To begin with, one can draw many similarities between working in London and the United States. For one, the trip to work requires a long transit time, like in many major US cities. Office life is also similar since you often work in close proximity to your colleagues. Although, the effects of Covid have allowed more acceptance of work-at-home days during the week. The biggest difference between working in the US and London is the UK?s acceptance of off days. For example, under law, it is required that employers give their employees at least 25 days of paid vacation and 10 paid days of sick leave. The other differences are much more subtle. Either by cause or effect of these off days, the energy in the office is much more relaxed than in American working environments. People are expected to do their jobs but the pressure to do so as quickly as possible isn?t stressed as hard. In fact, the speed at which I completed my work assignments surprised even my boss. Of course, my experience was with a start-up company and so I can?t confidently say it is the same for large international corporations residing in London. However, the culture within my company was a very dedicated one. Most employees would take lunch back to the office and eat at their desks, and although we all technically got off at 5:00 pm, most people stayed after until at least 6:00 pm or even?7:00 pm. In conclusion, I thoroughly enjoyed working in London and the differences, though few, were interesting and in my opinion healthy.
