The funny thing is that if you live in Europe and work for a US company, you also get the European perks. I really don't understand why more Americans don't move here
this post was submitted on 08 Jun 2025
403 points (98.8% liked)
Europe
6284 readers
1234 users here now
News and information from Europe ๐ช๐บ
(Current banner: La Mancha, Spain. Feel free to post submissions for banner images.)
Rules (2024-08-30)
- This is an English-language community. Comments should be in English. Posts can link to non-English news sources when providing a full-text translation in the post description. Automated translations are fine, as long as they don't overly distort the content.
- No links to misinformation or commercial advertising. When you post outdated/historic articles, add the year of publication to the post title. Infographics must include a source and a year of creation; if possible, also provide a link to the source.
- Be kind to each other, and argue in good faith. Don't post direct insults nor disrespectful and condescending comments. Don't troll nor incite hatred. Don't look for novel argumentation strategies at Wikipedia's List of fallacies.
- No bigotry, sexism, racism, antisemitism, islamophobia, dehumanization of minorities, or glorification of National Socialism. We follow German law; don't question the statehood of Israel.
- Be the signal, not the noise: Strive to post insightful comments. Add "/s" when you're being sarcastic (and don't use it to break rule no. 3).
- If you link to paywalled information, please provide also a link to a freely available archived version. Alternatively, try to find a different source.
- Light-hearted content, memes, and posts about your European everyday belong in !yurop@lemm.ee. (They're cool, you should subscribe there too!)
- Don't evade bans. If we notice ban evasion, that will result in a permanent ban for all the accounts we can associate with you.
- No posts linking to speculative reporting about ongoing events with unclear backgrounds. Please wait at least 12 hours. (E.g., do not post breathless reporting on an ongoing terror attack.)
- Always provide context with posts: Don't post uncontextualized images or videos, and don't start discussions without giving some context first.
(This list may get expanded as necessary.)
Posts that link to the following sources will be removed
- on any topic: Al Mayadeen, brusselssignal:eu, citjourno:com, europesays:com, Breitbart, Daily Caller, Fox, GB News, geo-trends:eu, news-pravda:com, OAN, RT, sociable:co, any AI slop sites (when in doubt please look for a credible imprint/about page), change:org (for privacy reasons)
- on Middle-East topics: Al Jazeera
- on Hungary: Euronews
Unless they're the only sources, please also avoid The Sun, Daily Mail, any "thinktank" type organization, and non-Lemmy social media. Don't link to Twitter directly, instead use xcancel.com. For Reddit, use old:reddit:com
(Lists may get expanded as necessary.)
Ban lengths, etc.
We will use some leeway to decide whether to remove a comment.
If need be, there are also bans: 3 days for lighter offenses, 7 or 14 days for bigger offenses, and permanent bans for people who don't show any willingness to participate productively. If we think the ban reason is obvious, we may not specifically write to you.
If you want to protest a removal or ban, feel free to write privately to the primary mod account @EuroMod@feddit.org
founded 11 months ago
MODERATORS
Fucking immigrants from third world countries taking our jobs /s
US applicant: "How many sick days do I get?"
German HR department: "I'm sorry what do you mean?"
US applicant: "How many days may I call in sick per year?"
German HR department: "Er... that depends on how often you get sick?!"
US applicant: "Wat."
I live in Norway and have 21 sick days. That means days that I can self report as sick. (Influenza and such) I can do this for three consecutive days I think. Then I have to get a physician to write a sick leave. For anything serious you have one year on sick leave before more long term solutions will have to be found. Sick days does not include doctors appointments (its their own quota) or home with sick child (10 days) Pregnancies are their own thing, but often you go on sick leave before birth because being pregnant while not an illness makes you feel ill. We have one year of paternity/maternity leave first three months are reserved for mother, then shares but both parents MUST take three months. (Can get around by company paying for the leave of the one supposed to go back to work.) Father gets two weeks just after birth to settle things at home.
Thanks for the input!
This exact thing happened to my partner. Her rep was like, what is a 'Sick Day'?
Does anyone else find a bit odd to phrase basic labour rights as 'perks'?
Europeans probably. Americans be like ๐ฒ
"nobody asked me questions during my maternity leave"
Yeah. Because it's the fricking law both in Germany as well as Austria. Her boss would be in hot water. 1800โฌ fine per case (means per question) up to 3600โฌ for repeat offenders. It does not change a thing if the mother offered it or not.
The Austrians are actually quite lenient with that. German law gives fines up to 30.000โฌ and in cases that are seen as endangerment of the child up to one year of prison.
We seriously do not fuck around with that here.
(The same goes for vacations)
Perks? You mean the way of life?
Perks (US En) = basic (and not even always functioning) labour protection
The US Labor Laws are complete shit. Period!
us could have this too, if you had strong unions among other things.
You mean communism?
Edit: /s because it seems it wasnt obvious enough
Looking around at the current political environment, I'll take a little of that Communism, or at least the Socialist flavor.
load more comments
(7 replies)
for any fluent English speakers out there, it's a very similar situation if you want to start teaching English abroad.
20-25 teaching hours a week, sign up bonuses, airfare reimbursement, at least a couple months of vacation per year, much lower cost of living in most countries, with maybe the field-specific benefit of thousands of job openings currently available.
Plus you get an adventure the whole time you're in another country, new experiences and new cultures.
Definitely why I never went back to the work culture in the US.
Teaching here is a 20/20h for a fulltime job and you get around 90 days off, but you can't choose when to take em.
