American vs. Spanish Work Culture: 3 Lessons I Learned Living in Madrid for a Year

[@acme4791]

En mi oficina no se toma ni el café, no está bien visto. Y he de trabajar a veces los fines de semana para poder entregar los proyectos a tiempo, por supuesto sin cobrar ni un minuto extra. En fin, como la mayoría de gente en España. Y todavía tenemos que seguir con la matraca de que curramos lo justo cuando España es uno de los países donde más horas se trabajan de la UE, y por menos dinero.

[@heinz8233]

Amén

[@daniellegrobman]

no bueno

[@jcdevarg864]

Vivirás en Madrid, supongo

[@acme4791]

@@jcdevarg864 En Zaragoza, a Madrid sólo voy de turista, no jodas XD

[@Garcwyn]

“It’s easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of Capitalism”

[@Fromonian]

Capitalism is beautiful

[@luisfelipearcos]

Hola Danielle!!! me gustaría oírte algunas palabras en Español

[@daniellegrobman]

jaja i'm still working on my Spanish but soon!

[@gallaik]

There is a problem when trying to compare spanish and american salaries. The spanish taxes system. Part of spanish taxes called “Seguridad Social”(pensions and healthcare) is paying by the company directly, but it’s actually part of employees salary. People who earn 1200/1300€ per month, is earning about 1900/2000€ before taxes. That system, where the people is not conscious about their real salary is not to complain about taxes because, in Spain, the people who earn the least paid more taxes in percentage than the upper classes.

[@viquiben4919]

Have you ever take a look at the American tax system? And what you get back for those taxes?

[@gallaik]

@ I’m not complaining about the taxes, I complain about the system that clearly is not fair. I’m ok paying my taxes but, there are a lot of people annoyed with taxes when they pay less than me in percentage despite the fact that they earn much more money than me.

[@juangomezfuentes8825]

8:10 You dont make more money if you do more work. What you make has very little to do with how much you do. If my productivity would be correlative to my pay I will do more work, of course. Otherwise I am just doing something I dont like for nothing.

[@juangomezfuentes8825]

4:40 that is the very definition of workaholic. I met other people from the US and they definitelly dont think like that. So this might be cultural thing from the circle you have been raised from.

[@sebumpostmortem]

Which is the antonym for the verb _to live_ ? _To work_ .

[@peterp4037]

I am Spanish. We used to work IT. Started at 8AM and left many days at 8PM. Many of my collegues same. My father worked tourism. Two shifts for many years. One reason why some spaniards don't value their job is because of low salaries not because they are not productive or work hard enough.

[@antonioolivera6695]

Very interesting reflections.

[@metanol-24]

If your contract says that you work 8 hours a day 5 days a week for a fixed wage and you work more for the same salary, you are not hardworking, you are stupid. If you get compensation for that extra time then makes more sense. It's not only quality time with friends and family it's getting fair salaries

[@juangomezfuentes8825]

She basically was saying that she works because she likes it. I really doubt that is a US mentality but her mentality. I met a lot of people from the US and they are not that workaholics.

[@willmakk]

Personally I'm completely jaded with the place. The positives you present emerge through the contrast of your past experience in the US, which is completely understandable, but you wouldn't see them as such had they been your whole reality since birth. Not caring about work, low salaries, the utter complacency... You're turning objectively bad things on their head because of the novelty of it all, but they remain bad things, and those are a drop in the ocean of issues Spain has. The main problem in my view is the lack of opportunities for growth, the average Joe/Jane has to surmount immense obstacles just to have a decent life (and God be with you if you want to start a family in your own home). It's the same reason all qualified people leave, google the rates of "fuga de cerebros". Add to that the inverse population pyramid we have and you'll discover a ticking bomb of a country. There's no amount of good food and good weather that can compensate having no future.

[@louaceveu1925]

It is well known that Spain suffers with its labor conditions, it is the Achilles heal of the country, De fuga de cerebros obviously you don't understand it neither of the underground economy but to think that Corporate America it is a much better option you are already and I am sorry to say, very delusional. Just Check what they have done with the standards of living of the American people, in many categories are low or the lowest of the industrialized world.

[@emeritoaugusto6953]

You got it! 😉

[@verbatyn]

De que trabajas Danielle? Por que viniste a Madrid?

[@jcdevarg864]

Erró de pleno, fue a la ciudad equivocada

[@BlackHoleSpain]

May I ask you a question? That 15-30 min lunch time, is it paid or unpaid? Here in Spain, lunch time is unpaid. Some companies give 15€ to the worker as a food surplus, though.

[@donkeyhota.dontflamingo9294]

No existe tal cosa como los descansos pagados ni vacaciones pagadas, eso es un bulo propagandístico que los políticos te han metido en el coco para que pienses que ellos te han obsequiado algo y así les votes. La realidad es que el tiempo inactivo que supuestamente está "pagado" la empresa te lo descuenta de tu salario. Es decir, que si tu salario es de 1600€ al mes por trabajar 160 horas al mes (10€ la hora) y hubo un mes en el q tú te fuiste una semana de vacaciones y trabajaste solo 120 horas ese mes, eso significa que si no te hubieras ido de vacaciones tu salario habría sido de 2000€ ese mes. Las empresas, cuando te hacen el contrato de trabajo, computan todas las horas que se supone que vas a trabajar a lo largo del año y en función de ese numero total de horas al año es que te asignan un salario, por lo que cuantos mas dias festivos haya y mas dias de vacaciones haya, menor será el salario que figure en tu contrato. Las políticas intervencionistas siempre acaban perjudicando a quienes supuestamente pretenden (más bien fingen) proteger

[@sergiogcollado]

... one of the things that money cannot buy is time... just saying...

