A decade ago, Bradley Krae left the United States to teach English in Shenzhen, China. He spends less money and says the has found his own version of the American Dream there.
working at a chinese company would be fucking awful and the salary would match your super fun cost of living noted here in the headline. some of these people are my friends. I’ve lived in similar countries
if you are retired, it’s great. if you work remotely for a European company, it’s great. if you work for a local company it could be great or it could be a seriously awful life. if you’re doing business it could be great or it could be a kafka-esque hell
working at a chinese company would be fucking awful
I got floored when I was told they get 5 days of paid vacation (10 if you worked for 10-20 years and 15 days if you worked for 20+ years) , and no vacation for the first year in a new company, and they have like ~7 days of public holidays.
Oh, and no paid sick leave (for a flue etc - you will get it for operations and similar but they must be dona via public hospitals).
Meanwhile here in Poland we get 5 weeks + 13 public holidays, and if they happen to be during weekend you get an extra day free later, and it’s considered rather low for the EU. And unlimited paid sick leave, including for fatigue etc.
Those sound like fairly standard US vacation allowances, though there’s that diabolical US practice of putting vacation and sick leave into one pot.
I’m in the UK. 37-hour work week, flextime, almost entirely remote working, 6.5 weeks vacation, 13 or 14 bank holidays, and essentially unlimited sick leave, though the employer can ask for proof (which, in my 11 years on my job, they never have). Pension provision is also excellent, not the US standard “defined contribution” bullshit where you have no guarantee of the payout. We get a defined monthly payout for life, annually adjusted for cost of living.
BTW, I’ve visited Poland quite a few times and I’m impressed at how much the living standards have improved since my first visit in the mid-1980s. The UK: not nearly as much. 14 years of underinvestment by the Conservatives, plus Brexit, has done a lot of damage, and Labour under Starmer has been too timid about rebuilding.
Yup, we get lowballed with the paid vacation :( And the US abominable corporations are pushing more and more “freelancers”, “gig workers” etc to suck us dry and remove those benefits.
Btw - last time I was in the UK I was honestly surprised how many immigrants I can see. You are like 20% of foreign born. Very new yorker of you :)
they care more about the time you give them than they do about the quality of work that you deliver
they don’t want someone who takes risks and cuts out projects for themselves and purposes ideas. they want someone who is around all the time making it look like things are running smoothly
Meanwhile, people working 3 jobs to feed a family of 4 in the US, if not then they are working minimum wage job to qualify for medical insurance and get some tax break while living at home.
Unless you are middle class or up you are fucked.
The issue here is how much you need to rent a place. There are absolutely 0 reasons for high rent and lack of affordable housing in North America yet here we are.
Edit: fellow autists, this was sarcasm. Everyone knows the greatest nation on earth is the one with the most concentration camps, not the second most. USA! USA! USA!
working at a chinese company would be fucking awful and the salary would match your super fun cost of living noted here in the headline. some of these people are my friends. I’ve lived in similar countries
if you are retired, it’s great. if you work remotely for a European company, it’s great. if you work for a local company it could be great or it could be a seriously awful life. if you’re doing business it could be great or it could be a kafka-esque hell
I got floored when I was told they get 5 days of paid vacation (10 if you worked for 10-20 years and 15 days if you worked for 20+ years) , and no vacation for the first year in a new company, and they have like ~7 days of public holidays.
Oh, and no paid sick leave (for a flue etc - you will get it for operations and similar but they must be dona via public hospitals).
Meanwhile here in Poland we get 5 weeks + 13 public holidays, and if they happen to be during weekend you get an extra day free later, and it’s considered rather low for the EU. And unlimited paid sick leave, including for fatigue etc.
Those sound like fairly standard US vacation allowances, though there’s that diabolical US practice of putting vacation and sick leave into one pot.
I’m in the UK. 37-hour work week, flextime, almost entirely remote working, 6.5 weeks vacation, 13 or 14 bank holidays, and essentially unlimited sick leave, though the employer can ask for proof (which, in my 11 years on my job, they never have). Pension provision is also excellent, not the US standard “defined contribution” bullshit where you have no guarantee of the payout. We get a defined monthly payout for life, annually adjusted for cost of living.
BTW, I’ve visited Poland quite a few times and I’m impressed at how much the living standards have improved since my first visit in the mid-1980s. The UK: not nearly as much. 14 years of underinvestment by the Conservatives, plus Brexit, has done a lot of damage, and Labour under Starmer has been too timid about rebuilding.
Yup, we get lowballed with the paid vacation :( And the US abominable corporations are pushing more and more “freelancers”, “gig workers” etc to suck us dry and remove those benefits.
Btw - last time I was in the UK I was honestly surprised how many immigrants I can see. You are like 20% of foreign born. Very new yorker of you :)
Yeah, compared to the USA it’s an improvement but compared to many places here in Europe it’s almost appalling.
5 weeks + 13 days is appalling?
No, that’s Europe.
The PRC days off are appalling in comparison. And the previous comment didn’t even mention make up days.
they care more about the time you give them than they do about the quality of work that you deliver
they don’t want someone who takes risks and cuts out projects for themselves and purposes ideas. they want someone who is around all the time making it look like things are running smoothly
Meanwhile, people working 3 jobs to feed a family of 4 in the US, if not then they are working minimum wage job to qualify for medical insurance and get some tax break while living at home.
Unless you are middle class or up you are fucked.
The issue here is how much you need to rent a place. There are absolutely 0 reasons for high rent and lack of affordable housing in North America yet here we are.
Lol that is absurd. It all depends on the job and situation. That is common sense. Which is true everywhere in the world. Because of course it is.
Sure, but there’s a big difference around the world wether you can live comfortably as a grocery worker, a construction worker or a teacher.
No, China #1
Edit: fellow autists, this was sarcasm. Everyone knows the greatest nation on earth is the one with the most concentration camps, not the second most. USA! USA! USA!
Yummy, yummy boot.
I prefer moccasins