Do Professionals from EU/Canada have a laid back attitude?

Question

A colleague from the US told me that European engineers and researchers have laid back attitude and they won't survive in the US tech industry where higher productivity is a norm. Do you agree with his assessment? If not, why?

herbst · Accepted Answer

I wouldn't want to work more than 40 hours to earn a little more (in Theorie) and live in a country with way lower life standard. Not sure that's because of my 'laid back attitude' or just because I value life outside of work.

wsc981 · Answer

I once saw the video of &ldquo;a day in the life of a Twitter employee&rdquo; [0] and I thought: &ldquo;wow she has a relaxed lifestyle, never had it like this in The Netherlands&rdquo;. Is it the same for all big tech companies in SF?(I understand since Elon took over Twitter, it&rsquo;s not as laid back as it used to be though).&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;[0]: https://youtu.be/Ggvm9s19ve8

easyThrowaway · Answer

No. From what's I've seen in WebDev and WebDesign agencies in the east coast, they just spend more time in the office, but the amount of work done at the end of the week was basically the same compared to France or Denmark. The general feeling was actually the american companies were more laid back regarding the handling of the projects, FR/DK management felt way more old-school and controlling.On the other hand in a lot of smaller studios in northen Italy it was extremely common to massively under-report the amount of hours spent in the office, which were paid under the table by the management to avoid having to hire their workforce under the appropriate contract.