When working in Europe, are Chinese people shocked at the working condition?

中国人在欧洲工作时，会不会对工作环境表示震惊？

以下是Quora网友的评论：

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 cheap restaurants. Believe me, they are not in hurry to go back to China.

在法国，我的中国同事对这里的工作环境表示不敢置信：每周工作时间35小时，每年有6周假期，外加12天年假，全家都可享免费社会福利。我们公司的劳资委员会每年都为每位员工提供2000欧元的旅行经费，足够员工去欧洲最棒的海滩或滑雪胜地度假。我们每天都去好吃又便宜的餐馆吃饭。相信我，他们都乐不思蜀呢。

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，没错，我的中国太太来瑞典工作这么久了还是经常表示吃惊。

在这儿，周末时大家偶尔会带着孩子们、狗狗们去老板家烧烤，每天跟同事们享受两次惬意的咖啡时间，办公室的整体氛围更像是大家在一起疗养的环境。

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.

没有人要求你在周末工作，或者帮老板干些奇奇怪怪的活。而且他们还会给你6周的带薪假期和一直到退休才结束的劳动合同。

这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 anecdotes might help. Note that this is specific to my industry (consulting) and sub specialty, anti fraud and compliance, so this does not cover all experiences.

我离开上海出国后就一直在荷兰工作生活。就我自己来说，文化冲击是真实存在的。大家提到的工作时间、休息时间、咖啡时间等等，也都是真实存在的。

我给大家讲几件趣事吧。不过这些事都是我们公司所处的行业(咨询)和部门(反欺诈和合规)发生的，可能没有普遍性。

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 promoted 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 right? 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 imbalances 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.

一位年轻的中国同事(入职3年)向我寻求建议，她担心自己的事业停滞不前。她因为没有足够的经验而没能升职。

如果她在中国，大家都会随着工作时间的增加自动得到升职。但是在荷兰(甚至整个欧洲，因为我们的公司在很多国家都有办事处)，公司会严格审查员工的工作经验。哪种方法好呢？

其实，两种都有道理。表面上看，你会认为考核工作经验比单纯考虑工作时长更有道理。但是如果没有足够多的项目来养活所有的员工时，问题就出现了，就像欧洲这样，造成团队之间的经验不平衡，因为并非每个员工都有一样的项目和机会。

但在中国，每个人都在累积工作时间(包括加班)，只要看看工作时长，就能清楚地知道自己获得了相关经验。正是因为这种不同，我跟我的同事说，她可以考虑去中国工作一两年，她将获得的突破是在其他地方很难实现的。就我个人而言，我现在的职业生涯就停摆了，因为工作项目的数量很少，而且每个项目都拖着，因为我们的客户一点儿也不着急。

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.

另一位同事是审计部的，由于工作期限紧，工作量大，预算有限，工作太拼，把自己累到住院了。这是另一个极端了。这个同事工作太努力，是因为她的工作环境很讽刺。她来自新加坡，习惯了高强度的工作节奏，对员工要求严格。她在荷兰办公室同时负责好几个项目，事情做完还有更多的工作在等着。我自己曾在审计团队工作过两个旺季，知道那种身处高压锅般的环境有多痛苦。我这位同事工作得非常辛苦，作为项目经理，只能恳求她的员工加班(也只是晚上6、7点)。员工只接受每周加班1到2天，多一天都不行。她没办法，只能自己咬牙干，干到崩溃。最后她辞职了，换了一份银行的工作，终于可以和别人一样正常上下班，她快乐多了，但也会为自己放缓的职业道路感到遗憾。

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 toxc 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.

没错，简直就是天差地别。我必须承认，欧洲的工作条件比亚洲国家要好得多。

每个人都清楚，中国、日本和韩国的工作文化有多荒谬。工作时间长，几乎没有休息日。如果你运气不好，连加班费都没有。

这是我在同一个半球的两个地方工作后发现的。欧洲更关心员工，而亚洲更在意客户。

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 salary, but I was okay with it since I want to find some experience.

