When working in Europe, are Chinese people shocked at the working condition?
中國人在歐洲工作時，會不會對工作環境表示震驚？
以下是Quora網友的評論：
Jean Monnet
Lives in Paris10mo
In France, my chinese colleagues do not believed about the working conditions : 35 hours per week, 6 vacation weeks plus 12 days off ( rtt ) , free social welfare for the whole family. In my company, the works council offers 2000 euros per year to each employee to pay vacation costs on the best beaches or ski resorts of Europe. We go together every day to nice and ch restaurants. Believe me, they are not in hurry to go back to China.
在法國，我的中國同事對這裏的工作環境表示不敢置信：每周工作時間35小時，每年有6周假期，外加12天年假，全家都可享免費社會福利。我們公司的勞資委員會每年都爲每位員工提供2000歐元的旅行經費，足夠員工去歐洲最棒的海灘或滑雪勝地度假。我們每天都去好吃又便宜的餐館吃飯。相信我，他們都樂不思蜀呢。
Chris Ebbert
Lived in ChinaAuthor has 11.4K answers and 274.8M answer views10mo
Yes, my Chinese wife is still reeling from shock, working here in Sweden.
It’s a world where you are over at your boss’s place for a barbecue with the kids and the dog some weekends, you are expected to have lengthy coffee breaks with your colleagues twice a day, and the general office atmosphere is more like a group therapy setting.
是的，沒錯，我的中國太太來瑞典工作這麽久了還是經常表示吃驚。
在這兒，周末時大家偶爾會帶著孩子們、狗狗們去老板家燒烤，每天跟同事們享受兩次惬意的咖啡時間，辦公室的整體氛圍更像是大家在一起療養的環境。
No one expects you to work through weekends or do weird stuff as favours to your boss because of some background magic. And then, they give you six weeks paid vacation and contracts that may only end when you retire.
It’s really scary.
沒有人要求你在周末工作，或者幫老板幹些奇奇怪怪的活。而且他們還會給你6周的帶薪假期和一直到退休才結束的勞動合同。
這真的完美得叫人不敢相信。
Sarah Lee
Lived/Studied/Worked in Asia, EU, US10mo
I’ve lived and worked in the Netherlands, straight after coming from Shanghai. Like the other respondents, I can say with much confidence that the culture shock was very real. I completely agree with everything tehy said regarding the working hours, time off, coffee breaks etc etc.
However, to give some added texture, some anecdes might help. Ne that this is specific to my industry (consulting) and sub specialty, anti fraud and compliance, so this does not cover all experiences.
我離開上海出國後就一直在荷蘭工作生活。就我自己來說，文化沖擊是真實存在的。大家提到的工作時間、休息時間、咖啡時間等等，也都是真實存在的。
我給大家講幾件趣事吧。不過這些事都是我們公司所處的行業(咨詢)和部門(反欺詐和合規)發生的，可能沒有普遍性。
A young Chinese colleague (3 years into her career) pulled me aside asking for advice as she felt her career was stalling. She’s been stopped for a promotion because she didn’t have enough experience. If she were in China, it would have been a no brainer as everyone was promed automatically based on time served. However, in the Netherlands (and Europe as we were in a company with many regional offices), they would scrutinize your experience extensively. Who was ? Well, both actually. On the surface you would think the measure of experience would by far out pace that of just looking at the time served. However, that becomes the case when you don’t have enough projects to sustain all employees, as in Europe. This causes imbnces in experience across teams and not everyone is served with similar projects or opportunities. You could coast along with minimal participation, just don’t expect a promotion at the end of it. However, in China, everyone is putting in the hours (and overtime) that just by looking at time spent, you can be more comfortable in the knowledge that the relevant experience is obtained. It is because of this experience gap that I told my colleague if she could, find a way to go work in China, just for a year or two. The “level up” in experience that you get can be matched by very few other places. Personally, I felt like my career stalled there as the number of projects were little and each project dragged because our clients (literally) were not in a rush.
