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The AI Overlord informs me that US productivity is much higher than in Europe. If you are a Ferengi and love only money, then try to move to the US. If you prefer living as a human, just live with less money, and lower your standards in Europe. But the choice between making money, and having a life, has been around for thousands of years
I Hit $32,590 today. Thank you for all the knowledge and nuggets you had thrown my way over the last week. i started with 5k in last week 2025... now i just hit $32,590
How did you manage to achieve that level of growth? I've been trying everything I can to improve my investments, I want to retire in a few years and I need a better diversification
Timing is crucial, and as Ms Evelyn Vera suggests, it's often wise to make purchases during market downturns, prioritize acquiring solid assets, and explore options that allow you to generate passive income while yu invest
Honestly, I think it's because the US has a more antagonistic relationship between employers and employees. We see each employee as a cost instead of a resource. I think we look at it more negatively than other countries.
That’s because employees have cost their employers lot in the past by abusing positions of trust. I don’t blame anyone for not wanting to baby sit a new employee without experience. This is coming from someone with a master’s degree who had to gain experience to find a job rather than having the degree carry me, as I had initially hoped for
@@marcusmcgraw3519 And this is why jobs, especially Trades are having not only massive shortages in workers but are aging out skill. because the New guy is someone to "babysit" and abuse instead of treating like a human
American corporations have machine gunned their own workers in the past. The Pinkertons were notorious strike breakers. Until Americans realise the power of organised labour you will always be fighting for scraps.
It’s because we are all being poisoned by the food companies to make us sick so the pharmaceutical companies make money treating illnesses that they created. While doing all they can to instigate the further colonization of the EU and USA. Until we stop letting them get away with these things nothing will change
Australian. I get 5 weeks of annual leave, overtime and recalls are always paid, and my employer is completely flexible if I have an appointment or just need to take a long lunch break for whatever errand. When we’ve had US contractors come, they can’t believe how casual it is. But work still gets done and companies are still profitable.
My friends husband is from France - he says the way we work is absolutely insane. While he lives here in the US he actually works for a satellite office of a French company and gets a month and half off per year. Yes, thats right.
My last job was international but most of the top level folks were French. The culture there was so nice and I wish we'd adopt similar approaches towards work over here!
@edhcb9359 that might be true, but we are also taxed heavily on sales tax and other various taxes. When you add it all up, the outcome is nearly the same. In terms of the totals, we are taxed ever so slightly higher than the EU. It only gets better for billionaires. I can point this all out to older generations, but they don't get it. "It's easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled." -Mark Twain
There are some good companies left. I work at a US company all of you have heard of. I get 5 weeks vacation, and this year I go on my second 2 month paid sabbatical.
I am really glad that I live in Europe. In Germany, where I live, I find the approach to work and life much more balanced. People are dedicated to their work while at work, the rest of the time they are prioritising their personal life and family time. Not choosing one over the other but balancing both well.
I’m an Australian who worked for American company for a couple of years. How you treat your workers is an absolute disgrace. So glad to be back working for Australians with Australian workplace rights.
I've never worked for an American company, but we did once have a new American manager for the British company I was working for, and she tried to manage us like Americans. Safe to say it didn't go well and she quit after a few months. One particular example was when the company didn't have enough classes (I was a teacher) to fill my schedule for one week. She tried to get me to 'make up' the time by adding extra classes the next week. I refused and she was amazed when I brought up the terms of my contract.
I'm American and I've worked for American companies my whole life. The American labor system is in the top 5 for toughest workers. We're also very near the bottom for management systems that knows how to innovate. These 2 problems are correlated. In my 25 years of work experience, here in the states, I can tell you that most managerial positions are typically filled by social status and not merit. Effectively, we have the biggest doofuses running nearly every major corporation. It's a miracle our economy hasn't had a complete meltdown yet. The only reason I haven't left my country for something better is because of the freedom I have with firearms.
they had a mandatory work meeting on the one day my department has off because we work over the weekend. i'd made an eye appt. for that day so wouldn't be able to attend. my supervisor told me i'd have to bring in a note the following day. so i asked: "let me get this straight -- you want me to bring in a note explaining why i wasn't at work *on. my. day. off.* she said yes. wasn't long before i moved on. this is the new corporate culture.
Oh, I had similar too. I was the ONLY one who had to attend a mandatory work meeting on my normal day off. This is after working an all-night shift, going to sleep for 2 hours, and having to get up again for a 9 AM teams meeting. I did not attend one of these meetings as I overslept, was way too tired from the shift, and had to wait for the next employee as they ran 1 hour late! I nearly got written up for that one but was able to maneuver my way around it. Let's just say, I separated from the company only after 4 months as I could no longer tolerate the increasing BS pushed out. I have been job hopping for about 1 year now, have found nothing good out there, and looking into just doing gig work as a means to survive on my own terms right now. I'm employed but the job is too volatile for me to be comfortable and may end in March.
@@zofiajaneczek184 overnight shifts are like two shifts in one. they're tough on the body. as for me i thought well i can find something i enjoy even if it doesn't pay that well or i can stay there and let it eat away all my self respect and any quality of life i could maintain. i never regretted leaving and i wish you well out there. this market is for the strong. stay tough and good luck to you. i hope you find something soon.
I love crazy American shifts. I have spent about 5 years in my carrier starting at 03:30. Totally fun to get somewhere at 3 am when you are Epileptic and don’t drive. And the answer was no the employer was not willing to make accommodation under ADA Also, it is crazy how much that getting up at 2 am messes with you body. I am at almost 3 years past the 3:30 start and I still wake up at 2:00 without an alarm.
After years of enduring a grueling 60+ hour work week, I've discovered that escaping the employment cycle has been a game-changer for me. While I wish I'd pursued financial independence sooner, I'm now reveling in the freedom of retirement and savoring life on my own terms.
It's heartening to see you've found your path to fulfillment. Amidst a world filled with misinformation, uncertainty, and the influence of the herd mentality, your ability to discern and stay true to yourself is truly commendable.
I'm so eager to break free from my current job and pursue early retirement, but with a thoughtful plan in place. I've lost faith in the notion that financial security comes from a traditional 9-to-5 within the existing system. Instead, I'll rather focus on building freedom and crafting a life that reflects my values and aspirations.
@@LipiTerrazzo I couldn't agree more. The system's single-minded focus on control and profit has always seemed shortsighted to me. That's why I made the deliberate decision to exit the conventional employment path years ago and forge my own way.
Partnering with a Financial Advisor for nearly three years after quitting my old job has yielded incredible results. His strategies have propelled my account to an impressive $1.6 million. Achieving financial freedom at 42 has been a dream come true - I'm now living life on my own terms and loving every moment of it.
I'm fascinated by your success story, especially since I'm aware of how complex and daunting the financial landscape can be. Would you be willing to share the contact information of the Financial Advisor who's helped you achieve your goals? I'd love to learn more about their approach.
I literally have not had more than a three day weekend since I started work in 1992. I’m afraid to take a day off for fear that I will be seen as unproductive. It’s sad that in this country we give up our children and their lives so that we can please our employer who’s just as happy to lay us off the next day. There’s a period of time for about a year when I was working 36 hours on, eight hours off, 36 hours on, eight hours off… Nobody seemed to care that my eyeballs were dragging on the floor and that I was so delirious I could hardly function, they just wanted to know “can you work an extra shift tonight… We’re short staffed”
I have spent over 30 years avoiding the corporate absurdities. You can push back and opt out with the right focus. Being hourly is key. Being an IT contractor has provided a good career.
Contracting can pay very well too at least in Tech. Just need to make sure you’re saving a lot of money due to the lack of job security. Contracts can be terminated or discontinued at any time.
As someone from Europe, I'm watching videos like this to get some context about what happens in the United States and I'm always horrified. I can't imagine living in a country where you don't get sick leave, where one decision can leave you jobless immediately, where you don't have guaranteed standard vacation (in my country, it's 26 workdays a year). At the same time, it's not that hard to find online people from America, who are calling European systems communist, just because we have those rights. I hope that one day those privileges will be normalized across the whole world because we all deserve to have a real work-life balance and the possibility to rest.
The U.S. does have sick leave, but its optional and most employers that want to attract good employees must offer benefits like sick leave, paid vacations like 4 weeks annually, disability insurance, health insurance, a retirement savings plan, life insurance, and other benefits. Usually it's only small employers with less than 50 employees that don't offer paid sick leave. That said, it is too easy to be discharged/fired from a salaried or hourly wage job in the USA.
We hate it not having sick days or proper time off for vacations. It’s basically slave labor. And here in the United States 🇺🇸 just like the man doing the video said, employers get away with anything and use every excuse not to pay benefits, etc The irony of all of this is these employers have some of the highest wealth but their very selfish and refuse to share to even skilled workers with college education and experience. A labor revolution is coming to America 🇺🇸 because we are just about sick of this nonsense by these overpaid fat CEO’s that sit on their buts and do nothing
Yes... We work too damn much. Plus, employers never shut down when they know damn well they should. If there is a winter driving advisory or ban....many jobs still expect you to show up. Or they decide to close at the very last minute...when you're 5 minutes from work...only to turn around and barely make it home because of the weather.
Agree completely. But there are millions of people who will aggressively defend their right to be kicked around by employers. It’s so strange and frustrating for those of us who want something better.
A lot of people wrongly believe that if any miniscule thing gets better for their quality of life, the economy and society will collapse. It's subtle psychological conditioning we're all exposed to from a young age.
It’s because we are all being poisoned by the food companies to make us sick so the pharmaceutical companies make money treating illnesses that they created. While doing all they can to instigate the further colonization of the EU and USA. Until we stop letting them get away with these things nothing will change
Unfortunately, in the U.S. many employees treated sick time as additional PTO time (basically lying about being sick to get an extra day off) and then working while sick. So many companies combined sick leave and vacation time as Paid Time Off.
If I just don’t go to work and call in, that is a vacation day on demand and I can do that 4 days a year, all the other vacation days need to be scheduled. To get sick leave I need to go to the doctor, the days off get put in the national system and the employer gets notification.
In America you had to work up your vacation days too usually which pathetic. Most employers start you off at 10 days of PTO which is nothing. You pretty much work the rest of the 50 weeks in a year with only 8-10 holidays a year so at best maybe working 48 weeks total. It’s really sad.
Spot on👌 I'm 54 yrs old, been in corporate America for 35 years. I'm totally done with it all 👎 Corporate greed has put all the power in the company hands.
I’m 54, live in NewZealand, but spent most of my ‘Career’ working for US Co’s. Fired too many times, Bullied, Burned-out. Why do that to a Loyal Hardworking Employee with a STEM Degree..?? I’m Done Too 😅
51, just had a conversation with my 29 year old son who’s in a good union that I want to find a way to retire at 55. I do well and can pull it off, but I’m at the mercy of the market to make it work. He gets to retire after 30 years, pension, annuity, 401k, healthcare, everything. Everyone he works with hates their union. This is why we can’t do better. These guys have no idea what they have versus what corporate retirement looks like after the employers stole our pensions and gave us 401k’s in their place. And they wonder why there’s no loyalty!