But what I got in return worth bullcrap at most.

举个例子，我因为太过劳累，从棕榈油公司辞去主管一职，转行做咖啡师。我对食品和饮料有兴趣，所以决定跨行工作。虽然咖啡师的工资还不到我以前的一半，但我觉得还行，因为我想积累一些经验。

但我收获了什么呢？简直难以启齿。

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 salary. 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 government if someone report it. So, no, I don’t get those.

没有假期津贴。我先说明一下，假期津贴类似于带薪休假。亚洲的带薪假非常短，从5到12天不等。所以作为回报，你可以领取假期津贴，有点像奖金的意思。基本上是一个月的工资。公司必须给员工发放假期津贴，这是法律明文规定的。只要有人举报，政府部门就会打电话给公司核实。所以，我无法理解没有假期津贴这件事。

What you get paid for didn’t worth anything compared what you need to do. “Here 200$ monthly salary, 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，报酬实在太低。“工资也就200美元，而作为对这笔恩赐的回报，你得煮咖啡，服务顾客，打扫卫生，烘烤面包，制作餐食，工作12个小时，还有，如果我让你加班，你就得加班，不，不，没有加班费。还有，如果我让你在休息日来工作，你就必须到位。“烘焙和烹饪？没搞错吧，我记得我申请的岗位是咖啡师吧？”“咖啡师也得负责这些。不用怕，有人教的。哦，你上班啦，给我做点鸡腿吧?”

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.

如果老板决定关店休息三天，你的休息日就泡汤了。正常情况下我们每周能休息一天。有一次老板突然说他要去度两天假，所以咖啡馆就关门了两天，结果我们等到三个礼拜后才有休息日。没错，我们连续工作了三个礼拜。

不管表现多好，也没有人会肯定你。一点点小失误，比如忘了顾客点的是冷饮还是热饮，都会被数落上半天。

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 monitor our work. It’s as if she’s our real boss. Even our boss only drop by few times a week.

工作环境让人不舒服。我的同事都很不错，很有趣。店主，也就是我的老板，虽然巨抠门，但为人还算随和。我说过我曾被数落半天的事，数落我的不是老板，而是老板娘。有时候我制作饮料时不小心用错了茶叶，我的老板并没有责备我，他会拿起饮料自己喝掉。但是老板娘就会不停地唠叨，为鸡毛蒜皮的小事闹得不可开交，对我们的所有工作都吹毛求疵。她每天都来监督我们工作，就好像她才是真正的老板。而我们真正的老板每周就来几次。

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 );

现在我在德国怎么样呢？我得说，我真的不想回去。这里的一切都跟我上面提到的相反，还有让人舒适的工作环境。

说句公道话，说到工作，很难找到十全十美的。没有完美的公司，也没有完美的人。但这里的其他条件都比我之前经历的好多了，总分5分能打4分！

我唯一怀念的只有家乡的美食。

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.

我在中国时，在一家公司工作了8年，现在来美国工作了10年，经常去法国出差。事实上，当我看到法国的同事也经常加班时，我非常意外。我还有个美国同事几乎每天24小时在线。我自己也习惯了半夜三更参加全球会议。我认为工作时长是个人选择，跟国家无关。

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.

你问中国人怎么能这么拼？问就是担心，就是害怕！

他们害怕挨饿，害怕孩子没饭吃，害怕在新环境里生活得比原来差。

当你收拾行囊去一个新的国家生活时，没有欢迎派对，没有互助小组，也没有钱。有些新移民刚到新国家时身上的钱还不到100美元。如果不努力工作，可能就付不起房租，三餐没有着落。恐惧就是强大的动力。

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.

我小的时候，我妈妈同时打3份工。她早8晚5在一家服装厂上班。6点到9点在办公室和雇主家做保洁。周末，还会去一家中餐馆洗碗、打扫卫生。

我们虽然家境贫困，但从未忍饥挨饿，从未露宿街头，有时周末还会去露营度假。

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.