一位年輕的中國同事(入職3年)向我尋求建議，她擔心自己的事業停滯不前。她因爲沒有足夠的經驗而沒能升職。
如果她在中國，大家都會隨著工作時間的增加自動得到升職。但是在荷蘭(甚至整個歐洲，因爲我們的公司在很多國家都有辦事處)，公司會嚴格審查員工的工作經驗。哪種方法好呢？
其實，兩種都有道理。表面上看，你會認爲考核工作經驗比單純考慮工作時長更有道理。但是如果沒有足夠多的項目來養活所有的員工時，問題就出現了，就像歐洲這樣，造成團隊之間的經驗不平衡，因爲並非每個員工都有一樣的項目和機會。
但在中國，每個人都在累積工作時間(包括加班)，只要看看工作時長，就能清楚地知道自己獲得了相關經驗。正是因爲這種不同，我跟我的同事說，她可以考慮去中國工作一兩年，她將獲得的突破是在其他地方很難實現的。就我個人而言，我現在的職業生涯就停擺了，因爲工作項目的數量很少，而且每個項目都拖著，因爲我們的客戶一點兒也不著急。
Another colleague in audit, with its strict deadlines and abundance of workload & limited budget, worked so hard she ended up hospitalized. So this is a tale in the opposite direction of a colleague who worked too hard because of the environment she was in ironically. She came from Singapore and was used to the faster pace of work, as well as the greater demands on the employee. She managed several projects in the Dutch office and was piled on more work as she just got things done. I’ve personally spent 2 busy seasons loaned to the audit teams and know that pressure cooker environment. However, this colleague was worked ragged because as a manager in the project, she had to beg her staff to work overtime (meaning 6 or 7pm). They would bargain to do 1 or 2 days a week of overtime and refuse to do more. The company didn’t have the bandwidth to offer more staff (and knowledge transfers doesn’t always make it efficient or sensible to have too many staff on the projects). Eventually she had to do the work herself and became exhausted. Naturally she left the job and is much happier in a bank working the hours that others are doing, while also lamenting the slowdown in her career path.
另一位同事是審計部的，由于工作期限緊，工作量大，預算有限，工作太拼，把自己累到住院了。這是另一個極端了。這個同事工作太努力，是因爲她的工作環境很諷刺。她來自新加坡，習慣了高強度的工作節奏，對員工要求嚴格。她在荷蘭辦公室同時負責好幾個項目，事情做完還有更多的工作在等著。我自己曾在審計團隊工作過兩個旺季，知道那種身處鍋般的環境有多痛苦。我這位同事工作得非常辛苦，作爲項目經理，只能懇求她的員工加班(也只是晚上6、7點)。員工只接受每周加班1到2天，多一天都不行。她沒辦法，只能自己咬牙幹，幹到崩潰。最後她辭職了，換了一份銀行的工作，終于可以和別人一樣正常上下班，她快樂多了，但也會爲自己放緩的職業道路感到遺憾。
Jonathan Yang
Knows GermanAuthor has 190 answers and 262.8K answer viewsMay 22
Totally. It’s like having your reality turned one hundred and eighty degrees. I got to admit, working condition in Europe is far, far much better than Asian countries.
I think everyone already knew how toc and ridiculous China, Japan, and South Korea working culture is. Long working hours, very little and almost to none day off. Oh, and if you are unlucky, no overtime pay for you.
This is something I realize after working in two different part of hemisphere. Europe care more about their worker, and Asia care more about their customer.
沒錯，簡直就是天差地別。我必須承認，歐洲的工作條件比亞洲國家要好得多。
每個人都清楚，中國、日本和韓國的工作文化有多荒謬。工作時間長，幾乎沒有休息日。如果你運氣不好，連加班費都沒有。
這是我在同一個半球的兩個地方工作後發現的。歐洲更關心員工，而亞洲更在意客戶。
To give you some image, after I resigned from my company as Palm oil field supervisor due to burnout, I tried to work as Barista. Weird I know how working as supervisor in palm oil to barista. I feel a bit interested in food and beverage, thus the sudden change. The pay is not even half of my previous sry, but I was okay with it since I want to find some experience.
But what I got in return worth bullcrap at most.
舉個例子，我因爲太過勞累，從棕榈油公司辭去主管一職，轉行做咖啡師。我對食品和飲料有興趣，所以決定跨行工作。雖然咖啡師的工資還不到我以前的一半，但我覺得還行，因爲我想積累一些經驗。
但我收獲了什麽呢？簡直難以啓齒。
No holiday allowance. For those who don’t know, holiday allowance is a bit similar to paid-leave. Paid-leave in Asia is extremely short, ranging from 5–12 days. That’s why in return you will get holiday allowance, sorts of like bonus. Usually its one month worth of sry. And the company must give it to those who work for them, there is a law for it and company who didn’t give holiday allowance can get called by the go nment if someone report it. So, no, I don’t get those.