I’m glad you’re done with it because management is almost done with us. The AI is going to upend just about everything. It’s hard to believe it has to come to this. Don’t believe the hype about AI taking care of our every need, anything that sounds too good to be true never is.
I was once in the CEO's team of a high tech. We all travelled a lot. Due to time zone differences the CEO would call us whilst were asleep. I had to make it clear to him that I would not answer the phone at night - he had to email me and I would read it when I had my breakfast. He was fine with that. I also applied the same rule to everyone else "Email me, do NOT phone me." They all accepted this soon enough - I was the nice but eccentric guy you needed to email, not phone, if you wanted anything to happen.
Very smart! It ensures you have a record of communications in writing. It also let them know you have boundaries. What's especially impressive is that the boss respected those boundaries. Many bosses simply don't care. 🙄
@@AJ_SouthernGal It was a large firm, but I was senior .. and more importantly I was one of the very first employees, so I knew the CEO and his family. We started off working on basic tables in a small office - but ended up in a huge custom built building.
Let’s not forget the unique challenges working parents face. When you have sick children and need to stay home until they feel better and can safely return to school, when you need to plan around school schedules and breaks which do not align with the working hours in corporate America, the PTO and sick time starts to get eaten up quickly. WFH helps somewhat with these challenges, but if you don’t have an employer who allows for flexible work schedule, it can feel like an uphill battle.
Holy Cow! Is this video right on the nose! Kudos for making this! I worked for a company and had team members in US and in UK/Ireland. The approach to work was amazingly different - to the point: It was unfair for the US employees. Both locations got the same number of holidays, but US employees got 3 weeks PTO and UK employees got 6 weeks with the ability to 'buy' another week for a total of 7 weeks (this included brand new employees right out of college). And believe me, they took every single day, and they all took the entire month of August off. We then went through a layoff. US employees got 30 days to 'find a new job' or be terminated. UK employees got six weeks just to find out who was impacted then the impacted employees got another 12 weeks to 'find a new job'. As a result - most all the laid off were in the US (including me). I recall instances where my boss called me on Friday nights, Sunday afternoons, and I even got called into an 'emergency meeting' on the morning of Father's Day! Basically, being a UK employee was a sweet gig and being a US employee by comparison sucked. I decided to hell with it and retired early.
Just a thing. In France the 35 hours/week is not applied to high qualification jobs, people working in consulting, banking, Start ups, IT, Finance they do work often much much more than 35h/week and they can have crazy working hours. But they get compensated with what is called “RTT” reduction du temps de travail (reduction of working hours) which are basically additional vacation days. I Need also to say that Europe is not a place to become rich, people actually don t generally want to be rich, they want to have a nice and stable lives it is also a place where it is extremely hard to become rich if you come from nothing.
I totally agree. I think here in Europe most of us don't want to be the next billionaires, in fact I would say that the majority of people here don't think kindly of excessive inequalities in wealth. Furthermore, we don't even want to have bigger and bigger houses constantly, more and more cars, etc. We just want to live a pleasant, safe and meaningful life in a civilized and just society.
Its not any harder to become rich in Europe than it is in the US. Most multigenerational wealth is generated by owning and/or selling a company, and thats the same in Europe or the US. Theres some marginal distinctions on the edge of the upper middle class, but its really quite marginal outside of a handful of LCOLA with high skilled labor (like the research triangle in North Carolina). Just putting this out there because i think its important to realize there isnt actually the positive side of American work culture that people think exists. Even our "innovative" reputation is lackluster, we underperform most european startup figures per capita.
I've always wondered about this aspect of Europe, particularly with how it affects male-female relationships. If there is no culture of "trying to get rich", how does that effect female hypergamy? In the US, income is seen as a major factor in a man's identity and his prestige in society.
@@KP99 In Europe, because people are not only busy with their work and have better rights as workers, it is not the only thing that matters in life or as much of a factor of their prestige and identity in society. I am from the Netherlands and people (including women) will dislike it if you show off your wealth too much. it's more about the way you carry yourself and your personality that is attractive to women. they care more about that, also most people believe in their moral values and will not jump ship just because someone else has a better job. women like that exist but why would you want those anyway. Besides, every person that works a legitimate job that brings a positive to society is deserving of respect and should not be treated less than others because they decided they wanted to be done with work after 5 and not work insane hours to climb some corporate ladder to then be able to impress people they do not care about. Just incase: this is not an attack on your post but more the rationale of someone who lives in Europe
I had a friend who took a job with the promise of unlimited vacation. But once he started working he realized that they had so much work and were so understaffed that at best you can only afford to take one week a year. Europeans understand that work is a means to an end and don't let it dominate their lives like we Americans do.
It's crazy how much vacation jobs in other countries can get. We go and go until we burn out so we can use our PTO to go to a yearly dental checkup or take our dog to the vet and hopefully have a few days left in the summer to take the kids to an amusement park. They get stuff like paternity leave and multiple weeks of vacation! Like enough time to take care of all the crap you can't do on a weekend because stuff is closed, AND have some actual time off to recharge. That sounds so nice.
I work at a public library and, with the exception of the director and assistant director, we are all union. Managers are very good about making sure we take our break and full lunch. Even when I was at a library in corporate, my manager always made sure we took a full lunch AWAY from our desk. Libraries are really good employers for the most part, whether union or not.
The rural areas being dirt poor are what made them nice peaceful places with low cost of living. Wfh dont contribute to the community like we do as a collective. The employers are not negotiating about it anymore.
I once had a boss who insisted my work hours were 24/7 and he forbade me from volunteering with any community organizations (“that’s what you have a wife for” was his quote). Glad I ignored him. I’m now the Operations Manager at the very church he told me I couldn’t volunteer for.
I just came back from working in the Netherlands. I'm an RN in the US and worked as an LVN in a residential facility in the neighborhood in the Netherlands. I worked 24 hrs/week between 6-8 hrs per day with 30 min paid break and 30 min unpaid lunch, and only ever took time off when I got sick. I stayed for only 4 months then returned to California for a regular ICU job. In that 4 months, I was sick for a week, didn't think I had enough sick time to cover it but was paid regardless, and when I quit, I still received 4 weeks vacation time. I was quite surprised because I'd never built this much time off in such a short time frame in the US. I was also required to finish a whole month of work beginning the following month after I had put in my resignation. Anyway, back in the US, I could not take 2 weeks vacation until I could build it up, which was not until 8 months, and they also take sick time from the same bucket. I call in sick ever so often due to a chronic condition, but job protection while having a chronic condition does not apply until I've been at work at least 1 year. Back in the US, I notice many of my colleagues work a lot of overtime. I also notice a lot of them still continue on the chat group talking about work during off time. My hospital is pretty generous about breaks, we get a total of 1.75 hrs breaks total for the 12 hrs shift, and 30 minutes of that is unpaid. I also see that a lot of colleagues work long stretches of days like 6 days in a row or 6 nights in a row, then sometimes pick up overtime on top of that. Many end up working 16 hour days, or 10 day stretches. Meanwhile, I've gotten used to the European way of living. I only work during work hours and work as minimum as possible. We live a very minimalist lifestyle and still save half of our pay. I like to enjoy our life while we are still young. 😇
There's a BBC interview on youtube with the guy who starred as Dr. House. He described Americans as working so hard it would make people's noses bleed if they saw it up close.
The problem is management is insufficiently trained, mostly incompetent (FUMU), and predominantly sociopathic in nature. The way that employees are abused and gaslit is beyond absurdity. Its amazing that there aren't more workplace sh00tings and not a big surprise when they do occur. The companies usually brought it upon themself by abusing & ignoring the rights of employees. Everything is driven by attorneys and PR focus to protect the company at all costs. When a valid concern is brought forth, the employee is ignored and then terminated. A lot of normal people agree, the drive for neo-Feudalism needs to end. Free Luigi.
Because the “management class” wants to rewrite the realties on how to comply with regulatory requirements and deal with REAL market shifts. If only young impressionable employees are hired or older institutionalized workhorses are retained, particularly those that have shown a strong history of blind compliance to the “education factory”, the current “management class” is free rewrite history, without any alternative narrative muddying their misdirection to stakeholders. This is easily done today by labeling subject-matter-experts as know-it-alls and “bad culture fits”, which results in major financial crises and infrastructure disasters every 2-3 years, along with mass layoffs and market meltdowns.
I help out in our company's payroll dept...and sad to say, most people DO need to be hand held with everything! For instance, you would think direct deposit was a new thing considering so many employees mess it up.
@ The fact that someone would need training to fill in their direct deposit information (which has very clear instructions on where to find the needed info - including pictures and everything) then it shows just how truly helpless people can be.
A view from the Norwegian system: Greatfully, we have strict rules mandated by our Act of Working Enviornment. This governs matters such as vacation time, lunch breaks, ability to take sick leave as well as an encouragement to unionize across most sectors, white and blue collars alike. A few examples: - Our employers are mandated to provide 25 working days off, which may is paid provided you did a full working year the day before. Unpaid time off is also very possible if you do not have worked up any PTO. - We are allowed and even encouraged to unionize in order to fight to protect out employment rights. - We are generally expected to take 30 minutes (usually unpaid) off for lunch breaks. - There are also strict guidelines on working conditions regarding working time, health and safety etc. - Worklife balance is also heavily emphasized here, and usually encouraged by the employer. - 37,5 hour working weeks is generally the norm, and not to common to deviate from this (which is not to say that in never happens of course) Now there are certain professions were long working hours are the norms and expected such as consulting or project work etc. As well as some professions where it is required due to tight neccesary deadlines of professional requirements if you are performing critical work such as being a surgeon, lawyer, train driver on long stretches and the likes. In general, watching this video reminded me of how greatfull I am to work in Europe, and hope that the US would maybe follow suit in the distand future. Sadly, does not seem that likely.
In the US, you only get a limited amount of PTO that you work for (2 weeks PTO if you're the luckiest) which management is often reluctant to give you and ask what the reason for it is. In most other countries and once upon a time in the US, you get mandatory PTO for at least a month.
My experience in service industry in US after 28 years is that there's no contract, no benefits (only food, but not always), no clock in machine, no break in 10-12 hour shift, paychecks not on time if they even exist, no overtime pay, trips to ER from work because of work, minimum wage not met, money sharing when owners cousin needs a job, checks bounced with $35 fee if you get them at all, credit cards tips kept by the owner. I made $15 for 5 hours of work when I started for months, and I was told to be grateful I even have a job. Training was never paid. All this in Washington, DC. Very expensive city, but I made it. One employer got jumped and is handicapped now (I didn't do it), one filed for bankruptcy with one of his restaurants and closed the other, and one is being sued for food poisoning and closed the restaurant. Karma. Two of the restaurant should have been closed as they were too dirty. All cheated on taxes by not paying employers. Not making other claims, but come on.
