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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be shocked by Canadian work culture?

174 replies

wantedrueu · 02/01/2022 01:05

My best friend moved to Canada three years ago. I asked her when she was next coming back, as she sometimes does. She said she will not be coming back anytime soon as she only gets three weeks holiday. This is in a senior role.

When asked, she said Canada is much more work focused- Very little holiday time, holiday very hard to take or ask for, longer days, no socialising after work and stricter standards.

AIBU to be shocked at this?

I frequently hear Canada has an amazing quality of life! So it is shocking to me that it the work-culture is very US reminiscent.

I work basic minimum wage and get five weeks, in the UK. Add in the fact I can add in my two regular days off, ie, if I want 7 days off schedule, I only have to book 5.

It's made me appreciate the UK a bit more, if a bit more grey.

I've always thought about moving abroad, but with my terrible capacity for learning a language, I always considered Canada; but i don't think I'd be cut out for their working culture!

Is anyone else here Canadian or lives there who can verify this?

OP posts:
MintJulia · 03/01/2022 18:13

I worked for a company in Quebec and the idea of not socialising after work certainly wasn't true there.

Holiday allowance was less that the UK though, and benefits were generally not as good. A fabulous place to live though, if very chilly in winter.

Nyxnak · 03/01/2022 18:18

Hang on, where in the UK do we work 1625 hours a year?

Xenia · 03/01/2022 18:21

The UK as well as a much more generous holiday entitlement than the 4 weeks a year I started out on as a lawyer in 1983 now has many many more people working part time and being able to afford to do that than used to be the case in the UK - it has been a huge change over the last few decades here.

JenniferWooley · 03/01/2022 18:34

@Nyxnak

Hang on, where in the UK do we work 1625 hours a year?
Based on a 35hr week & taking the statutory 5.6 weeks holiday you'd work 1624hrs a year
Alexandra2001 · 03/01/2022 18:36

@TheHamburgler

The average Canadian works 1,702 hours per year, compared to 1,625 for the UK.

Based on an 8 hour working days, that’d mean Canadians work about 10 more days per year.

That said, both are below the OECD average.

Even the OECD state that these figures are NOT for comparison ...

The data are intended for comparisons of trends over time; they are unsuitable for comparisons of the level of average annual hours of work for a given year, because of differences in their sources and method of calculation

Bottom line is most people who go to Canada or Aus etc stay there and would never come back.

Ineke · 03/01/2022 18:41

My DIL works com 7.00 to 19.00 five days a week in London. 60 hour week is common place in city jobs.

Hugoslavia · 03/01/2022 18:45

Yes, holiday allowances are definitely less. My husband is Canadian and I lived and worked there for a while. I didn't find the hours to be any longer or leave harder to book off though.

Hugoslavia · 03/01/2022 18:46

Oh yes, and socializing was definitely encouraged after work.

WindInTheWillows7 · 03/01/2022 18:47

Interesting to see how, on mumsnet, people jump at the chance to bash the U. S. But any criticism of Canada and it's all "no no that can't be right!"
Confused

GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing · 03/01/2022 18:54

I get 30 days plus bank hols and one extra day (on a fixed day). So it sounds like very little to me!

GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing · 03/01/2022 18:55

And what I have doesn’t really cover my portion of the school holidays (half with exh)

StrongerOrWeaker · 03/01/2022 18:56

As others have said, you can't generalise. I am in the UK and don't feel I work that much but someone in the city would probably disagree!
Perhaps people should indicate the field they are in?

everythingbackbutyou · 03/01/2022 19:05

@WindInTheWillows7 - most of the people who are saying it isn't right LIVE IN CANADA and are in a good position to set people straight who do not live in Canada.

Toseland · 03/01/2022 19:16

I once worked in a company with teams in the UK, US and Canada - lots of us were made redundant at once. In the US and Canada staff were told, then asked to pack up their desks and were escorted off the premises by security within hours - some of them had been there for over 15 years. In the UK we had a month’s notice.

godmum56 · 03/01/2022 19:21

@VinylCafe

Yup :( none had told us about greenheads....we took care not to walk hin in areas where they were prevalent after that

SalsaLove · 03/01/2022 19:25

The U.K definitely has excellent work/life balance, but that doesn’t seem to help with rampant workplace bullying and mental health issues. I’m not exaggerating when I say that it’s almost impossible to get 5 staff in a room together due to annual leave, sick children, flexible working, and school holidays, not to mention the current mental health crisis that sees thousands taking off extended leave. It’s all hugely unproductive and difficult to move projects forward. I don’t know what the answer is but the U.K. should take a look at itself before casting a dim view of other countries.

Galiano · 03/01/2022 20:01

@wantedrueu

My best friend moved to Canada three years ago. I asked her when she was next coming back, as she sometimes does. She said she will not be coming back anytime soon as she only gets three weeks holiday. This is in a senior role.

When asked, she said Canada is much more work focused- Very little holiday time, holiday very hard to take or ask for, longer days, no socialising after work and stricter standards.

AIBU to be shocked at this?

I frequently hear Canada has an amazing quality of life! So it is shocking to me that it the work-culture is very US reminiscent.

