Where Do You Want To Work?

Cindy King — Tue, 12 May 2009 11:19:32 +0000

When you start looking at other cultures, you often ask yourself what if would be like to live there, to work there. I live in France where there is:

A 35-hour work week… for some people. I do not know many of them though.
5 weeks of statutory paid vacation… for everyone who is an “employee”, not for business owners. And many people with high responsibility jobs never actually manage to take the time off, or at least not in large chunks at a time .
3 public holidays in May that make it easy to have 3 long weekends in May.

Add to this the common practice of 2-hour business lunches and it is normal to wonder if you would like to “work” here. Many people on the outside think that the French do not “work” very much. It is true that other cultures do have harder days at work.

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Different Viewpoints

I have worked in 5 different countries and with an even larger variety of cultures which had different work habits.

A few months ago the question came up:

Do American entrepreneurs work harder than in French entrepreneurs?

The question came up because American entrepreneurs consider 2-hour lunch breaks a waste of time.

I also recently spoke to Fabrice Grinda, a French entrepreneur who has started successful companies both sides of the Atlantic and is now in the US.

Entrepreneurs In France

A few bloggers have asked me if the life of the entrepreneur in France is a good one. Well, before starting my own company I would have said there are no real differences here in France. Entrepreneurs work just as hard both sides of the pond no matter where they are located. We all have to do business within our own specific cultural environment, that’s it.

If I were to do it again, I definitely would change country… and, yes, this is possible in the next year or two.

Having a company in France means added bureaucracy. This is something you can get used to, even though I sometimes wonder if the administrative requirements are set up to encourage employment. I can see they need at least two full time jobs just to get these obligatory tasks done.

Entrepreneurs have it harder in France.

When I grew up in the Bahamas I lived through a “brain drain” – all the whites, who could leave, left the islands in the 1970′s. In many ways, there is a similar “brain drain” here is France. Brain drains are a wasting disease.

Hidden Cultural Differences

There is a hidden barrier that remains present here in France. This is the real cancer. This is the reason why people leave to start their companies elsewhere.

It is the culturally embedded attitude the French have towards people who are not employed. The French look down on anyone who wants to make money. This is a culture for employees. This negative attitude is probably at its worse with regards to entrepreneurs.

I encounter this negative attitude everywhere. It’s almost like being treated as a horrible money-sucking monster who is cheating the masses who have to work for a living out of their existence.

An exaggeration?

Barely.

In fact, the exceptions are so rare that I make a mental note when I am treated nicely and as a normal human. It’s been over a year. There have been two exceptions.

Not a fun environment.

To understand this negative attitude, you need to understand the French aversion to making making. There is real shame in acknowledging that you actually want to make money. It is just culturally unacceptable.

The funny thing is, when you can understand this, then several other cultural traits also begin to fall into place.

Their unique support of anyone that goes on strike
The great social benefits… only there for the “employees”

Things begin to make sense. If you think that all business owners are big bad monsters, then it is easy to:

Give moral support to anyone who want to go on strike.
Strike for as many social benefits as you can get
…but wait…

Now, I am exaggerating here. There are other cultural elements that come into this equation even if there is some truth here.

The Real Picture

When you have a strong reaction to something done differently in a different culture, it is often a sign of deeper cultural differences. People usually do not do “stupid” things. They do things differently for a good reason.

When French entrepreneurs schedule 2-hour business lunches they have good business reasons. You can be sure that they have calculated the ROI in investing their time and money in long lunches. Although they probably would not use American vocabulary and reasoning to do it, they do know the value of the business connections these long lunches bring to their business.

Where Would You Like To Work

Once you understand the cultural differences in different work habits, there is really only one thing left to do. It comes down to a personal preference.

After working with Malaysians for four years in a job with heave public relation duties outside of the office, I was happy to move onto a different work environment. Don’t get me wrong. It was great. I loved it. But I just wanted to move on. The same happened to me again after working in a Jewish office and being the odd one out.

I did not realize this at the time for either of these choices. It took me time to know what I liked and what my ideal cultural environment is with regards to work.

Instead of fixating on the cultural differences you see in other countries, ask yourself what you like. Where would you like to work. that is what one international entrepreneur did. Listen to the story of how Sean D’Souza came to New Zealand – an 11 minute video on Facebook.

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