It's way too easy to fire people in the US, and here workers have little rights compared to Europe, but in Europe is too hard for an employer to fire an incompetent person, and workers have too many rights to the detriment of the employer. There should be a middle ground where both parties benefit, not just one at the cost of the other.
It’s because we are all being poisoned by the food companies to make us sick so the pharmaceutical companies make money treating illnesses that they created. While doing all they can to instigate the further colonization of the EU and USA. Until we stop letting them get away with these things nothing will change
It's true that Americans are very friendly and polite at work, but in my opinion these are most often fake friendliness and politness. Most managers decide over other people's lives like if they're not people but interchangeable machine parts.Whar is true in the morning is false in the evening. Everybody can become a poor performer on a flip of a coin. Colleagues never hesitate throwing other colleagues under the bus.
It’s because we are all being poisoned by the food companies to make us sick so the pharmaceutical companies make money treating illnesses that they created. While doing all they can to instigate the further colonization of the EU and USA. Until we stop letting them get away with these things nothing will change
It’s absolutely hypocritical that the our government that enables employers at will to fire people but that same government who employs workers aren’t held to the same laws and regulations.
I think one step that may help remove the corporate shackles would be to eliminate debt when possible , it can be difficult but companies don’t like it when you don’t have any car loans , mortgages , and credit card debt because they know a person without debt is harder to control and can quit and go their own way easily .
@@Thiccolo I got laid off in December and they said I couldn't even use or have my vacation time paid out. This was accrued vacation days that I earned over time--and never got to use. And the kicker: The company name had "Vacations" in the title. A literal vacation company that didn't give a crap about their own employees vacation time. Just so backwards.
I agree with a lot of what you said. I think all of these issues stem from legislation that does not favor or support the worker. I mean to be one of the only countries in the developed world to not have mandatory parental leave by law is just insane.
"America is the greatest country in the world" 🤣 I'm not from France, but I've been there. On top of year round sunshine, pretty women, epic countryside from north to south, cheap properties just about everywhere except Paris, low crime, probably the worlds best food and friendly natives here's what it has to offer (that America doesn't): 1) It is nearly *impossible* to sack an employee. 2) Working over 35 hours per week is illegal -unless the employer pays overtime at a very high rate. They even *try* to make you work extra hours you don't want to? Sue the socks off them (the union will provde a lawyer for free). Also refer to point 1 -they can't get revenge by sacking you. 3) Five weeks minimum paid holiday per year, rising with length of service. As well as ten national holidays a year. It is illegal for the employer to contact you whilst on leave. 4) An hours lunch -period. It's illegal to eat at your desk. The employer cannot bother you during lunch break. You can drink on your lunch break and theres nothing they can do unless you are either a driver or return to your place of work completely hammered. Numerous 'food' served in USA is illegal in France because of additives -the French food industry is heavily regulated and barely uses any nasty crap. 5) Feel sick? Don't work. You have numerous protections from being terminated. So the counter argument? "The French are nowhere near as productive as Americans" Partly true, but they sure get by. And anyway.. why do you want to be so productive? So your SEO/ CEO/ employer makes more money , which you won't profit from? The only way in which you are better off in US is if you make a TON of money and never get sick or laid off. Given a choice I'd take my chances with France.
America was great after WW2, one person working a job, not even a high paying one, but just steady employment, could afford a house, a car, and support a family almost without question. But its been a steady erosion between inflation and money printing, and then pretty much every major industry here feels like a predatory racket, namely healthcare, legal, and finance, which for most people, is going to make a huge imoact in ditctating your quality of life, regardless of how well you choose. America isn't the only country with these problems, but considering how we good we once had it, its very shocking and abysmal how far we have fallen in this country. I've worked for 26 years with only minor gaps in employment if I had issues finding the next job, and at this point, I'll be lucky to retire before the natural passing of my own life....
At will employment means I have zero loyalty to any company because they are not required to have any loyalty to me, and they can fire me without notice too. Why should employees give two week notices anymore? There’s zero incentive to care about a company or job in 2025.
After working for 40 years, I'd suggest only giving a notice if you're on good terms and need them for a referral for another job. If you're disgruntled and/or things aren't going well then it's best to leave without notice. They'll just fire you as soon as you put the notice in.
In Australia, we have a strong union movement, so the worker has a lot of benefits. We have unfair dismissal laws, meaning there has to be a good reason to fire (eg breaking the law) than just "at will". We also have a legal minimum wage and , better working conditions and we get annual leave, long service leave, sick leave and superannuation. Also, because we have a national healthcare system, your health insurance is not tied to your job.
This is a bit off topic but do employers ever lament the employees that got away? For example, someone who was in their call centre for 5 years and a strong performer, but then told them they just finished their Data Analysis degree and would like to work in that department of the company, even if it is part time. Management responds with, "Congrats on the degree. Can you take some calls now? We are really backed up" Six months later the employee leaves and works in their competitor's data analysis department. Management can't understand how come the employee would leave their great company that gives pizza parties to the calls centre employees once a month.
Agree with Brian - in every US Co I worked for it was ‘Every Man for Himself’. Most Senior Managers just took a ‘Mercenary’ approach to employees, & as long as the ‘Manager’ kept getting their fat monthly paycheck/bonus, - it was ‘Care Factor ZERO’
Short answer: no. It's like an ex who couldn't give two rats about you. You wish they cared, but they don't and they've forgotten you the moment you left.
@@ALifeAfterLayoff Yeah, and the hiring manager probably did fight to keep that person. But they were turned down by higher ups who have never met the person who are charged with driving down costs. So a raise was always out of the question.
The US rewards competitiveness. For example, average software engineer salary in the US is $120k with a ~30% tax rate. France is $60k with a ~50% tax rate. That's why we answer emails at the grocery store.
@@comdo831 Yes, but we provide all the tools needed. I was born into poverty (food stamps, free school lunch, etc). I took out some student loans (and paid them back!), went to state university and am now well above median income. Zero resources, zero connections. Do something stupid like have kids or run up a bunch of debt? Gonna have a bad time.
One of my reports, who works out of Serbia, gets double the vacation that I do as an American (15 versus almost 30 days). We've been with the company for approximately the same amount of time.
I have worked for american companies and Mexican Companies. In Mexican Companies vacations are almost inexistent, and people could laugh at you when talking about work-life balance, also salaries are one third of US salaries for the exact same function. The only good thing is when you get fired as an employee by law you get money in proportion of the number of years that you worked also you get proportional vacation days in cash, plus proportional aguinaldo (yearly bonus). That could be like 2 to 6 months of salary which are great for a new job search. US Companies should provide at least two months, that could decrease scheduled layoffs.
as an European in a EU country,many of our labour laws are only for show. I actually read an article on a national site today (!) where a person won a court case for wrongful termination and went back to work but the employer made that person cut tiny strips of paper for 8 hours in a room with no windows and only a 30 minutes lunch brake where nobody talked to that person. Nobody was allowed to talk to the person and the person was required to cut a set amount of papers in an exact size or face pip. Suffice to say the person resigned in less than a month, so the win turned into a loss. This type of things are common in Europe, if the employer wants to fire you,they will, just.more steps and more spite. As for overtime, if you want to get up on the corporate ladder you will do it here,as well. Also, Americans need to understand that on average the wages are much lower in Europe ( even germany, france,belgium Switzerland) than in the US for the same role and it is heavily taxed. I work for an american corporation in Europe and my american colleagues never did overtime
Using your data is one of the biggest ones. In Europe they have the right to erase. Basically an employee can ask that their data be completely erased from all servers excluding information that is required by law up to legal retention when it must be eliminated; normally 7 years.
I consider myself a professional in my field and I do work in a At Will state. I understand that the company doesn't need a reason to fire me, but what I don't like is when the company bad mouths me behind my back.
Euro experience: worked for 4 years, made redundant. Got 4 months salary. By law company must offer me the position of it opens up within 9 months, or face fines. Regular white collar. 30 days pto from year 1. 30 days unpaid pto from day 1. 7 hour workday, paid lunch break. Can call in sick to tend sick kids.
Those work unions you mention tend to lead to corruption and the result end up being companies not wanting to hire new people or being very cautious about it. I'm from Argentina, and there are plenty of those...
The 35 hours in France are theoretical most of the time. Most employees work longer hours. Hospitality and tourism for example have separate rulings that allow them to work more, employees in offices for example managers in tech are paid to do a certain task and not by the hour so a lot of people will do more than the 35 hours that everybody talks about and think are enforced as is. I know a lot of people who work overtime for free and the general sentiment is that this applies mostly to jobs linked to the administration.
France with her "do the job" positions. It may work for Amazon delivery, where you know making so and so many deliveries will sometimes take you little more and sometimes little less, but for a period of say a month the average time worked is fairly predictable and acceptable. But in engineering, where the assignments vary and sometimes throw unexpected challenges at you, the French "no hours" contracts are simply absurd.
Yes but you still have the RTT days, you are not forced to work overtime and if you do, you can complain to the authorities and make a ruckus and they can't fire you starting with today for no fault of your own and recovery plan, and compensatory paychecks.
@elenabob4953 in theory yes that's for sure. In any case for me the whole way of working in the US is a scam and has been created by CEOs for CEOs. For the overtime that is not forced, that's still mostly in theory. Things are changing fast and a lot of companies are kinda following the US trend. In some companies we have the same issues as in the US. Overtime and crunch that still happens because your boss makes it clear you can't say no, the same peer pressure and the fact that if you are not a team player / not doing what management expects of you, tour career won't go really far. In theory the system is really protective, in practice things are not always that great.
@@elenabob4953 from what I remember the RTT don't really apply to jobs like when you work in tech or similar jobs. Because they can review your performance and say you were paid to do your workload and you didn't. So people feel like they have to do overtime to finish a task / a project and won't claim anything to compensate. When I work in hospitality I have rarely seen people given RTT for their overtime or the choice to do overtime or not. In some cases yes, but I didn't really count my hours nor did the rest of the team. You can get paid more for some of that overtime, but oftentimes it's a bit fuzzy. For example when I worked in retail, they made us set up the shop 30min before and clean everything for at least 30min after but we were paid "only" for the hours where the shop was opened. And nobody found anything to say about that. Because we were told that we just had to open/close faster if we wanted yo go home on time. The theory is amazing, the practice not so much and there are a lot of ways to put pressure on your employees especially when the job market is as bad as right now.
The number of paid vacation days in Europe (I guess in most countries) also depend on age and number of kids. Both of these factors increase it. For example I work in Germany, but due to my age I get 28 vacation days per year. And yeah, when you go on a multi-week vacation, nobody will bother you from the moment you sign off to the moment you start your first workday again. Also, here in Germany, you can go on sick leave and get 100% of your salary (but sadly, I think some people abuse this).
