... to ask about French stereotypes?

[LolaIsHome]

As a result of a job change, I'm no working at a new company that HQ is based in France, dealing with their office a bit (every day in fact!). I did some French in school, was in Paris twice, but that's about it for me.

A few things I notice:

• They seem fairly relaxed about working hours, and not contactable outside of office hours or weekends (that was not the case in my previous job, IT area)

• While it's mostly English, a good amount of of email and lots of informal discussion in French

• Almost all the management team are men

Any advice on working with French companies or organizations?

I've worked with UK and US companies before, but this feels very different.

my husband found the hierarchy and the desire to tell the hierarchy what they want to hear rampant.
he was bluntly truthful and the french colleagues felt this was not just rude but career ending if it came from them, but thankfully dh did well with his unusual bold approach.
so lots of brown nosing is my take on this.

My DH spent some time seconded to a big company in Paris and he commented that people start a bit later than the UK but do finish later -the rush hour gets going at 18:00 hours. There was a hierarchy with his French colleagues greeting everyone when they arrived at the office. Workers have more rights and weekends are family time. He was told that in that company if you don’t take all your annual leave then the entitlement carries over and eventually you can retire those days earlier which sounds a fair idea. The canteen lunches were good, with choices from a baguette sandwich or salad to a good meal.

At about this time of year people start wearing their winter coats with obligatory scarf.

Top tips, greet you French colleagues in the morning with a «Bonjour or salut» and a «Bonne soirée» in the evening, try ending your emails with «Bien cordialement» and wear a nice scarf casually tied, in the autumn/winter!

@fallfallfall

my husband found the hierarchy and the desire to tell the hierarchy what they want to hear rampant. he was bluntly truthful and the french colleagues felt this was not just rude but career ending if it came from them, but thankfully dh did well with his unusual bold approach. so lots of brown nosing is my take on this.

Quite a contrast to the Dutch. The Dutch will tell you if you look shit.

Aside from the lunches, which have been well covered . I would say emails and letters, particularly those going outside your company, tend to be longer and more formal than those sent in the UK. The language is often very polite and flowery and more sentences are used than in the native English equivalent. When my French colleagues write in English they tend to use the longer French style.