[@jabato9779]

Sure you sound accelerated, you speak fast. I prefer something in the middle between American and Spanish work cultures. Indeed, in Spain there are many lazybones and in America they miss a lot of "life's landscape" by travelling through it so fast.

[@gloofisearch]

I lived for over 20 years on both sides of the ocean and I can tell you one thing for sure. No western country is so unproductive than the USA. Yes, we work and want to do more, but when you compare it to other countries, you soon find out that most of the time, we need way more people for the same things than other countries do. That starts at the airport, whereas in the US you have people that guide others to tell them where to go. You have tons of TSA security people and other people. Every shop or restaurant in the US has 2, 3 or 4 more staff than the same in other countries and many things are not automated. What I am saying is, yes we hustle and get lattes at a drive through to save even more time and work 10 hours a day, but at the end it is all wasted time just to fill it with more wasted time and at night you are so exhausted and don't even know why.

[@okpearce]

Danielle, seguramente ya lo sabes, pero aquí pensamos que el trabajo es algo tan malo que te tienen que pagar para que lo hagas. XD Big hug!!

[@vanik2021]

That´s not the average salary in Spain...1.200€ is literally the minimum wage. The average salary in Spain up to date is 2.400€.Just check google. And the average salary in my city Madrid where you are also living is close to 3000€... Still less than in America of course, but 1200€ is actually what "mileuristas" make, and the younger generation too..That is close to poor specially for a middle age man with a family.

[@BlackHoleSpain]

I'm an IT Systems & Networks Technician with 12 years of experience. In 2007 my doctor forced me to take a sick leave. When I recovered, as I had ruined my boss's vacation and being €29k I was too expensive, I was fired the next day. Shit compensation for unfair dismissal and as I got depressed for how I was treated, I did not look for a job right away. The 2008-2015 crisis hit and when it was over, you no longer had contacts and the HR people telling you were out of market for too long. Then you reach 40 and 50, and absolutely no one gives you a chance. Just 1 interview in 17 years unemployed, even if you take courses and retrain, ageism rules here. My position is paid €23k-25k nowadays in Spain, even less than 2007 😮

[@Baldorcete]

You already said it, we work to live. But don't be fooled, there is unpaid overtime in Spain, or presentialism (Enter before your boss does, leave after your boss, productivity be damned). Not all jobs are 40 hours a week and just do the bare minimum. Also, when comparing salaries, keep in mind the cost of healthcare and other services provided by the government, compared to what it costs in the US.

[@BelgarionDoUrden]

Work to live. Don't live to work

[@jabato9779]

That's good if you don't pretend to live from the work of others, which is what many Spaniards want and they call it "solidaridad".

[@oiausdlkasuldhflaksjdhoiausydo]

Spanish here, you are 100% right and that is why I left Spain. The problem with Spain is that most "work" the way you described and only some work hard and personally, I got tired of being the one working. That being said... corporations take advantage of that very laudable mentality and that is why people in the US have began to shun work and I understand.

[@Baldorcete]

You did not worked on the same companies I did. Most of my colleagues do what they are asked, not the bare mínimum. What the don't (me neither) do is going overboard and do more that what they are paid for.

[@juangomezfuentes8825]

It is do what your work is. Working more than what you are ask or they pay for is just absurd. Most people dont like to do what they do at work, and that is normal because who likes to screw bolt 8 hours a day?.

[@jcdevarg864]

Eres muy bella y lo sabes, debiste elegir otra ciudad española mas autentica y cultural que Madrid

[@nissenification]

El choque de la mentalidad protestante con la mentalidad católica en estado puro.

[@BobelSilencioso-w1x]

@@nissenification Esta chica es judía y aquí no hay ningún choque de mentalidades,simplemente proyecta sus prejuicios y complejo de superioridad y no sabe de lo que habla. Si somos generosos podemos pensar que lo hace para generar polémica y subir las visitas a su canal, pero me temo que realmente se cree lo que dice.

[@antonijaume8498]

La parte más rica de Alemania es donde hay más católicos.

[@juangomezfuentes8825]

No es verdad. Esta es solo su mentalidad, no la de los Estadounidenses.

[@nissenification]

@@antonijaume8498 y antes de la Segunda guerra mundial?

[@nissenification]

@@juangomezfuentes8825 no hablé de estadounidenses, hablé de protestantes.

[@garrickmorales7786]

Spanish work culture is unemployment or less than 1000$ a month, you choose.

[@daniellegrobman]

... that's a double edged sword

[@genious1682]

The minimun wage in Spain in 1134€/per month (14 pays). The most frecuent salary is 1600€ per month; although in Madrid, Basque Country or Catalonia it's nearly 2000€... We pay less taxes than other european countries and we get healthcare, basic education for free. Public transport and university are very cheap

[@louaceveu1925]

Wow! Unemployment! Every day arrive in Spain thousands of immigrants from South America especially Argentina, Venezuela and Colombia with all levels of preparation. I follow many of them, within a week of arriving they are all already working, many of them within a year open their own businesses. I am from Asturias and in the North companies are delaying production for lack of personnel. This is so obvious that their contribution to the labor market made the Spanish economy grow a whopping 1.9%, the most of the European Union and even bigger to the growth of the USA that it was this year 1.8%. I don't think that a good electrician, plumber, carpenter make $1,000 a month and you know what? there are not enough of them for the amount of work that there is out there.

[@silesianbeer]

​@@louaceveu1925 I totally agree but you did one little mistake. Actually gdp growth in 2024 in Spain is even better 2.9%