I am in a job in the US that is so overwelming that I have to secretively work on my PTO/sick days just to keep up. I don't want to lose the job. I've been laid off A LOT since COVID😢
Crazy as a teacher in Texas you have to plan your pregnacy close to the summer since you have use your accumulated sick days to get something related to maternity leave. In Latvia you can get up to 18 months of paternal leave where the father must take atleast one month of it with pay subsidized by the goverment.
It’s because we are all being poisoned by the food companies to make us sick so the pharmaceutical companies make money treating illnesses that they created. While doing all they can to instigate the further colonization of the EU and USA. Until we stop letting them get away with these things nothing will change
I'm so glad I left the US corporate world ... and the US culture. I love the US. Some of the people running things in the corporations and government... not some much. US companies have a myriad of ways to force you out while keeping their hands clean. My employer, for whom I had worked 12 years, stopped paying my salary after 2 weeks into 3 months of short term disability offered as an employment benefit. When I tried to return to work, they told me I couldn't, because I was on disability. I quit. For those of you screaming, "Sue them." There's a thing called an arbitration agreement that is part of almost every US employment contract. The company pays the judge who arbitrates ... so you know how he will rule.
I believe that times and culture have changed dramatically. In the industrial age when our grandparents and ancestors were still living, they have so little awareness on the outside world. They were led to believe from those on top on how things are run. It was almost as if you shouldn't dare question how the system was run. Now its globalization and the digital age has brought so much awareness on how things are run. We see so much rampant corruption from those in power, we see the mistreatment and lies of being getting screwed over. Add that to the independent way of thinking nobody likes to be taken advantage of being pushed around.
When you have a country where everything is about money, what do you expect? And we wonder why family values are steadily declining and suicide rates are high.
Korea has never been protestant yet they can do some crazy hours there too. In fact, most of the world has less holiday entitlement than Europe, so if religion is a factor at all, it is a very minor one.
@@comdo831 I will take your word for it about the work ethic in Korea. I can only speak to the American experience and my study, albeit not thorough, understanding of it. The PWE (my shorthand) had a massive impact on the attitude on work here. While it fostered a creative and dynamic output unlike anything else seen in the world it did come with a downside of the belief that a man must sacrifice everything to his work - oversimplified to be sure but that's the jist of it.
We are mostly at work 8-5 or 9-6 or 45 hours a week. If you need to be at a lunch meeting, then that's work. You're giving up your lunch hour to the company for free. We're essentially working 45+ hours a week with only 2-3 weeks of vacation in the US. Glad I live in France now.
I am not saying that all American-based companies or Americal corporate work culture is bad, but 90% of what I have experienced at least, and it doesn't matter whether I got officially hired, interviewing, or submitting my application. But I noticed almost all that you've mentioned here are my personal experience. Most US-based employments I have only lasted for max 1 year. EU, on the other hand, lasted me 4.5 years and counting. That goes to show how effed up it is.
American: I have to take about 3 days off for surgery for my time off. I'll keep my phone on if you need me. European: BYE! Be back in 3 months. Don't bother me.
Yup my supervisor does that. She says “please text me if you need anything” when she goes out to pick up her son. Like lady there’s nothing that urgent for me to text you about work while you’re picking up your kid from school
I'm in 100% agreement with this, the big thing is that people don't want to let go of the past. When we or our employers finally stop thinking that the way our parents, grandparents, great-grandparents did things is the only/right way then maybe things will change.... Just my opinion lol
There isn't a prescribed time, but there is however a requirement that if they say you have to clock out to eat they have to give a minimum of 30 minutes and if they don't give you 30 minutes they have to pay you for the whole time you were clocked out. Yes, I worked for employers that did pay if you had to clock back in before 30 minutes was up.
I worked in EY in Ireland and we had staff from the US for 3 months. In the first day were surprised we all left the office for an hour lunch break at a local restaurant One of them said in the US I just eat at my desk for 15 minutes and go straight back to work
I live and work in Europe and when I hear how people work in the US is sounds absolutely crazy to me. I understand that the employer, the HR and your manager etc are not your friends but this level of toxic work culture is absolutely outrageous and in your face exploitative. Yes people working in the US might earn much more money than people do here, but I personally would never exchange that for my comfortable and chill workplace, 28 paid days of vacation, security against random layoffs and overall work life balance. I'd rather earn less and live and spend time with family and friends more.
In the UK the most ambitious - or money hungry - staff work the same very long hours as in the USA. I have been happy working very long hours for decades - as long as I get a bucketful of money.
Some of my Canadian and European colleagues actually want to work in the US because the pay is much higher here for the same job in my profession despite the longer hours and worse benefits. At the end of the day, it depends on what one values, especially if the longer hours means more pay.
It’s because we are all being poisoned by the food companies to make us sick so the pharmaceutical companies make money treating illnesses that they created. While doing all they can to instigate the further colonization of the EU and USA. Until we stop letting them get away with these things nothing will change
In Brazil we have a very old legislation regarding work conditions (so called CLT) which provides the employee a lot of rights but at a high cost, almost 50% is taken to pay taxes, a forced savings account and unions.
I work in a union, over 10 years now with 4 weeks vacation and a bunch of sick time. It's a city job or Federal, depending on the branch. That alone was the motivation.
Brian, great video. You hit on topics we all think about. I wish you would do a video on the Post AI world. I’m still waiting to hear from the government and private sectors what our roles will be.
Been following this channel and looking over union history for the past 3 years. Along with a lot of other topics relating to employment and the employer relationship. IT struck a cord with me because despite the fact that Ive earned my 3 weeks off a year for being at my company for over 5 years, I am actively told I cannot take it all at once. But the thing is I know it is nonsense because Ive collaborated with coworkers to cover for those 3 weeks, yet I am still denied. Supervisor doesn't like me because I rock the boat and actively defend my labor rights on the state and federal level as well. Not to mention the fact that we recently have lay offs. Of which, a good friend of mine who was also a coworker was "let go." We knew why he was let go, it was because he didn't have the availability that I have to come in. He has to take care of his parents and his wife, but the cited "budgetary reasons." Which I am sure is partially true, but we know they targeted him because he couldn't come in whenever. I am so very tired of working overall and if I were rich, I wouldve effed off into the ether years ago.
I am in the US and my experience in corporate was everything he said and way more that he’s not saying out loud! Had to get into a completely different line of work other than a cubicle!
No one has a life in America. Pretty sure every single person trudges through each “10 hour” workday in absolute misery. Low pay, long hours, you need a phd for minimum wage jobs, condescension, psychological abuse from the narcs and sociopaths, then when you leave you have to say thank you for the abuse it was wonderful, with a smile. Insanity But alas, we all have to eat
As a Brit I always thought American workers got a poor deal employment law wise. It seems like employees can get the sack even for just accidentally passing gas in the wrong direction! At least in the UK an employer needs a cast iron reason to legally fire an employee. Annual leave entitlement/ vacation is generous here as the chart indicated. 28 days a year at the start of an employment contract is more typical for public sector organisations whereas 21 days a year for private sector businesses. 14 days a year is pretty mean.
@@mattw8332 doesn’t even have to be gas 😂 often the team or manager just doesn’t like the employee for some reason and wants to fire them. So they’ll use any reason even though legally they don’t need one.
3:24 Hold up. It's always been my understanding that office workers ARE working class. Let's not draw a line that doesn't need to be drawn. You mean blue collar vs. white collar.
Germany: 38.5 hours of work per weeks. 30 days off per year. My boss never calls or writes on weekends. And nobody checks my time. I can come and leave whenever I want. I love this freedom very much. I said "freedom" on purpose, because Americans are always on and on about their freedom, but what was described in this video didn't sound like freedom at all!
I am an American, and I agree with you. We yammer on and on about our freedoms (which is what our country was founded on, let's be honest) yet we treat our workers like peons with no rights.
We sacrifice our freedom following the rules of the At-Will jobs , most or so bad now they don't want to hear the reason for call-offs because most know that there is a partying world outside the door and even legalization doesn't matter most of those jobs think people are using on the job or under the influence so where does that fit in to today's world, nowhere. Its still like the Carnegie times a 100 years ago.
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The AI Overlord informs me that US productivity is much higher than in Europe. If you are a Ferengi and love only money, then try to move to the US. If you prefer living as a human, just live with less money, and lower your standards in Europe. But the choice between making money, and having a life, has been around for thousands of years
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Honestly, I think it's because the US has a more antagonistic relationship between employers and employees. We see each employee as a cost instead of a resource. I think we look at it more negatively than other countries.
That’s because employees have cost their employers lot in the past by abusing positions of trust. I don’t blame anyone for not wanting to baby sit a new employee without experience. This is coming from someone with a master’s degree who had to gain experience to find a job rather than having the degree carry me, as I had initially hoped for
@@marcusmcgraw3519 And this is why jobs, especially Trades are having not only massive shortages in workers but are aging out skill. because the New guy is someone to "babysit" and abuse instead of treating like a human
American corporations have machine gunned their own workers in the past. The Pinkertons were notorious strike breakers.
Until Americans realise the power of organised labour you will always be fighting for scraps.
It’s because we are all being poisoned by the food companies to make us sick so the pharmaceutical companies make money treating illnesses that they created. While doing all they can to instigate the further colonization of the EU and USA. Until we stop letting them get away with these things nothing will change
Swedish companies actually don't mind, and in some cases encourage, labor unions. Imagine that in the U.S. lol
Australian. I get 5 weeks of annual leave, overtime and recalls are always paid, and my employer is completely flexible if I have an appointment or just need to take a long lunch break for whatever errand. When we’ve had US contractors come, they can’t believe how casual it is. But work still gets done and companies are still profitable.
"[...] companies are still profitable."
But are they super duper, 10% or more growth each year, profitable? /s
But I heard the cost of living in Australia is vey high. How are you staying afloat?
I have all that too in USA. Except not 5 weeks PTO. I get 3 weeks
Your economic output in Australia is lower than in the USA per capita.
@@PeakFlowState that seems like a luxury, many employers don’t even offer a week vacation in the United States 🇺🇸
My friends husband is from France - he says the way we work is absolutely insane. While he lives here in the US he actually works for a satellite office of a French company and gets a month and half off per year. Yes, thats right.
He's right. It is insane.
He must also mention then that our income taxes are insanely low and our quality of life is insanely high.
My last job was international but most of the top level folks were French. The culture there was so nice and I wish we'd adopt similar approaches towards work over here!
@edhcb9359 that might be true, but we are also taxed heavily on sales tax and other various taxes. When you add it all up, the outcome is nearly the same. In terms of the totals, we are taxed ever so slightly higher than the EU. It only gets better for billionaires. I can point this all out to older generations, but they don't get it.
