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Living in Switzerland ruined me for America and its lousy work culture

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Re: Living in Switzerland ruined me for America and its lousy work culture

#241

Post by EliRivers »

jqm wrote: post #195
fab13n wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reading this as a European, it's fun and telling that you focused on salary differences, whereas what mattered to me were the other quality-of-life elements (I assume you're living in the US). To sum up, what matters to me, in what she described, were the consequences of the belief that one shouldn't be ashamed of having a life outside of work, and needing some time and peace of mind to actually enjoy it. More money…

More money would make me happier. I'd give up a few Saturdays for it. One day a week is enough rest. Besides, few pleasures compare to productively working.

few pleasures compare to productively working

There is something seriously wrong here. Many, many pleasures in life are as pleasurable, or more pleasurable, than productively working. For many people, productively working is actually not pleasurable.

Re: Living in Switzerland ruined me for America and its lousy work culture

#242

Post by anon4 »

60% work time

Oh man, I've been asking for this at almost every company. "Hey, can I work 4 days a week for 80% of the salary?" "WHAT? NO! Think of all the synergy collaboration meeting time you'll miss you won't be able to communicate without being present all of the time what if someone needs to talk to you during the week you must have the same schedule to maximise the convergence serendipity" "Oh well... what about work hours?" "We have a flexible system. We have people coming in as early as 7 and ones arriving as late as 12, both are fine as long as you do 8 hours"

I didn't have the heart to tell them.

Re: Living in Switzerland ruined me for America and its lousy work culture

#243

Post by agumonkey »

jfoutz wrote: post #234
agumonkey wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was another long and widely exposed article about an American citizen going to Europe (France IIRC) to treat his father's cancer. He said that healthcare spirit only would have been worth it, more human and less a business than in the USofA. I guess we should all travel to get perspective on our local environments and see what's possible with different organizations and beliefs.

Eh, outside of the U.S. just watch the first 1/2 season of breaking bad. It's fiction, of course, but deciding to cook crystal meth to pay for cancer treatment is an idea that would only make sense in the U.S.

Well, as much as I believe 'cultural' production reflect the subconscious of a group, it's still a stretch to me.

Re: Living in Switzerland ruined me for America and its lousy work culture

#244

Post by KTamasEnty »

lordnacho wrote: post #114

I live in Switzerland, and have lived in two other countries. Also have lots of connections in the US. Here's my take: 1) You have work-life balance, but it is forced on you. Especially women. If you go out around noon, you will see loads of school kids walking home to get their lunch. Full time childcare is CHF30K at my local nursery. School is free, but lunch will cost you extra. And the nursery has holidays, btw.…

RE: car parking story, I see you have not been to Sweden before, we have mastered the art of passive-aggressive notes here.

Re: Living in Switzerland ruined me for America and its lousy work culture

#245

Post by dola »

> Switzerland immediately taxes dividends at a maximum of 35 percent [...]

This is not quite true. They do impose a 35% tax on all dividends and interest of bank accounts (if the amount is over 200 Swiss Francs) but you get that back when filing your tax return. However you will have to pay income tax on dividends and interest. The goal is to ensure people don't commit tax evasion by not declaring some of their wealth. [1]

[1]: https://www.admin.ch/opc/de/classified-compilation/19650189/... (in German)

Re: Living in Switzerland ruined me for America and its lousy work culture

#246

Post by jargr »

chimeracoder wrote: post #174
alkonaut wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The oil doesnt' really make that much difference in Norway. They tend to keep most of the money in a state reserve to not create too much inflation. Subsitute Norway for non-oil Sweden, a country with huge immigration. Sure it's a small and "rich" country, but the cultural things like good work/life balance applies anyway. Edit: as was pointed out to me in another comment: this is using a loose definition of "life" w…

> The oil doesnt' really make that much difference in Norway. They tend to keep most of the money in a state reserve to not create too much inflation. It absolutely does make a difference to have the world's largest sovereign wealth fund[0], as well as the economic status that allows you to leave it untouched. Simply having guaranteed future access to that kind of wealth changes your political and economic options to…

> Sweden is also comparably small (same size as NYC proper)

You must be confusing it with something else. Sweden is slightly bigger than California (450295 vs 423970 km2).

Re: Living in Switzerland ruined me for America and its lousy work culture

#247

Post by [deleted] »

x5n1 wrote: post #118
ohsnap wrote: post #110

Switzerland is the world's most successful parasite. So it's hard to recreate their 'success' unless you have lots of host countries to feed from https://wikileaks.org/wiki/Switzerland:_A_parasite_feeding_o...

When private interest does this, and they do it commonly, it's not a problem -- that wealth is privitized... but when a country does it and benefits its citizens it's a big deal.

[deleted]

Re: Living in Switzerland ruined me for America and its lousy work culture

#248

Post by chrisper »

adrianb wrote: post #22
asdfologist wrote: post #4

Can someone here elucidate the downsides to living in Switzerland, over the US, particularly for those in the HN crowd?

I believe it's not trivial to get a job there, especially if you come from outside the EU. And soon restrictions will be imposed on EU countries as well.

What type of restrictions?

Re: Living in Switzerland ruined me for America and its lousy work culture

#249

Post by alkonaut »

jargr wrote: post #246
chimeracoder wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The oil doesnt' really make that much difference in Norway. They tend to keep most of the money in a state reserve to not create too much inflation. It absolutely does make a difference to have the world's largest sovereign wealth fund[0], as well as the economic status that allows you to leave it untouched. Simply having guaranteed future access to that kind of wealth changes your political and economic options to…

> Sweden is also comparably small (same size as NYC proper) You must be confusing it with something else. Sweden is slightly bigger than California (450295 vs 423970 km2).

He probably meant in terms of population (around 9M).

Re: Living in Switzerland ruined me for America and its lousy work culture

#250

Post by wtetzner »

EliRivers wrote: post #241
jqm wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More money would make me happier. I'd give up a few Saturdays for it. One day a week is enough rest. Besides, few pleasures compare to productively working.

few pleasures compare to productively working There is something seriously wrong here. Many, many pleasures in life are as pleasurable, or more pleasurable, than productively working. For many people, productively working is actually not pleasurable.

I suppose it depends on what you enjoy doing and what job you have.
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