Expat Life: Balance

Living in Brussels means that we are centrally located within Western Europe, an ideal starting point for various travel destinations. The result has been a lot of travel over the past few years, both work trips and personal exploration.  My wife and I love to travel with our daughter and experience new cultures which is a big reason why we appreciate the chance to live in Europe.  Most importantly, travel has taught me how different cultures approach balance within their lives.

I am fortunate to work for a company, GHX, with European offices in Brussels (BE), Dusseldorf (DE), Konigstein (DE), Koblenz (DE), Cambridge (UK), Hilversum (NL), and Baar (CH).  Except for Koblenz, I visited all of them over the past three years. This means a fair amount of travel but given that Baar is the furthest office which ‘only’ take 7 hours to drive to, it isn’t a lot of ground to cover. Now that I’ve seen all the offices and the communities that surround them, the main consistency I witnessed is the positive balance within the lives of my European colleagues. 

Personal Time Off

I learned early that a fundamental influence to a balanced office culture in Europe is vacation time, also know as Annual Leave in some parts of Europe. There is more vacation time in Europe as compared to the US. Between holidays and paid time off, most Europeans get 20-30 days on average; this compares to 10-15 days on average in the US. 

But the significance is not only the amount of time off, but how well a typical European disconnects from their job while on vacation/holiday/annual leave. Instead of saying they are out of the office “but contact me if anything comes up/I’ll be checking my email”, they typically would not provide this type of guidance before they leave. It is actually the opposite. The expectation from colleagues, customers, and vendors is they will not be in touch during their holiday. No phone calls, no emails, no contact. What a concept! The result: they come back from longer trips, more relaxed, and ready to focus on work once they return the office. In the long run this creates a productive, motivated, and balanced employee.

I am still trying to figure out how to achieve this balance in my own life. I knowingly struggle as I’d prefer to remain 10-15% connected while away so I don’t come back to a complete mess (or so I think). But instead of capturing this perceived upside, I often never really disconnect, which means I never really get the benefit of the vacation in the first place. I realized that it is time for a change and to start I simply need to stop checking my email while traveling with my family. The work will be there when I return rested and motivated.

Morning Ritual

The other consistency to a balanced life in Europe is the morning ritual. Colleagues in all sectors of business, at all levels of seniority, make a point of saying good morning to each other. I know it is a small thing. And yes, there are some corporate cultures in the US where this may be the case too.  But this morning ritual sets the stage for a balanced day and develops strong relationships between colleagues.

Funny enough, feedback received in my early days in Brussels was that I don’t say good morning to everyone and instead go straight to work. This meant there was room for improvement in my approach to work: it isn’t just about the work.

Let me set the scene: imagine being at the counter of your local restaurant. You see an employee enter the building who is just starting their shift. The first thing they would do is greet their coworkers. Every time. Mind you, they are not also greeting you as the customer; they are only making a point to greet their colleague. And the person who was previously helping you with your order has now completely turned their attention to saying hello – with no acknowledgement or apology to you as the customer.

Even the Belgian media made a point to highlight some of the challenges faced with customer service within the Foreign Office: http://www.brusselstimes.com/brussels/14691/brussels-foreign-office-faces-criticism-of-service But I can tell you from first hand experience (I’ve had the pleasure to visit countless times), these Foreign Office employees are overall nice people. They aren’t doing anything out of spite. They just truly do not see anything wrong with spending a few minutes talking with their colleagues. This leads to long lines and frustrated customers, as shown in the photo above.

Once you get used to it, it makes sense. Coworkers spend a lot of time together and it is important to establish strong bonds with each other. The morning is a good time to drink coffee, catch up on personal matters, and start discussing business priorities for the day. This sets the stage for a balanced approach to work.

Life should be about balance. There are plenty of ways to find balance and I’ve learned over my time living in Europe that balance comes naturally to many Europeans. It has been an enriching experience living within a culture that is fundamentally different to the one I’m used to in the US.