"It's easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled." -Mark Twain
There are some good companies left. I work at a US company all of you have heard of. I get 5 weeks vacation, and this year I go on my second 2 month paid sabbatical.
I am really glad that I live in Europe. In Germany, where I live, I find the approach to work and life much more balanced. People are dedicated to their work while at work, the rest of the time they are prioritising their personal life and family time. Not choosing one over the other but balancing both well.
I’m an Australian who worked for American company for a couple of years.
How you treat your workers is an absolute disgrace. So glad to be back working for Australians with Australian workplace rights.
I've never worked for an American company, but we did once have a new American manager for the British company I was working for, and she tried to manage us like Americans. Safe to say it didn't go well and she quit after a few months. One particular example was when the company didn't have enough classes (I was a teacher) to fill my schedule for one week. She tried to get me to 'make up' the time by adding extra classes the next week. I refused and she was amazed when I brought up the terms of my contract.
I'm American and I've worked for American companies my whole life. The American labor system is in the top 5 for toughest workers. We're also very near the bottom for management systems that knows how to innovate. These 2 problems are correlated. In my 25 years of work experience, here in the states, I can tell you that most managerial positions are typically filled by social status and not merit. Effectively, we have the biggest doofuses running nearly every major corporation. It's a miracle our economy hasn't had a complete meltdown yet. The only reason I haven't left my country for something better is because of the freedom I have with firearms.
they had a mandatory work meeting on the one day my department has off because we work over the weekend. i'd made an eye appt. for that day so wouldn't be able to attend. my supervisor told me i'd have to bring in a note the following day. so i asked: "let me get this straight -- you want me to bring in a note explaining why i wasn't at work *on. my. day. off.* she said yes. wasn't long before i moved on. this is the new corporate culture.
Oh, I had similar too. I was the ONLY one who had to attend a mandatory work meeting on my normal day off. This is after working an all-night shift, going to sleep for 2 hours, and having to get up again for a 9 AM teams meeting. I did not attend one of these meetings as I overslept, was way too tired from the shift, and had to wait for the next employee as they ran 1 hour late! I nearly got written up for that one but was able to maneuver my way around it. Let's just say, I separated from the company only after 4 months as I could no longer tolerate the increasing BS pushed out. I have been job hopping for about 1 year now, have found nothing good out there, and looking into just doing gig work as a means to survive on my own terms right now. I'm employed but the job is too volatile for me to be comfortable and may end in March.
@@zofiajaneczek184 overnight shifts are like two shifts in one. they're tough on the body. as for me i thought well i can find something i enjoy even if it doesn't pay that well or i can stay there and let it eat away all my self respect and any quality of life i could maintain. i never regretted leaving and i wish you well out there. this market is for the strong. stay tough and good luck to you. i hope you find something soon.
@@zofiajaneczek184
they tried once to schedule me for a safety training at 13 PM when my shift ended 5:30 am.
I love crazy American shifts. I have spent about 5 years in my carrier starting at 03:30. Totally fun to get somewhere at 3 am when you are Epileptic and don’t drive. And the answer was no the employer was not willing to make accommodation under ADA
Also, it is crazy how much that getting up at 2 am messes with you body. I am at almost 3 years past the 3:30 start and I still wake up at 2:00 without an alarm.
Yeah, you would have a good reason to fight them for wrongful termination if they terminated you over taking off on a scheduled day off.
After years of enduring a grueling 60+ hour work week, I've discovered that escaping the employment cycle has been a game-changer for me. While I wish I'd pursued financial independence sooner, I'm now reveling in the freedom of retirement and savoring life on my own terms.
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I literally have not had more than a three day weekend since I started work in 1992. I’m afraid to take a day off for fear that I will be seen as unproductive. It’s sad that in this country we give up our children and their lives so that we can please our employer who’s just as happy to lay us off the next day. There’s a period of time for about a year when I was working 36 hours on, eight hours off, 36 hours on, eight hours off… Nobody seemed to care that my eyeballs were dragging on the floor and that I was so delirious I could hardly function, they just wanted to know “can you work an extra shift tonight… We’re short staffed”
I have spent over 30 years avoiding the corporate absurdities. You can push back and opt out with the right focus. Being hourly is key. Being an IT contractor has provided a good career.
It's no surprise that many big companies are preferring to hire contractors now
Contracting can pay very well too at least in Tech. Just need to make sure you’re saving a lot of money due to the lack of job security. Contracts can be terminated or discontinued at any time.
But what about insurance?
@@sierrasabol6191 you can be W-2 contractors for a company, they usually offer benefits.
@@sierrasabol6191 Many agencies offer insurance.
As someone from Europe, I'm watching videos like this to get some context about what happens in the United States and I'm always horrified. I can't imagine living in a country where you don't get sick leave, where one decision can leave you jobless immediately, where you don't have guaranteed standard vacation (in my country, it's 26 workdays a year). At the same time, it's not that hard to find online people from America, who are calling European systems communist, just because we have those rights. I hope that one day those privileges will be normalized across the whole world because we all deserve to have a real work-life balance and the possibility to rest.
America is headed toward 996: 9am to 9pm, 6 days a week. This is already informally the case for most software eng positions.
The U.S. does have sick leave, but its optional and most employers that want to attract good employees must offer benefits like sick leave, paid vacations like 4 weeks annually, disability insurance, health insurance,
a retirement savings plan, life insurance, and other benefits. Usually it's only small employers with less than 50 employees that don't offer paid sick leave. That said, it is too easy to be discharged/fired from a salaried or hourly wage job in the USA.
@@FierydiceI am in IT it is closer to 24/7. Kinda hard to ignore a VP after hours when you are messaged in teams
@@carolinaszczesniak6207 America is a trash 3rd world country.
We hate it not having sick days or proper time off for vacations. It’s basically slave labor. And here in the United States 🇺🇸 just like the man doing the video said, employers get away with anything and use every excuse not to pay benefits, etc The irony of all of this is these employers have some of the highest wealth but their very selfish and refuse to share to even skilled workers with college education and experience. A labor revolution is coming to America 🇺🇸 because we are just about sick of this nonsense by these overpaid fat CEO’s that sit on their buts and do nothing
Yes... We work too damn much. Plus, employers never shut down when they know damn well they should. If there is a winter driving advisory or ban....many jobs still expect you to show up. Or they decide to close at the very last minute...when you're 5 minutes from work...only to turn around and barely make it home because of the weather.
Agree completely. But there are millions of people who will aggressively defend their right to be kicked around by employers. It’s so strange and frustrating for those of us who want something better.
A lot of people wrongly believe that if any miniscule thing gets better for their quality of life, the economy and society will collapse. It's subtle psychological conditioning we're all exposed to from a young age.
The average American is not exactly the sharpest tool in the box.
It’s because we are all being poisoned by the food companies to make us sick so the pharmaceutical companies make money treating illnesses that they created. While doing all they can to instigate the further colonization of the EU and USA. Until we stop letting them get away with these things nothing will change
I offered a friend' a job of 78k starting out and he said "I'm not worth that". The capitalist class has really done a number on the average person.
@@lucacrespi88 most can’t even read at a 6th grade level so this checks out.
Here in Germany most people have 25-30 days of vacation per year. And when you're on a sick leave, your vacation isn't being reduced.
Unfortunately, in the U.S. many employees treated sick time as additional PTO time (basically lying about being sick to get an extra day off) and then working while sick. So many companies combined sick leave and vacation time as Paid Time Off.
@@JeffKantinit shouldn’t matter if they lie or not. They EARNED their time regardless and should be able to use it how they see fit
If I just don’t go to work and call in, that is a vacation day on demand and I can do that 4 days a year, all the other vacation days need to be scheduled. To get sick leave I need to go to the doctor, the days off get put in the national system and the employer gets notification.
In America you had to work up your vacation days too usually which pathetic. Most employers start you off at 10 days of PTO which is nothing. You pretty much work the rest of the 50 weeks in a year with only 8-10 holidays a year so at best maybe working 48 weeks total. It’s really sad.
Spot on👌
I'm 54 yrs old, been in corporate America for 35 years.
I'm totally done with it all 👎
Corporate greed has put all the power in the company hands.
I’m 54, live in NewZealand, but spent most of my ‘Career’ working for US Co’s.
Fired too many times, Bullied, Burned-out. Why do that to a Loyal Hardworking Employee with a STEM Degree..??
I’m Done Too 😅
55 here, 34 years
51, just had a conversation with my 29 year old son who’s in a good union that I want to find a way to retire at 55. I do well and can pull it off, but I’m at the mercy of the market to make it work. He gets to retire after 30 years, pension, annuity, 401k, healthcare, everything. Everyone he works with hates their union. This is why we can’t do better. These guys have no idea what they have versus what corporate retirement looks like after the employers stole our pensions and gave us 401k’s in their place. And they wonder why there’s no loyalty!
I’m glad you’re done with it because management is almost done with us. The AI is going to upend just about everything. It’s hard to believe it has to come to this. Don’t believe the hype about AI taking care of our every need, anything that sounds too good to be true never is.
I was once in the CEO's team of a high tech. We all travelled a lot. Due to time zone differences the CEO would call us whilst were asleep. I had to make it clear to him that I would not answer the phone at night - he had to email me and I would read it when I had my breakfast. He was fine with that. I also applied the same rule to everyone else "Email me, do NOT phone me." They all accepted this soon enough - I was the nice but eccentric guy you needed to email, not phone, if you wanted anything to happen.
I operate the same way. Because talking on the phone is a waste of time and can’t be documented or referenced at a later time.
What even is a phone, sounds weird? 😂
@ FWIW At any one time I had several phones of all flavours : all prototypes of feature phones and Smartphones.
Very smart! It ensures you have a record of communications in writing. It also let them know you have boundaries. What's especially impressive is that the boss respected those boundaries. Many bosses simply don't care. 🙄
@@AJ_SouthernGal It was a large firm, but I was senior .. and more importantly I was one of the very first employees, so I knew the CEO and his family. We started off working on basic tables in a small office - but ended up in a huge custom built building.
I get ONE week vacation at my current job in the US - as a licensed healthcare professional.
@@ilovecanines 😮 that is horrible
Then get another job.
@@doctordetroit4339 maybe for a Doctor that’s easy to say. Do better or get off the internet.
@@doctordetroit4339 troll alert
What do you do in healthcare?
Let’s not forget the unique challenges working parents face. When you have sick children and need to stay home until they feel better and can safely return to school, when you need to plan around school schedules and breaks which do not align with the working hours in corporate America, the PTO and sick time starts to get eaten up quickly. WFH helps somewhat with these challenges, but if you don’t have an employer who allows for flexible work schedule, it can feel like an uphill battle.
Holy Cow! Is this video right on the nose! Kudos for making this!
