“When having lunch in Poland initially my colleagues thought it was strange when I went for a walk on my lunch break. It’s like if I wasn’t being professional since they don’t understand why people would stop working for “so long” and then come back to work again. Mainly it was because I was away from the office like 1h every day. They don’t have lunch breaks and didn’t understand why would someone stop working for an entire hour and then come back to the office again to leave “later”…”
“Hungarians work a lot with many overworking hours. They think if they work hard they will become a better worker. Many often they forget to have lunch. In other countries working within the official working hours are more strict.”
“In Indonesia, I was very surprised, that after reaching office people usually spend around 1 - 1.5 hour on chat and networking, whilst in Poland, we immediately do the tasks. So in Asia connection and people first.“
“The lunch culture is very different between Poland and Spain. In Poland, most of my colleagues would eat a quick sandwich during the day, or a small salad at their desk. Here, in Spain, a 3 course meal followed by coffee appears to be an everyday thing.“
“When a new Russian colleague start working in my team and she couldn’t understand why we talked to each other without using formal vocabulary (even with our manager) because in Russia they always speak very formal with all the work colleagues, managers or clients (in Spanish she always used “usted” instead of “tú”).
“One in particular who is Slovakian is a very bright and capable individual, but her respect/fear for hierarchy and being timid around senior people is holding back her career as she is uncomfortable with being assertive.”
“In Hungary, several years ago, presenting a project during several hours without one comment by Hungarian, who were feeling not authorised to ask a question to a guy coming from corporate”
"Cultural difference, which I have experienced, was for instance between Eastern and Western part of the Europe. Not only in the personal, but also work life. Particularly, the work life, which I experienced during various job rotation. For Eastern countries, hospitality and gratitude is much more common (of course it also depends on individuals and my intent is not to generalize anything, but this was my impression). And more eastern you go, the people used to be more open. Let me give you an example: Ordinary workplace with offices and several colleagues. Usually, when someone new arrives to this environment, or leaves the work, or when so
“Iranian people are extremely nice and diplomatic, avoiding conflict and trying to comfort everyone, as opposed to Croatian “Balkan” people in general – latter are more direct and sometimes are (verbally) perceived as yelling when they just want to make a point clear.”
“When a new Russian colleague start working in my team and she couldn’t understand why we talked to each other without using formal vocabulary (even with our manager) because in Russia they always speak very formally with all the work colleagues, managers or clients (in spanish she always used “usted” instead of “tú”).