沒有假期津貼。我先說明一下，假期津貼類似于帶薪休假。亞洲的帶薪假非常短，從5到12天不等。所以作爲回報，你可以領取假期津貼，有點像獎金的意思。基本上是一個月的工資。公司必須給員工發放假期津貼，這是法律明文規定的。只要有人舉報，政府部門就會打電話給公司核實。所以，我無法理解沒有假期津貼這件事。
What you get paid for didn’t worth anything compared what you need to do. “Here 200$ monthly sry, in return you pay my kindness back with, making coffee, serving the customer, cleaning, baking bread, cooking food, twelve hours of work, oh if I told you to work overtime and you are going to work overtime, no no, no overtime money for that. Also, if I told you to come on your day off, you must come.”, “Baking and cooking? But I thought I was applying for Barista?”, “That is also what barista need to do. Don’t worry, someone will teach you. Oh while you are at it, can you cook me some drumstick?”
跟工作量相比，報酬實在太低。“工資也就200美元，而作爲對這筆恩賜的回報，你得煮咖啡，服務顧客，打掃衛生，烘烤面包，制作餐食，工作12個小時，還有，如果我讓你加班，你就得加班，不，不，沒有加班費。還有，如果我讓你在休息日來工作，你就必須到位。“烘焙和烹饪？沒搞錯吧，我記得我申請的崗位是咖啡師吧？”“咖啡師也得負責這些。不用怕，有人教的。哦，你上班啦，給我做點雞腿吧?”
If the owner decides to close for three days, your day-off is getting cutted. We have one day off every week. This one day the owner suddenly said he is going in a vacation for two days, since the cafe is closed, we won’t be getting our day-off until three weeks. Yes, keep working nonstop for three weeks.
No appreciation no matter how good your performance is. A little mistake like forgoting the customer ordering cold or hot drink? Thats an earful for you.
如果老板決定關店休息三天，你的休息日就泡湯了。正常情況下我們每周能休息一天。有一次老板突然說他要去度兩天假，所以咖啡館就關門了兩天，結果我們等到三個禮拜後才有休息日。沒錯，我們連續工作了三個禮拜。
不管表現多好，也沒有人會肯定你。一點點小失誤，比如忘了顧客點的是冷飲還是熱飲，都會被數落上半天。
Uncomfortable environment. Now, my fellow co-worker are full of great and funny people. And the owner, my boss, while incredibly stingy, is pretty lax and casual. Right, remember when I say “That’s an earful for you”?, actually that’s not my boss, that is my boss mother. When I made a mistake in using different tea while making some drink, my boss didn’t scold me, rather he took the beverage and drink it himself. But my boss mother? Non-stop nagging, causing a scene for every little thing, and finding fault in all work we do. Why is she there in the first place? I don’t even know. She even come everyday just to mon or our work. It’s as if she’s our real boss. Even our boss only drop by few times a week.
工作環境讓人不舒服。我的同事都很不錯，很有趣。店主，也就是我的老板，雖然巨摳門，但爲人還算隨和。我說過我曾被數落半天的事，數落我的不是老板，而是老板娘。有時候我制作飲料時不小心用錯了茶葉，我的老板並沒有責備我，他會拿起飲料自己喝掉。但是老板娘就會不停地唠叨，爲雞毛蒜皮的小事鬧得不可開交，對我們的所有工作都吹毛求疵。她每天都來監督我們工作，就好像她才是真正的老板。而我們真正的老板每周就來幾次。
Now in Germany? I must say I don’t want to go back. Just reverse everything I listed above, minus the comfortable working environment.
To be fair, it’s hard to find a place to be comfortable when it comes to work. No perfect place, and no perfect human. Still, the other condition are way better than what I have before, so 4 out of 5!
The only thing I missed is my hometown food );
現在我在德國怎麽樣呢？我得說，我真的不想回去。這裏的一切都跟我上面提到的相反，還有讓人舒適的工作環境。
說句公道話，說到工作，很難找到十全十美的。沒有完美的公司，也沒有完美的人。但這裏的其他條件都比我之前經曆得好多了，總分5分能打4分！
我唯一懷念的只有家鄉的美食。
Jiahua Zhu
I had worked same company in China for 8 years, In US for 10 years and have many business travel to France. Actually I was surprised that my colleagues in France also work overtime frequently. One of my US colleagues almost keep on line for 24 hours a day. I’m also got used to global meeting at midnight. I think how long are you gonna work is more about personal choices instead of something about country.
我在中國時，在一家公司工作了8年，現在來美國工作了10年，經常去法國出差。事實上，當我看到法國的同事也經常加班時，我非常意外。我還有個美國同事幾乎每天24小時在線。我自己也習慣了半夜三更參加全球會議。我認爲工作時長是個人選擇，跟國家無關。
Michael Zheng
Sometimes I speak, but mostly I’m here to learn Author has 163 answers and 152.8K answer views4y
How are Chinese people able to work so much? Even when they live in Europe they seem to work continuously. Is it their upbringing or what kind of conditioning or life philosophy do they have?