我在中国出生，22岁大学毕业才来美国攻读硕士学位。现在我来纽约6年了。

对像我这样的中国学生来说，最大的困难基本都是这两个：英语和文化。

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.

关于英语：尽管英语课是每个中国学生从中学开始的必修课，也是大学入学考试的必考科目，但大多数中国学生并没有因此说得一口流利的英语。中国的英语教育存在很多缺陷，但问题主要在于中国的英语教学是为了“应试”，而非“交流”，而语言的主要用处就是跟别人无障碍交流。我们需要时间来适应语言环境。

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`.

关于文化：中国和西方的文化是非常非常不同的。在其他国家生活能令人耳目一新，是一种有趣的经历。中国人的思维方式都较为相似，而西方国家完全不同。

想象一下，你原来生活在一个所有人外貌相似，思维方式相似，行为举止相似的国家。有一天，你去到另一个国家，那里的人不论是外貌，还是思维方式和行为举止都和你不同(有时截然不同)。在大多数西方国家，人们不论在外表还是观念上，都不太相同。

简而言之，我觉得这就像现实版的“爱丽丝梦游仙境”。

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 flexble, 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!

荷兰全职员工的平均工作时间是每周36小时。

荷兰人认为比起赚钱，工作之余的闲暇时光和陪伴家人更为重要。许多老板也很好说话，如果天气预报说明天天气很好，荷兰人会请一天假。如果员工因私人原因要提前下班，经理基本都会同意。如果员工的下班时间是5点，那么他们到点就会下班，因为经理也在办公室，荷兰的经理会说，你们还在这里干什么，赶紧回家吧！

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, approxmately 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.

荷兰的医疗水平高，医疗费用低，大家没有后顾之忧。许多荷兰人非常巨有钱(不是小富)，但他们不太在意自己的身份地位。成功固然重要，但在荷兰，人们喜欢融入社会，不会炫耀自己的财富。

说到加班，人们得支付大约50%的税费。所以，没人愿意加班。加班通常折算成假期。但大多数荷兰人每年都有一个月甚至更长时间的(带薪)假期，所以也没有必要为了更多假期而加班。

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 salary.

An employer pays out sick leave for a maxmum of two years. If an employer is still sick after two years, he of she will receive a sickness benefit from the government. The benefit is approxmately 70% of the salary. 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.

在工资之外，荷兰人都能享受假期工资(占全年总收入的8%)。除此之外，还有年终奖金或13薪。

雇主提供最长两年的带薪病假。如果员工两年后仍未康复，他/她可以向政府申领疾病津贴，大约是工资的70%。雇主不能解雇患病/缺勤两年的员工。雇主必须尽其所能地帮助员工，或者为他们调整岗位。总之，员工可以安心养病，不会被解雇。

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兰女性数量已超过男性。但许多受过高等教育的女性选择兼职工作，而不是管理层的全职工作。

她们觉得陪伴家人比搞事业挣大钱更重要。

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.

中国的公司最喜欢看到员工全身心地投入工作。

我在中国工作过，当时我在一所大学里带领一个团队。我是德国人，我对于团队成员为了工作如此苦恼而感到费解。我们在德国时看重才华和资历，每个人都能驾轻就熟地完成自己的工作，喝喝咖啡哼哼小曲就搞定了，然后四点准时回家，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.

我很快就开始怀疑自己是不是选错团队成员了，因为很显然他们都拼尽全力了，有时候累到昏倒，但还是不休不眠，生怕出一点差错。

这让我感觉很不好。

But over the years, I learned that this was simply Chinese work culture. If you aren’t on the verge of collapse, 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 drama than necessary.

但时间长了我开始明白，这就是中国的工作文化。即便你觉得还算轻松，也最好表现得你已经拼尽全力，不然别人也会给你加码。

但事实是，中国人非常聪明，看重结果。虽然最后工作肯定会完成得很好，但大家干活的时候一定会夸张一些。