I work basic minimum wage and get five weeks, in the UK. Add in the fact I can add in my two regular days off, ie, if I want 7 days off schedule, I only have to book 5.

It's made me appreciate the UK a bit more, if a bit more grey.

I've always thought about moving abroad, but with my terrible capacity for learning a language, I always considered Canada; but i don't think I'd be cut out for their working culture!

Is anyone else here Canadian or lives there who can verify this?

I'm Canadian and I couldn't believe how generous the annual leave was when I moved to the UK. Canada has a lot going for it but not when it comes to holidays! I'd move to Scandinavia if I were you.
Gwenhwyfar · 03/01/2022 20:18

@Flickflak

The UK seemed generous to me when I lived there (I’m Australian). Five weeks annual leave to our four, and it seemed a lot of personal/sick leave too. The US is brutal. Sounds like Canada somewhere in between.
Try some other European countries.
Mrstwiddle · 03/01/2022 20:19

I moved to Canada and was also shocked by the poor holiday allowance. My partner has been with his company for approx 20 years and gets a measly 4 weeks. I’m in education so get 11 weeks. If I worked in a regular Canadian job starting at 3 weeks holiday, I suspect I would have moved back to the U.K.

I will say though that working in Education, I work only two days a week for higher pay than working 5 days a week in England, and the average pay is better too. Just if anyone is thinking of making a move.

naffusername · 03/01/2022 20:36

I'm the equivalent of your old SEN. I belong to a union.

I work 38.75 hours a week. I work daylight hours, so earn the basic salary (due to lack of shift and weekend pay), so around $71K/yearly.

I have 25 days paid vacation, 3 personal leave days, 3 education days, and earn 1.5 sick days per month (currently holding around 9 weeks of full pay sick leave)

I pay for extended health benefits (prescriptions, glasses, etc) and dental insurance. I have a pension and carry disability insurance.

Due to my seniority I get second vacation selection.

The only time I got my leave request turned down was for Christmas because the nurse senior to me got it and the Manager wanted experienced staff on the floor.

You can't compare Canada to the US, they still have places where people work for tips and rely on charities to pay the uninsured medical /hospital bills.

In the UK and Canada you may have to wait for some health services but you don't have to worry about going bankrupt and loosing your home.

Kitkat151 · 03/01/2022 20:53

@naffusername

I'm the equivalent of your old SEN. I belong to a union.

I work 38.75 hours a week. I work daylight hours, so earn the basic salary (due to lack of shift and weekend pay), so around $71K/yearly.

I have 25 days paid vacation, 3 personal leave days, 3 education days, and earn 1.5 sick days per month (currently holding around 9 weeks of full pay sick leave)

I pay for extended health benefits (prescriptions, glasses, etc) and dental insurance. I have a pension and carry disability insurance.

Due to my seniority I get second vacation selection.

The only time I got my leave request turned down was for Christmas because the nurse senior to me got it and the Manager wanted experienced staff on the floor.

You can't compare Canada to the US, they still have places where people work for tips and rely on charities to pay the uninsured medical /hospital bills.

In the UK and Canada you may have to wait for some health services but you don't have to worry about going bankrupt and loosing your home.

How long does it take you to get to 6 months full and 6 months half sick pay....like we get in the U.K.? If you get bank holdidays on top of your 25 days then that’s not too bad.....the NHS here starts at 27 days.....after 5 years it’s 29 days then after 10 years it’s 33 days ( plus bank hols)
naffusername · 03/01/2022 21:20

Our sick pay doesn't work like yours. As I said we earn 1.5 days a month or 18 days a year. If you don't use them they add up. Once you have banked 990 (or so hours) you can't bank anymore.

If you use up your bank, that's when your disability insurance kicks in. Short term goes for around three months and then long term kicks in. They pay 66.6% of you wages.

Maternity leave is either 12 or 18 months, you pick. The total amount paid is the same, the longer time gets lower biweekly cheques but it's the same total at the end.

Oh, and you're right, I forgot to add in the statutory/bank holidays. Oh, and a floater (which is a day off with with pay when you need it)

The year you are hired you get a % of ten days. After that it's 15 days vacation. Ten years gets you 20 days. Twenty years it goes up to 25 and a one off bonus of an extra five days.

Xenia · 03/01/2022 21:23

It is not a social good to have loads of holiday. It means we have worse productivity in the UK - same with loads of part time workers. It is a state interference in business freedom. It is a wrong not a right. In this area Canada are better than the UK in my view.

Alexandra2001 · 03/01/2022 21:33

@Xenia

It is not a social good to have loads of holiday. It means we have worse productivity in the UK - same with loads of part time workers. It is a state interference in business freedom. It is a wrong not a right. In this area Canada are better than the UK in my view.
Yet Germany, with very generous employee benefits, totally outstrips Canada and the UK on productivity, even the UK is ahead of Canada.
SquirrelG · 03/01/2022 21:52

Maybe you need more holidays in the UK because you live on a grey island, and so many of you seem to live for a trip abroad every year? Other countries have better weather and people often tend to holiday at home.