unfortunately what happens here is that patients ask doctors medical justifications for paid job absences"
Probably there are a few cases like this. I don't see this guy complaining about how low salaries are in Spain.
> "In Europe there is a general belief that work is punishment and that the role of government is to protect people from overworking"
No there's not... People want to work and they want to have a life. I've worked in Spain, and the impression you get from the employers is that you have to thank them for giving you a job, in my job in US they thank me for being there and make sure I'm happy.
> "So there are many rules that make it hard to work the 12 hours per day that a start up may need in its initial months"
Yeah right. My manager in Spain used to tell us that we were in a project with a fixed deadline that had to be met, so if we had to work extra time including weekend we would...
> "To work hard, to work long hours, is actually illegal in Europe"
What does working hard have to do with working long hours?
- justincormack 14y agoI think Spain has changed the rules on severance pay recently, and new employees do not get it. In the UK it has recently been ruled illegal in many circumstances to pay interns less than the minimum wage (basically if they do real work), so if you feel like it you can ask your ex-interner for the money. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/oct/19/interns-payouts-minimum-wage-petition http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/oct/19/interns-payouts-min...
- anonymous 14y agoHe also doesn't seem to understand that there are labour contracts and civil contracts. The former are the heavily regulated kind, the latter are like US contracts - you can put whatever you like in them. So it's entirely possible, if you wish, to draft a contract saying Person will work for 6 months at startup A in order to produce result X and unless they turn out incompetent (or the company goes under, etc), they'll be offered a labour contract. Whether anybody would feel comfortable signing such a thing though, is a different matter.
- rmc 14y agoThis probably depends on the juristiction, but I strongly doubt it's that easy to get around employee law like that. Often the laws are written to basically say "Person A is an employee if they do a type of work for pay etc. etc.", regardless if they have a "labour contract" vs "civil contract". If it was that easy, then all companies would do it.
- jeltz 14y agoI do not think that would work almost anywhere in the western world. Neither in the US or in Europe. There are laws regulating employment in all European countries and all or almost all American States. And you cannot bypass these laws with just a paper.