How you ask? It’s fear!
They are afraid to go hungry. They are afraid to let their kids be without food on the table. Fear their life in the new country will be worse than their life back home.
When you pack up and live in a new country there are no welcome parties, no support group, and no money. Some of the new immigrants come to the new country with less than $100 on them. If you don’t work hard, you may not be able to pay rent, or your next meal. Fear is a great motivator.
你問中國人怎麽能這麽拼？問就是擔心，就是害怕！
他們害怕挨餓，害怕孩子沒飯吃，害怕在新環境裏生活得比原來差。
當你收拾行囊去一個新的國家生活時，沒有歡迎派對，沒有互助小組，也沒有錢。有些新移民剛到新國家時身上的錢還不到100美元。如果不努力工作，可能就付不起房租，三餐沒有著落。恐懼就是強大的動力。
When I was little my Mom has 3 jobs. Her 8–5 was working in a garment factory. From 6–9 she worked cleaning offices and people’s homes. On weekends she would work in a Chinese restaurant to wash dishes and cleaning up.
We grew up poor, but we never went hungry and we always had a roof over our heads. We even took cam vacations on some weekends. It was great.
我小的時候，我媽媽同時打3份工。她早8晚5在一家服裝廠上班。6點到9點在辦公室和雇主家做保潔。周末，還會去一家中餐館洗碗、打掃衛生。
我們雖然家境貧困，但從未忍饑挨餓，從未露宿街頭，有時周末還會去露營度假。
Yang Liu
Lives in New York City6y
What is it like for a Chinese person to live and work in other parts of the world?
I was born and lived in China until 22 years old when I graduated from college. After that, I came to USA for master degree. And I have lived in New York for 6 years.
The most challenging problems to Chinese students like me are in general two things: English and culture.
我在中國出生，22歲大學畢業才來美國攻讀碩士學位。現在我來紐約6年了。
對像我這樣的中國學生來說，最大的困難基本都是這兩個：英語和文化。
About English: Even though English courses are compulsory to every student in China since middle school, and it is also part of the college admission tests, it doesn’t make most Chinese students good English speaker. The are many flaws in English education in China, but the main issue is that it is basically `exam-based`, not `communication-based` and the main purpose of a language is to communicate well with other people. It takes some time for us to get used to the language environment.
關于英語：盡管英語課是每個中國學生從中學開始的必修課，也是大學入學考試的必考科目，但大多數中國學生並沒有因此說得一口流利的英語。中國的英語教育存在很多缺陷，但問題主要在于中國的英語教學是爲了“應試”，而非“交流”，而語言的主要用處就是跟別人無障礙交流。我們需要時間來適應語言環境。
About culture: Chinese culture and western culture are very very different. Living in other parts of world is a refreshing and interesting experience. In China. people tend to have similar mindset, while it could be completely different from western mind.
Just imagine, you were lived in a country where everyone looks like you, thinks like you, acts like you. And then one day you go to another country people looks/thinks/acts different(sometimes extremely different) from you. In most western countries, people don’t have such similarity on appearance and ideology.
In short, I feel like it is a reality show of `Alice’s adventures in Wonderland`.
關于文化：中國和西方的文化是非常非常不同的。在其他國家生活能令人耳目一新，是一種有趣的經曆。中國人的思維方式都較爲相似，而西方國家完全不同。
想象一下，你原來生活在一個所有人外貌相似，思維方式相似，行爲舉止相似的國家。有一天，你去到另一個國家，那裏的人不論是外貌，還是思維方式和行爲舉止都和你不同(有時截然不同)。在大多數西方國家，人們不論在外表還是觀念上，都不太相同。
簡而言之，我覺得這就像現實版的“愛麗絲夢遊仙境”。
Andrew Simons
Studied at Amsterdam University of Applied SciencesAuthor has 839 answers and 6.4M answer viewsUpdated Jul 8
Related
Are work cultures in Europe a lot less stressful and more fun, especially compared to Japan, South Korea, and the US? If so, why is it? How does it work?
The average full-time contract in the Netherlands is 36 hours per week.
In the Netherlands, spending leisure time and time with the family is more important than just making money. Many employers are also fleble, if the weather is nice tomorrow, the Dutch will already ask to get a day off for tomorrow. If an employee has to leave a little earlier for a private situation, a manager usually agrees. If an employee has to work until 5 pm, then it is until 5 pm and he or she no longer stays because the manager is also still in the office. A Dutch manager would say, what are you still doing here go home!