2 weeks off for the easter holidays, then 6 weeks of work, followed by another 2 weeks of holidays. Those start tomorrow officially, as Monday is a national holiday.
Are you tough enough to handle 6 whole weeks with only the weekends off?
load more comments
(7 replies)
I hope she finds the strength to leave the US and find a job and home outside of the US. The jobs in the USA are mostly exploitative - not surprising with the labor laws as weak as they are.
Sorry, my US Friends. We're just too left on working issues, mostly.
They don't understand what you said, you should have used the word woke
load more comments
(2 replies)
As an aside, it's always both a bit funny and bewildering how even the more reputable American media talk about Europe as if it were just one thing, so that, for instance, this article specifies it to Austria only several paragraphs into the text.
What? Europe isn't a country?
Not yet. Seeing as things are going with the rise of the far right, probably not for quite a while.
load more comments
(2 replies)
paywall
www.businessinsider.com Working remotely for a European company as an American: My review Charissa Cheong 8 - 10 minutes I landed a remote job for a European company, and now I'd find it hard to go back to a US-based company โ I feel spoiled by the perks
Left: Meghan Gezo in her home office in Michigan; Right: A view of the buildings in Linz, Austria Meghan Gezo said working for a European company has helped expand her HR knowledge. Taylor Shock; Westend61/Getty Images
Jun 7, 2025, 11:32 AM GMT+2
Meghan Gezo works for a European company from her home in Michigan.
She loves the benefits of European working culture, from the hours to the vacation time norms.
Having experienced these perks, Gezo said she'd find it hard to work for a US-based company again.
This as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation with 34-year-old Meghan Gezo, from Michigan. The following has been edited for length and clarity.
In 2022, I left my job working remotely in people operations for a US company. Juggling my job and raising my one-year-old wasn't working.
I wanted to take a break while I looked for another opportunity that would allow me to have better work-life boundaries.
Companies use Trump's executive order as a loophole to fast-track commercial seafloor mining
After a few months of job hunting, I started as a people experience manager at Storyblok, a fully remote content management company based in Austria.
I'd never worked for a company based in Europe before. Living in the US, most jobs that pop up are US-based.
People have come to expect more work-life balance in Europe, as the employment laws differ from the US. For me, there have been perks related to my life as a parent, my working hours, and my professional growth. I was immediately drawn to the benefits of working for a European company
I've been working in remote jobs for tech companies since 2016.
I'd previously worked in an office, but thought a remote job meant I could focus on higher-impact work than the office administration that usually fell to HR, as well as branch out beyond the manufacturing and automotive industry jobs in my area.
It was easier to find a remote job in 2022 than in 2016. I found the listing for Storyblok on a job board. The people I spoke with were genuine and direct. In the first interview, they talked about time off norms and said the standard workweek is 38.5 hours. They seemed to emphasize work-life balance and gave me concrete examples of how it worked at the company.
I was optimistic I could be successful in the role while staying involved in my daughter's life.
In the US, the norm on paper is a 40-hour workweek, but in practice, people often work until they finish their tasks, especially in tech. I used to work, feed my daughter, put her to bed, and then work some more. It felt normal.
At my current company, you focus on work when you're at work and then log off until the next day. There have definitely been times when I've had to work extra hours, but overall, I'd say that my work-life balance is better.
In the US, it can often feel that your work is your identity. My European colleagues take pride in their work and are extremely hard workers, but their job is one facet of their identity. Working for a European company has pushed me in new ways
I've gained experience working with people from other cultures. Learning about Austrian law has also pushed me to expand my HR knowledge beyond US employment law.
One thing I've noticed about the company culture is that when people are on vacation, they're on vacation. Meanwhile, it's more the norm in the US to answer messages on vacation. I've not completely broken this habit, but it has felt more attainable for me to delete work communication apps from my phone when I'm away. I've felt very supported in my role as a parent at my European company
The Austrian norm of "care leave," which isn't a norm in the US, is a great part of working for a European company. Because I have kids under a certain age, I get to use two paid weeks off a year for days when my kids are sick and I need to take them to a doctor or take care of them. Having this bucket to pull from is a huge weight off my shoulders as a parent.
My previous employers had generous parental leave policies. However, at Storyblok, I got slightly more time โ 16 weeks.
I went on maternity leave at a previous company with my firstborn and again at my current job in 2023. During my most recent maternity leave, people in the company treated it very seriously. I got a lot of support from my manager and team to help plan for my leave and assign my tasks to others.
During my first maternity leave for a previous company, I didn't mind answering a few questions as needed to support my team, but at Storyblok, no one asked me work-related questions while I was away. There are some downsides
While my working hours suit my season of life, there are days when I wish I could start later at 9 a.m. However, I don't think I'd be as effective without overlap with my European colleagues. Right now, I work 6:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. ET.
Sometimes, if I have a question I want to ask colleagues in Europe during my afternoons, I'll know that I won't be getting an answer until the next day because of the time zone difference. I've learned to work these expectations into my regular workflow.
It does make me sad that I don't live near my colleagues. I've built strong relationships with these people, but they're an ocean away. I'd find it hard to go back to a US-based company
Working for a European company didn't occur to me as an option before I interviewed for this job. Having worked here for over two years, I feel spoiled by the benefits and perks of European working culture, and it would be hard for me to go back to working for a US-based company.
Do you have a story to share about remote work? Contact this reporter at ccheong@businessinsider.com
as told to
Europe
Remote Work
More
Read next
Thank you very much.
load more comments
(1 replies)
view more: next โบ