An American woman living and working in London has been left stunned by some of the lifestyle and work differences between the two countries – and cannot get over how Brits interact with their colleagues
An American woman living in the UK has shared how much she has had to adapt to the very different work culture.
Elise from New England has raked in over three million likes on her TikTok page, where she shares what life is like since she has moved to London. She previously said she hates the UK’s washing and dryer machines, and was surprised by how “teeny tiny” the fridges are. However, she was impressed at being able use Apple Pay “everywhere” and stunned by the lack of tipping culture.
More recently, while getting ready to go out, Elise filmed herself doing her makeup while talking about working in the UK on her page @eliseacrossthepond. The TikToker, who is engaged to an Englishman, says the number one difference is the amount of paid time she now gets off for work. She said the difference is “insane”.
According to business expansion experts Foothold America, US workers are not actually entitled to any paid holiday at all. Most US employers do offer paid holiday to workers – but the average worker only receives around 10 days of paid holiday each year. If employees want to get more holidays per year, they have to earn it – and will have to work at a company for 12 months before getting access to the perk.
Elise went on to discuss the oh-so friendly greetings that us Brits use. Most of us are used to asking how colleagues are before writing a request or adding ‘kind regards’ or ‘best wishes’ on the end of our emails. But, Elise says this is something she initially found strange.
Elise explained: “The greetings – so when you send an email or like a message on Teams or Slack or whatever, in the US you would just be like ‘hey Elise can you do this for me’ or ‘can you grab this for me?’. In the UK it’s like everything needs to have a greeting like ‘hi Elise, hope your day is going well, could you get me this doc?’. I don’t know why really. I forget to do it all the time.”
Perhaps unsurprisingly, she has also been stunned by the drinking culture with colleagues in the UK. Elise said it makes her “a little uncomfy”. She added: “Here, you drink a lot more with your coworkers than I think you do in the US. You might always go out for drinks.
“I remember when I went to business school in the States and they were always like ‘make sure you know your limits’ and ‘never drink too much’. I feel like here, unless you’re getting completely out of hand, it’s more acceptable to get a little drunk with your colleagues.”
Reacting to the video, one person said: “The greeting thing – is a little reminder that whatever we are about to email – it’s just work. Person to person, I hope you are good.” Another wrote: “‘Needs a greeting’ – isn’t that just general courtesy/being polite?”
“The greeting thing is so real,” added another. A fourth said: “I’ve found the replies from my US colleagues very limited to the point they don’t even say hi back.”
Regarding drinking with colleagues, one TikTok user said: “My company has a fully stocked (free) bar!” A second added: “Work/life balance is very important!”
Do you agree? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
