For many Americans, Europe is often held up as a model of balance, shorter workweeks, generous vacation time, and a cultural emphasis on leisure.
But if a recent Reddit thread among expats is any indication, the reality doesn’t always match the image.
“My German job very much has the American working culture,” one person wrote, echoing a recurring theme in the thread.
Despite popular assumptions, several expats shared that their experience in Europe involved long hours, high pressure, and little of the work-life balance they expected.
A Brazilian finance worker who moved to Western Europe shared his experience expecting a slower pace after being told during interviews that Europeans dislike overworking.
Instead, he found himself working longer hours than his peers, and sometimes more than he did back home.
When he raised the issue, his boss reportedly told him, “I don’t think you are that overloaded. Also, you need to make more money.”
He said that experience shattered his belief in the so-called European work-life balance.
“It does not matter all the pretty lies they tell you about workers protection or that our country we do it differently. This is all lies,” he wrote.
Several of his colleagues reportedly went on burnout leave during the same year.
Experiences Vary Widely by Country and Job
Responses to his post painted a complex picture. A software engineer in the Czech Republic said his 8-hour days are typical, with only senior staff putting in more time.
But others across Europe described vastly different experiences.
In Northern Europe, burnout leaves are common, especially in the public sector.
One person recalled that during Dutch language courses, students were even taught how to discuss burnout with a company doctor, a sign of how normalized the issue has become.
Others said conditions have worsened since the pandemic.
A former engineer in Sweden said the work culture changed dramatically after management shifted priorities: “Managers started micromanaging, coworkers were at each other’s throats, people broke down crying in the office.”
He added that while Sweden still has strong worker protections, bad leadership can easily erode those values.
Several expats said that while they were drawn to Europe for balance, their experiences depended heavily on industry.
A person from the Netherlands said, “The Western European work-life balance is only for low-skilled jobs. In high-skilled jobs… it is not very different from the U.S.”
Immigrants Often Feel More Pressure
Expats also described a harsher reality for foreign workers. One said, “As immigrants/expats… if we get fired, there goes our visa and back to our home country we go.”
Some bosses, they added, exploit that vulnerability, knowing it makes employees less likely to push back or report violations.
Another worker in Finland said managers often use flexibility as a disguise for overload: while they say hours don’t matter as long as the job gets done, the workload makes it impossible to finish within eight hours.
He also noticed unequal treatment: native workers who took long burnout leaves were welcomed back, while foreigners risked being laid off after shorter absences.
Laws on Paper, Pressure in Practice
While many commenters acknowledged that European labor laws are stronger than in the U.S., several said those protections are undermined in practice.
A French worker noted that burnout leaves are routine and that “indirect” pressure, like chronic understaffing or unspoken expectationsf orces employees into 60-hour weeks even when no one explicitly tells them to stay late.
A person in Eastern Europe contrasted their old job with their current one in the West: “Coming from Eastern Europe…burnout was unheard of… Now I have a ton of vacation days, but I’ve never worked so hard in my life. I wish people back home would know how hard it is to work in a ‘developed’ country.”
A Dream Deferred by Deadlines
The thread’s overall tone suggested that while Europe’s labor protections look good on paper, they don’t always translate into day-to-day reality.
Genuine balance seems to depend on the sector, company culture, and willingness to set boundaries.
One person summed it up: “Work-life balance only exists for dead-end jobs… If you want to move up, you’re not going to have any kind of balance.”
For many professionals, that “European dream” of a slower pace of life remains just that, a dream.
While some still manage to find balance with supportive managers or in lower-pressure jobs, plenty of others end up dealing with the same stress they thought they were leaving behind.
Sure, the relaxed European lifestyle exists, but it’s not a guarantee. It depends a lot on your job, your company, and whether you’re in a position to push back.
In the end, it’s less about which country you’re in and more about how much support you get, what’s expected of you, and whether your employer actually backs up their talk about balance.