I worked for a company and had team members in US and in UK/Ireland. The approach to work was amazingly different - to the point: It was unfair for the US employees. Both locations got the same number of holidays, but US employees got 3 weeks PTO and UK employees got 6 weeks with the ability to 'buy' another week for a total of 7 weeks (this included brand new employees right out of college). And believe me, they took every single day, and they all took the entire month of August off. We then went through a layoff. US employees got 30 days to 'find a new job' or be terminated. UK employees got six weeks just to find out who was impacted then the impacted employees got another 12 weeks to 'find a new job'. As a result - most all the laid off were in the US (including me). I recall instances where my boss called me on Friday nights, Sunday afternoons, and I even got called into an 'emergency meeting' on the morning of Father's Day! Basically, being a UK employee was a sweet gig and being a US employee by comparison sucked. I decided to hell with it and retired early.
Just a thing. In France the 35 hours/week is not applied to high qualification jobs, people working in consulting, banking, Start ups, IT, Finance they do work often much much more than 35h/week and they can have crazy working hours. But they get compensated with what is called “RTT” reduction du temps de travail (reduction of working hours) which are basically additional vacation days.
I Need also to say that Europe is not a place to become rich, people actually don t generally want to be rich, they want to have a nice and stable lives it is also a place where it is extremely hard to become rich if you come from nothing.
I totally agree. I think here in Europe most of us don't want to be the next billionaires, in fact I would say that the majority of people here don't think kindly of excessive inequalities in wealth. Furthermore, we don't even want to have bigger and bigger houses constantly, more and more cars, etc. We just want to live a pleasant, safe and meaningful life in a civilized and just society.
Its not any harder to become rich in Europe than it is in the US. Most multigenerational wealth is generated by owning and/or selling a company, and thats the same in Europe or the US.
Theres some marginal distinctions on the edge of the upper middle class, but its really quite marginal outside of a handful of LCOLA with high skilled labor (like the research triangle in North Carolina).
Just putting this out there because i think its important to realize there isnt actually the positive side of American work culture that people think exists. Even our "innovative" reputation is lackluster, we underperform most european startup figures per capita.
I've always wondered about this aspect of Europe, particularly with how it affects male-female relationships. If there is no culture of "trying to get rich", how does that effect female hypergamy? In the US, income is seen as a major factor in a man's identity and his prestige in society.
@@KP99Female hypergamy is a bs concept invented and believed by angry men without social graces.
@@KP99 In Europe, because people are not only busy with their work and have better rights as workers, it is not the only thing that matters in life or as much of a factor of their prestige and identity in society. I am from the Netherlands and people (including women) will dislike it if you show off your wealth too much. it's more about the way you carry yourself and your personality that is attractive to women. they care more about that, also most people believe in their moral values and will not jump ship just because someone else has a better job. women like that exist but why would you want those anyway.
Besides, every person that works a legitimate job that brings a positive to society is deserving of respect and should not be treated less than others because they decided they wanted to be done with work after 5 and not work insane hours to climb some corporate ladder to then be able to impress people they do not care about.
Just incase: this is not an attack on your post but more the rationale of someone who lives in Europe
I had a friend who took a job with the promise of unlimited vacation. But once he started working he realized that they had so much work and were so understaffed that at best you can only afford to take one week a year. Europeans understand that work is a means to an end and don't let it dominate their lives like we Americans do.
It's crazy how much vacation jobs in other countries can get. We go and go until we burn out so we can use our PTO to go to a yearly dental checkup or take our dog to the vet and hopefully have a few days left in the summer to take the kids to an amusement park. They get stuff like paternity leave and multiple weeks of vacation! Like enough time to take care of all the crap you can't do on a weekend because stuff is closed, AND have some actual time off to recharge. That sounds so nice.
I work at a public library and, with the exception of the director and assistant director, we are all union. Managers are very good about making sure we take our break and full lunch. Even when I was at a library in corporate, my manager always made sure we took a full lunch AWAY from our desk. Libraries are really good employers for the most part, whether union or not.
just let people work from home, decentralize everything, and let the rural areas thrive instead of being dirt poor. let the cities reset
@@chancepaladin You’d think that was the way things were heading but it makes too much sense for the old guard in power I guess
Ivory Tower Elitist Corporate Bozos are far to addicted to showing off their Office Complexes and Cube Farms to allow that.
Of course they don’t want people living a peaceful life in Nature. Depressed, addicted, poor city people are easy to control and enslave.
Can't do that, it'll devalue all that expensive commercial real estate.
The rural areas being dirt poor are what made them nice peaceful places with low cost of living. Wfh dont contribute to the community like we do as a collective. The employers are not negotiating about it anymore.
I once had a boss who insisted my work hours were 24/7 and he forbade me from volunteering with any community organizations (“that’s what you have a wife for” was his quote). Glad I ignored him. I’m now the Operations Manager at the very church he told me I couldn’t volunteer for.
Well that's illegal.
Churches are some of the most corrupt institutions in the world. They defend priests to no end. In this case your boss was right.
I just came back from working in the Netherlands. I'm an RN in the US and worked as an LVN in a residential facility in the neighborhood in the Netherlands. I worked 24 hrs/week between 6-8 hrs per day with 30 min paid break and 30 min unpaid lunch, and only ever took time off when I got sick. I stayed for only 4 months then returned to California for a regular ICU job. In that 4 months, I was sick for a week, didn't think I had enough sick time to cover it but was paid regardless, and when I quit, I still received 4 weeks vacation time. I was quite surprised because I'd never built this much time off in such a short time frame in the US. I was also required to finish a whole month of work beginning the following month after I had put in my resignation.
Anyway, back in the US, I could not take 2 weeks vacation until I could build it up, which was not until 8 months, and they also take sick time from the same bucket. I call in sick ever so often due to a chronic condition, but job protection while having a chronic condition does not apply until I've been at work at least 1 year.
Back in the US, I notice many of my colleagues work a lot of overtime. I also notice a lot of them still continue on the chat group talking about work during off time. My hospital is pretty generous about breaks, we get a total of 1.75 hrs breaks total for the 12 hrs shift, and 30 minutes of that is unpaid. I also see that a lot of colleagues work long stretches of days like 6 days in a row or 6 nights in a row, then sometimes pick up overtime on top of that. Many end up working 16 hour days, or 10 day stretches.
Meanwhile, I've gotten used to the European way of living. I only work during work hours and work as minimum as possible. We live a very minimalist lifestyle and still save half of our pay.
I like to enjoy our life while we are still young. 😇
What is sad about this is you should be covered by ADA but ADA is beyond a joke for invisible disorders.
America: government of the corporations, by the corporations, and for the corporations.
You vote republican that's what you get
@@randomcheese1719because voting dem would change it lmao
@ guess people like giving their lives away so ceo's can get richer and richer every year. 🤷♂
@@randomcheese1719voting dem gives you the same result. Republicans are just more blatant about it
There's a BBC interview on youtube with the guy who starred as Dr. House. He described Americans as working so hard it would make people's noses bleed if they saw it up close.
The problem is management is insufficiently trained, mostly incompetent (FUMU), and predominantly sociopathic in nature.
The way that employees are abused and gaslit is beyond absurdity. Its amazing that there aren't more workplace sh00tings and not a big surprise when they do occur. The companies usually brought it upon themself by abusing & ignoring the rights of employees.
Everything is driven by attorneys and PR focus to protect the company at all costs. When a valid concern is brought forth, the employee is ignored and then terminated.
A lot of normal people agree, the drive for neo-Feudalism needs to end. Free Luigi.
Because the “management class” wants to rewrite the realties on how to comply with regulatory requirements and deal with REAL market shifts.
If only young impressionable employees are hired or older institutionalized workhorses are retained, particularly those that have shown a strong history of blind compliance to the “education factory”, the current “management class” is free rewrite history, without any alternative narrative muddying their misdirection to stakeholders. This is easily done today by labeling subject-matter-experts as know-it-alls and “bad culture fits”, which results in major financial crises and infrastructure disasters every 2-3 years, along with mass layoffs and market meltdowns.
Spot on
we treat adults like children that need to be hand held that is the big difference honestly....
I help out in our company's payroll dept...and sad to say, most people DO need to be hand held with everything! For instance, you would think direct deposit was a new thing considering so many employees mess it up.
JeffKantin You can't do what you were never taught.
You expect perfection without training for it.
@ The fact that someone would need training to fill in their direct deposit information (which has very clear instructions on where to find the needed info - including pictures and everything) then it shows just how truly helpless people can be.
A view from the Norwegian system:
Greatfully, we have strict rules mandated by our Act of Working Enviornment. This governs matters such as vacation time, lunch breaks, ability to take sick leave as well as an encouragement to unionize across most sectors, white and blue collars alike.
A few examples:
- Our employers are mandated to provide 25 working days off, which may is paid provided you did a full working year the day before. Unpaid time off is also very possible if you do not have worked up any PTO.
- We are allowed and even encouraged to unionize in order to fight to protect out employment rights.
- We are generally expected to take 30 minutes (usually unpaid) off for lunch breaks.
- There are also strict guidelines on working conditions regarding working time, health and safety etc.
- Worklife balance is also heavily emphasized here, and usually encouraged by the employer.
- 37,5 hour working weeks is generally the norm, and not to common to deviate from this (which is not to say that in never happens of course)
Now there are certain professions were long working hours are the norms and expected such as consulting or project work etc. As well as some professions where it is required due to tight neccesary deadlines of professional requirements if you are performing critical work such as being a surgeon, lawyer, train driver on long stretches and the likes.
In general, watching this video reminded me of how greatfull I am to work in Europe, and hope that the US would maybe follow suit in the distand future. Sadly, does not seem that likely.
I know people who fail to understand that corporate loyalty no longer exists.
In the US, you only get a limited amount of PTO that you work for (2 weeks PTO if you're the luckiest) which management is often reluctant to give you and ask what the reason for it is. In most other countries and once upon a time in the US, you get mandatory PTO for at least a month.
My experience in service industry in US after 28 years is that there's no contract, no benefits (only food, but not always), no clock in machine, no break in 10-12 hour shift, paychecks not on time if they even exist, no overtime pay, trips to ER from work because of work, minimum wage not met, money sharing when owners cousin needs a job, checks bounced with $35 fee if you get them at all, credit cards tips kept by the owner. I made $15 for 5 hours of work when I started for months, and I was told to be grateful I even have a job. Training was never paid. All this in Washington, DC. Very expensive city, but I made it. One employer got jumped and is handicapped now (I didn't do it), one filed for bankruptcy with one of his restaurants and closed the other, and one is being sued for food poisoning and closed the restaurant. Karma. Two of the restaurant should have been closed as they were too dirty. All cheated on taxes by not paying employers. Not making other claims, but come on.
We should switch to a 35-hour work week. I can't keep my concentration up for eight hours/day. That last 1-1.5 hours is a waste anyway.