荷蘭全職員工的平均工作時間是每周36小時。
荷蘭人認爲比起賺錢，工作之余的閑暇時光和陪伴家人更爲重要。許多老板也很好說話，如果天氣預報說明天天氣很好，荷蘭人會請一天假。如果員工因私人原因要提前下班，經理基本都會同意。如果員工的下班時間是5點，那麽他們到點就會下班，因爲經理也在辦公室，荷蘭的經理會說，你們還在這裏幹什麽，趕緊回家吧！
There is excellent and affordable health care that no one has to worry about. And many Dutch people are wealthy (not rich) and care less about status. Being successful is valued, but in the Netherlands, it is customary to blend in with society and not show off one’s wealth.
In the case of overtime, appromately 50% of tax must be paid. To work overtime is therefore not motivated. Overtime is often paid in days off. But most Dutch people have a month or more (paid) vacation per year, so extra work for even more days off is not necessary.
荷蘭的醫療水平高，醫療費用低，大家沒有後顧之憂。許多荷蘭人非常巨有錢(不是小富)，但他們不太在意自己的身份地位。成功固然重要，但在荷蘭，人們喜歡融入社會，不會炫耀自己的財富。
說到加班，人們得支付大約50%的稅費。所以，沒人願意加班。加班通常折算成假期。但大多數荷蘭人每年都有一個月甚至更長時間的(帶薪)假期，所以也沒有必要爲了更多假期而加班。
All Dutch people are entitled to extra holiday pay (8% of the total annual income). In addition, there is an end-of-year bonus or 13th monthly sry.
An employer pays out sick leave for a mamum of two years. If an employer is still sick after two years, he of she will receive a sickness benefit from the go nment. The benefit is appromately 70% of the sry. In addition, an employer may not fire an employee after two years of illness/absence. The employer must have done everything they could to make the employer better or to offer them adapted work. Other wise the employer can stay and not be fired.
在工資之外，荷蘭人都能享受假期工資(占全年總收入的8%)。除此之外，還有年終獎金或13薪。
雇主提供最長兩年的帶薪病假。如果員工兩年後仍未康複，他/她可以向政府申領疾病津貼，大約是工資的70%。雇主不能解雇患病/缺勤兩年的員工。雇主必須盡其所能地幫助員工，或者爲他們調整崗位。總之，員工可以安心養病，不會被解雇。
Since 2009 more women in the Netherlands are higher educated than men. Yet many highly educated women opt for a part-time job instead of a full-time job in a top position.
Often they find spending time with the family more important than working to earn a lot of money.
2009年起接受高等教育的荷蘭女性數量已超過男性。但許多受過高等教育的女性選擇兼職工作，而不是管理層的全職工作。
她們覺得陪伴家人比搞事業掙大錢更重要。
Chris Ebbert
Lived in ChinaAuthor has 11.4K answers and 274.8M answer views3y
Are Chinese really hard-working people?
It is the ideal at work, in China, to be seen as exerting yourself totally.
When I lived there, I was leading a team at a university. I am German, so for me, it came as a surprise to see my team anguishing so much over their tasks. Where I’m from, we bank on talent and qualifications, so that everyone can do their job expertly with a shrug and a song between capuccinos and go home at four, everything finished and sparkling.
中國的公司最喜歡看到員工全身心地投入工作。
我在中國工作過，當時我在一所大學裏帶領一個團隊。我是德國人，我對于團隊成員爲了工作如此苦惱而感到費解。我們在德國時看重才華和資曆，每個人都能駕輕就熟地完成自己的工作，喝喝咖啡哼哼小曲就搞定了，然後四點准時回家，完美。
I began to wonder quickly whether perhaps I had chosen the wrong people, because they were clearly working themselves to the bone with everything, sometimes passing out from exhaustion, and staying on endlessly to make sure all was well.
It made me feel bad.
我很快就開始懷疑自己是不是選錯團隊成員了，因爲很顯然他們都拼盡全力了，有時候累到昏倒，但還是不休不眠，生怕出一點差錯。
這讓我感覺很不好。
But over the years, I learned that this was simply Chinese work culture. If you aren’t on the verge of col pse, you at least need to appear like it, or someone will make sure you get there.
But the fact is, the Chinese are actually remarkably resourceful and result oriented. We always got our stuff done. It’s just being done with about 60% more dr than necessary.
但時間長了我開始明白，這就是中國的工作文化。即便你覺得還算輕松，也最好表現得你已經拼盡全力，不然別人也會給你加碼。
但事實是，中國人非常聰明，看重結果。雖然最後工作肯定會完成得很好，但大家幹活的時候一定會誇張一些。