It's way too easy to fire people in the US, and here workers have little rights compared to Europe, but in Europe is too hard for an employer to fire an incompetent person, and workers have too many rights to the detriment of the employer. There should be a middle ground where both parties benefit, not just one at the cost of the other.
Europe has high unemployment and much worse cost of living but go ahead and not for free
It’s because we are all being poisoned by the food companies to make us sick so the pharmaceutical companies make money treating illnesses that they created. While doing all they can to instigate the further colonization of the EU and USA. Until we stop letting them get away with these things nothing will change
The us used to hold that Middle ground, then it all went down the drain.
@@TheMountainBeyondTheWoods it is way too hard to fire people in the US, i dont know what youre talking about
It is not you must only be able to proof that and have tried ample training
It's true that Americans are very friendly and polite at work, but in my opinion these are most often fake friendliness and politness. Most managers decide over other people's lives like if they're not people but interchangeable machine parts.Whar is true in the morning is false in the evening. Everybody can become a poor performer on a flip of a coin. Colleagues never hesitate throwing other colleagues under the bus.
If only employers werent soooo awful about giving WFH to employees who need it. WLB is a NEED.
It’s because we are all being poisoned by the food companies to make us sick so the pharmaceutical companies make money treating illnesses that they created. While doing all they can to instigate the further colonization of the EU and USA. Until we stop letting them get away with these things nothing will change
Why is it a need
We need to end “ employment at will”
All of negativity stems from this dynamic
It’s absolutely hypocritical that the our government that enables employers at will to fire people but that same government who employs workers aren’t held to the same laws and regulations.
I think one step that may help remove the corporate shackles would be to eliminate debt when possible , it can be difficult but companies don’t like it when you don’t have any car loans , mortgages , and credit card debt because they know a person without debt is harder to control and can quit and go their own way easily .
The vacation thing hits me so personally.
@@Thiccolo I got laid off in December and they said I couldn't even use or have my vacation time paid out. This was accrued vacation days that I earned over time--and never got to use. And the kicker: The company name had "Vacations" in the title. A literal vacation company that didn't give a crap about their own employees vacation time. Just so backwards.
I agree with a lot of what you said. I think all of these issues stem from legislation that does not favor or support the worker. I mean to be one of the only countries in the developed world to not have mandatory parental leave by law is just insane.
I resent lunch and learn or mandatory work lunches
"America is the greatest country in the world" 🤣
I'm not from France, but I've been there.
On top of year round sunshine, pretty women, epic countryside from north to south, cheap properties just about everywhere except Paris, low crime, probably the worlds best food and friendly natives here's what it has to offer (that America doesn't):
1) It is nearly *impossible* to sack an employee.
2) Working over 35 hours per week is illegal -unless the employer pays overtime at a very high rate. They even *try* to make you work extra hours you don't want to? Sue the socks off them (the union will provde a lawyer for free). Also refer to point 1 -they can't get revenge by sacking you.
3) Five weeks minimum paid holiday per year, rising with length of service. As well as ten national holidays a year. It is illegal for the employer to contact you whilst on leave.
4) An hours lunch -period. It's illegal to eat at your desk. The employer cannot bother you during lunch break. You can drink on your lunch break and theres nothing they can do unless you are either a driver or return to your place of work completely hammered. Numerous 'food' served in USA is illegal in France because of additives -the French food industry is heavily regulated and barely uses any nasty crap.
5) Feel sick? Don't work. You have numerous protections from being terminated.
So the counter argument? "The French are nowhere near as productive as Americans"
Partly true, but they sure get by. And anyway.. why do you want to be so productive? So your SEO/ CEO/ employer makes more money , which you won't profit from?
The only way in which you are better off in US is if you make a TON of money and never get sick or laid off.
Given a choice I'd take my chances with France.
@@DamienNeverwinter I’d certainly trade better mental health and less stress with slightly lower productivity being a worker bee.
America was great after WW2, one person working a job, not even a high paying one, but just steady employment, could afford a house, a car, and support a family almost without question. But its been a steady erosion between inflation and money printing, and then pretty much every major industry here feels like a predatory racket, namely healthcare, legal, and finance, which for most people, is going to make a huge imoact in ditctating your quality of life, regardless of how well you choose. America isn't the only country with these problems, but considering how we good we once had it, its very shocking and abysmal how far we have fallen in this country. I've worked for 26 years with only minor gaps in employment if I had issues finding the next job, and at this point, I'll be lucky to retire before the natural passing of my own life....
Safe in Paris? And friendly locals? Really?
The greatest country to still be treated as a slave.
Ive had companies say most weekends are off, as some sort of job perk.
I feel like American companies go out of their way to make work as difficult as possible.
Right to disconnect is the most no brainer, right way to go ever. No of course your boss shouldn’t be able to reach you when you are not at work
At will employment means I have zero loyalty to any company because they are not required to have any loyalty to me, and they can fire me without notice too. Why should employees give two week notices anymore? There’s zero incentive to care about a company or job in 2025.
After working for 40 years, I'd suggest only giving a notice if you're on good terms and need them for a referral for another job. If you're disgruntled and/or things aren't going well then it's best to leave without notice. They'll just fire you as soon as you put the notice in.
In Australia, we have a strong union movement, so the worker has a lot of benefits.
We have unfair dismissal laws, meaning there has to be a good reason to fire (eg breaking the law) than just "at will".
We also have a legal minimum wage and , better working conditions and we get annual leave, long service leave, sick leave and superannuation.
Also, because we have a national healthcare system, your health insurance is not tied to your job.
This is a bit off topic but do employers ever lament the employees that got away? For example, someone who was in their call centre for 5 years and a strong performer, but then told them they just finished their Data Analysis degree and would like to work in that department of the company, even if it is part time. Management responds with, "Congrats on the degree. Can you take some calls now? We are really backed up" Six months later the employee leaves and works in their competitor's data analysis department. Management can't understand how come the employee would leave their great company that gives pizza parties to the calls centre employees once a month.
Hiring managers individually do. Companies probably not so much.
Agree with Brian - in every US Co I worked for it was ‘Every Man for Himself’. Most Senior Managers just took a ‘Mercenary’ approach to employees, & as long as the ‘Manager’ kept getting their fat monthly paycheck/bonus, - it was ‘Care Factor ZERO’
Short answer: no. It's like an ex who couldn't give two rats about you. You wish they cared, but they don't and they've forgotten you the moment you left.
Or they get put on a a. PIP because although you have an FCR rate of 98% you Handel time is 3-5 minutes to long.
@@ALifeAfterLayoff Yeah, and the hiring manager probably did fight to keep that person. But they were turned down by higher ups who have never met the person who are charged with driving down costs. So a raise was always out of the question.
Brian, you forgot to mention the little time given for maternity and paternity leave in the US compared to other parts of the world.
The US rewards competitiveness. For example, average software engineer salary in the US is $120k with a ~30% tax rate. France is $60k with a ~50% tax rate.
That's why we answer emails at the grocery store.
That's right, in the US it's everyone for himself. If you don't make it, it's your fault.
@@comdo831 Yes, but we provide all the tools needed.
I was born into poverty (food stamps, free school lunch, etc). I took out some student loans (and paid them back!), went to state university and am now well above median income. Zero resources, zero connections.
Do something stupid like have kids or run up a bunch of debt? Gonna have a bad time.
The job market has been a god awful trash fire more so after the panic of Sept 2008.
I can't get a job even for fast food
One of my reports, who works out of Serbia, gets double the vacation that I do as an American (15 versus almost 30 days).
We've been with the company for approximately the same amount of time.
I have worked for american companies and Mexican Companies. In Mexican Companies vacations are almost inexistent, and people could laugh at you when talking about work-life balance, also salaries are one third of US salaries for the exact same function. The only good thing is when you get fired as an employee by law you get money in proportion of the number of years that you worked also you get proportional vacation days in cash, plus proportional aguinaldo (yearly bonus). That could be like 2 to 6 months of salary which are great for a new job search. US Companies should provide at least two months, that could decrease scheduled layoffs.
as an European in a EU country,many of our labour laws are only for show. I actually read an article on a national site today (!) where a person won a court case for wrongful termination and went back to work but the employer made that person cut tiny strips of paper for 8 hours in a room with no windows and only a 30 minutes lunch brake where nobody talked to that person. Nobody was allowed to talk to the person and the person was required to cut a set amount of papers in an exact size or face pip. Suffice to say the person resigned in less than a month, so the win turned into a loss. This type of things are common in Europe, if the employer wants to fire you,they will, just.more steps and more spite. As for overtime, if you want to get up on the corporate ladder you will do it here,as well. Also, Americans need to understand that on average the wages are much lower in Europe ( even germany, france,belgium Switzerland) than in the US for the same role and it is heavily taxed. I work for an american corporation in Europe and my american colleagues never did overtime
Using your data is one of the biggest ones. In Europe they have the right to erase. Basically an employee can ask that their data be completely erased from all servers excluding information that is required by law up to legal retention when it must be eliminated; normally 7 years.
Does anyone here actually enjoy their job?
I consider myself a professional in my field and I do work in a At Will state. I understand that the company doesn't need a reason to fire me, but what I don't like is when the company bad mouths me behind my back.
Euro experience: worked for 4 years, made redundant. Got 4 months salary. By law company must offer me the position of it opens up within 9 months, or face fines. Regular white collar.
30 days pto from year 1. 30 days unpaid pto from day 1. 7 hour workday, paid lunch break. Can call in sick to tend sick kids.
Those work unions you mention tend to lead to corruption and the result end up being companies not wanting to hire new people or being very cautious about it. I'm from Argentina, and there are plenty of those...
The 35 hours in France are theoretical most of the time. Most employees work longer hours. Hospitality and tourism for example have separate rulings that allow them to work more, employees in offices for example managers in tech are paid to do a certain task and not by the hour so a lot of people will do more than the 35 hours that everybody talks about and think are enforced as is. I know a lot of people who work overtime for free and the general sentiment is that this applies mostly to jobs linked to the administration.
France with her "do the job" positions. It may work for Amazon delivery, where you know making so and so many deliveries will sometimes take you little more and sometimes little less, but for a period of say a month the average time worked is fairly predictable and acceptable. But in engineering, where the assignments vary and sometimes throw unexpected challenges at you, the French "no hours" contracts are simply absurd.
Yes but you still have the RTT days, you are not forced to work overtime and if you do, you can complain to the authorities and make a ruckus and they can't fire you starting with today for no fault of your own and recovery plan, and compensatory paychecks.
@elenabob4953 in theory yes that's for sure. In any case for me the whole way of working in the US is a scam and has been created by CEOs for CEOs. For the overtime that is not forced, that's still mostly in theory. Things are changing fast and a lot of companies are kinda following the US trend. In some companies we have the same issues as in the US. Overtime and crunch that still happens because your boss makes it clear you can't say no, the same peer pressure and the fact that if you are not a team player / not doing what management expects of you, tour career won't go really far. In theory the system is really protective, in practice things are not always that great.
@@elenabob4953 from what I remember the RTT don't really apply to jobs like when you work in tech or similar jobs. Because they can review your performance and say you were paid to do your workload and you didn't. So people feel like they have to do overtime to finish a task / a project and won't claim anything to compensate. When I work in hospitality I have rarely seen people given RTT for their overtime or the choice to do overtime or not. In some cases yes, but I didn't really count my hours nor did the rest of the team. You can get paid more for some of that overtime, but oftentimes it's a bit fuzzy. For example when I worked in retail, they made us set up the shop 30min before and clean everything for at least 30min after but we were paid "only" for the hours where the shop was opened. And nobody found anything to say about that. Because we were told that we just had to open/close faster if we wanted yo go home on time. The theory is amazing, the practice not so much and there are a lot of ways to put pressure on your employees especially when the job market is as bad as right now.
Here in Ireland all of these things exist on paper but in practice they don't. They fire everyone anyway and just pay a fine.
The number of paid vacation days in Europe (I guess in most countries) also depend on age and number of kids. Both of these factors increase it. For example I work in Germany, but due to my age I get 28 vacation days per year. And yeah, when you go on a multi-week vacation, nobody will bother you from the moment you sign off to the moment you start your first workday again. Also, here in Germany, you can go on sick leave and get 100% of your salary (but sadly, I think some people abuse this).
where do you work?
i never had less than 30 except in the army and now have 36
I am in a job in the US that is so overwelming that I have to secretively work on my PTO/sick days just to keep up. I don't want to lose the job. I've been laid off A LOT since COVID😢
Crazy as a teacher in Texas you have to plan your pregnacy close to the summer since you have use your accumulated sick days to get something related to maternity leave. In Latvia you can get up to 18 months of paternal leave where the father must take atleast one month of it with pay subsidized by the goverment.
Some of us work all year. So please temper your outrage.
It’s because we are all being poisoned by the food companies to make us sick so the pharmaceutical companies make money treating illnesses that they created. While doing all they can to instigate the further colonization of the EU and USA. Until we stop letting them get away with these things nothing will change
It's a bit better to teach in blue states.
I'm so glad I left the US corporate world ... and the US culture. I love the US. Some of the people running things in the corporations and government... not some much.
US companies have a myriad of ways to force you out while keeping their hands clean. My employer, for whom I had worked 12 years, stopped paying my salary after 2 weeks into 3 months of short term disability offered as an employment benefit. When I tried to return to work, they told me I couldn't, because I was on disability. I quit.
For those of you screaming, "Sue them." There's a thing called an arbitration agreement that is part of almost every US employment contract. The company pays the judge who arbitrates ... so you know how he will rule.
I believe that times and culture have changed dramatically. In the industrial age when our grandparents and ancestors were still living, they have so little awareness on the outside world. They were led to believe from those on top on how things are run. It was almost as if you shouldn't dare question how the system was run. Now its globalization and the digital age has brought so much awareness on how things are run. We see so much rampant corruption from those in power, we see the mistreatment and lies of being getting screwed over. Add that to the independent way of thinking nobody likes to be taken advantage of being pushed around.
A healthy middle between Germany or France and the US would be good.
Greetings from Los Angeles, California, Bryan! Another great video, Bryan!
Another great video, Bryan!
When you have a country where everything is about money, what do you expect? And we wonder why family values are steadily declining and suicide rates are high.
The work culture is the legacy of the Protestant work ethic that originated with the Puritans. A double edged sword.
Korea has never been protestant yet they can do some crazy hours there too. In fact, most of the world has less holiday entitlement than Europe, so if religion is a factor at all, it is a very minor one.
@@comdo831 I will take your word for it about the work ethic in Korea. I can only speak to the American experience and my study, albeit not thorough, understanding of it. The PWE (my shorthand) had a massive impact on the attitude on work here. While it fostered a creative and dynamic output unlike anything else seen in the world it did come with a downside of the belief that a man must sacrifice everything to his work - oversimplified to be sure but that's the jist of it.
We are mostly at work 8-5 or 9-6 or 45 hours a week. If you need to be at a lunch meeting, then that's work. You're giving up your lunch hour to the company for free. We're essentially working 45+ hours a week with only 2-3 weeks of vacation in the US. Glad I live in France now.
I am not saying that all American-based companies or Americal corporate work culture is bad, but 90% of what I have experienced at least, and it doesn't matter whether I got officially hired, interviewing, or submitting my application. But I noticed almost all that you've mentioned here are my personal experience.
Most US-based employments I have only lasted for max 1 year. EU, on the other hand, lasted me 4.5 years and counting.
That goes to show how effed up it is.
I thought the US had a pretty relaxed work culture. What about Japan or Korea? I’ve heard 5 or 6 10hr days are normal.
American: I have to take about 3 days off for surgery for my time off. I'll keep my phone on if you need me.
European: BYE! Be back in 3 months. Don't bother me.
And going to hospital in USA..
Yup my supervisor does that. She says “please text me if you need anything” when she goes out to pick up her son. Like lady there’s nothing that urgent for me to text you about work while you’re picking up your kid from school
Company first, employee second. Profit to shareholders is the goal, not your career. Please proceed.
We work more than the world, get less, but give the most to the world.
I'm in 100% agreement with this, the big thing is that people don't want to let go of the past. When we or our employers finally stop thinking that the way our parents, grandparents, great-grandparents did things is the only/right way then maybe things will change....
Just my opinion lol
Excellent video, and I think you are spot on with your message!
There isn't a prescribed time, but there is however a requirement that if they say you have to clock out to eat they have to give a minimum of 30 minutes and if they don't give you 30 minutes they have to pay you for the whole time you were clocked out. Yes, I worked for employers that did pay if you had to clock back in before 30 minutes was up.
I worked in EY in Ireland and we had staff from the US for 3 months. In the first day were surprised we all left the office for an hour lunch break at a local restaurant
One of them said in the US I just eat at my desk for 15 minutes and go straight back to work
I live and work in Europe and when I hear how people work in the US is sounds absolutely crazy to me. I understand that the employer, the HR and your manager etc are not your friends but this level of toxic work culture is absolutely outrageous and in your face exploitative. Yes people working in the US might earn much more money than people do here, but I personally would never exchange that for my comfortable and chill workplace, 28 paid days of vacation, security against random layoffs and overall work life balance. I'd rather earn less and live and spend time with family and friends more.
In the UK the most ambitious - or money hungry - staff work the same very long hours as in the USA. I have been happy working very long hours for decades - as long as I get a bucketful of money.
Some of my Canadian and European colleagues actually want to work in the US because the pay is much higher here for the same job in my profession despite the longer hours and worse benefits. At the end of the day, it depends on what one values, especially if the longer hours means more pay.
It’s because we are all being poisoned by the food companies to make us sick so the pharmaceutical companies make money treating illnesses that they created. While doing all they can to instigate the further colonization of the EU and USA. Until we stop letting them get away with these things nothing will change
@@pikakac2441 Yes, I have a friend from the UK who lives here, and he often talks about how much money we make over here.
In Brazil we have a very old legislation regarding work conditions (so called CLT) which provides the employee a lot of rights but at a high cost, almost 50% is taken to pay taxes, a forced savings account and unions.
This really opened my eyes and I’d like it if you could do a follow up on this topic.
I quit my w2 job and went independent contractor . Don’t miss it .
I work in a union, over 10 years now with 4 weeks vacation and a bunch of sick time. It's a city job or Federal, depending on the branch. That alone was the motivation.
Brian, great video. You hit on topics we all think about. I wish you would do a video on the Post AI world. I’m still waiting to hear from the government and private sectors what our roles will be.
Been following this channel and looking over union history for the past 3 years. Along with a lot of other topics relating to employment and the employer relationship. IT struck a cord with me because despite the fact that Ive earned my 3 weeks off a year for being at my company for over 5 years, I am actively told I cannot take it all at once. But the thing is I know it is nonsense because Ive collaborated with coworkers to cover for those 3 weeks, yet I am still denied. Supervisor doesn't like me because I rock the boat and actively defend my labor rights on the state and federal level as well. Not to mention the fact that we recently have lay offs. Of which, a good friend of mine who was also a coworker was "let go." We knew why he was let go, it was because he didn't have the availability that I have to come in. He has to take care of his parents and his wife, but the cited "budgetary reasons." Which I am sure is partially true, but we know they targeted him because he couldn't come in whenever.
I am so very tired of working overall and if I were rich, I wouldve effed off into the ether years ago.
I am in the US and my experience in corporate was everything he said and way more that he’s not saying out loud! Had to get into a completely different line of work other than a cubicle!
No one has a life in America. Pretty sure every single person trudges through each “10 hour” workday in absolute misery. Low pay, long hours, you need a phd for minimum wage jobs, condescension, psychological abuse from the narcs and sociopaths, then when you leave you have to say thank you for the abuse it was wonderful, with a smile. Insanity
But alas, we all have to eat
People in the USA earn more money than people in Europe do on average.
Pump as much money as you can into your 401K every year and have a plan that gets you to retirement as soon as possible.
@@reformcongress don’t know the statistic on that but I’ve heard Americans are the least healthiest and most miserable
As a Brit I always thought American workers got a poor deal employment law wise. It seems like employees can get the sack even for just accidentally passing gas in the wrong direction! At least in the UK an employer needs a cast iron reason to legally fire an employee.
Annual leave entitlement/ vacation is generous here as the chart indicated. 28 days a year at the start of an employment contract is more typical for public sector organisations whereas 21 days a year for private sector businesses. 14 days a year is pretty mean.
@@mattw8332 doesn’t even have to be gas 😂 often the team or manager just doesn’t like the employee for some reason and wants to fire them. So they’ll use any reason even though legally they don’t need one.
The US employment landscape: get rich or die trying
3:24 Hold up. It's always been my understanding that office workers ARE working class. Let's not draw a line that doesn't need to be drawn. You mean blue collar vs. white collar.
Germany: 38.5 hours of work per weeks. 30 days off per year. My boss never calls or writes on weekends. And nobody checks my time. I can come and leave whenever I want. I love this freedom very much. I said "freedom" on purpose, because Americans are always on and on about their freedom, but what was described in this video didn't sound like freedom at all!
I am an American, and I agree with you. We yammer on and on about our freedoms (which is what our country was founded on, let's be honest) yet we treat our workers like peons with no rights.
We sacrifice our freedom following the rules of the At-Will jobs , most or so bad now they don't want to hear the reason for call-offs because most know that there is a partying world outside the door and even legalization doesn't matter most of those jobs think people are using on the job or under the influence so where does that fit in to today's world, nowhere. Its still like the Carnegie times a 100 years ago.