Workplace culture in the US
August 16, 2011 11:46 PM Subscribe
Protips for a Brazilian immigrant new to working in the U.S. Are there things specific to USA-based workplaces that one should know?
Asking this question for my Brazilian husband who is a bit nervous about his new job in the US: It's a small company (roughly 10 to 15 staff). They are based in the Bay Area and they market themselves as a full service video production company putting together videos, documentary films, commercials, web-based advertising, etc. They are extremely well-respected in the industry and project a "laid-back" but professional tone. My husband is a recent grad from a respected technical school with a degree in Audio Engineering. He is not so much nervous about his skills but more about fitting into office culture. He has been in this country for six years (his spoken English is mostly fluent).
He is really nervous about confronting cultural differences in the workplace that he will not be prepared to handle.
Any tips to soothe his concerns?
Asking this question for my Brazilian husband who is a bit nervous about his new job in the US: It's a small company (roughly 10 to 15 staff). They are based in the Bay Area and they market themselves as a full service video production company putting together videos, documentary films, commercials, web-based advertising, etc. They are extremely well-respected in the industry and project a "laid-back" but professional tone. My husband is a recent grad from a respected technical school with a degree in Audio Engineering. He is not so much nervous about his skills but more about fitting into office culture. He has been in this country for six years (his spoken English is mostly fluent).
He is really nervous about confronting cultural differences in the workplace that he will not be prepared to handle.
Any tips to soothe his concerns?
If he's been in the States a while I guess he is already well aware, but just basic human contact stuff like hugging, kissing, being flirty, is not going to fly in a US work environment (sadly)...
posted by Meatbomb at 2:44 AM on August 17, 2011
posted by Meatbomb at 2:44 AM on August 17, 2011
It's also useful to know what the protocol is around someone's birthday - in some offices I've worked in, the birthday person brings in cookies/cakes/brownies for everyone, but in others they are presented with a cake by their co-workers. In yet others, people's birthdays come and go without anyone noticing.
posted by essexjan at 3:30 AM on August 17, 2011
posted by essexjan at 3:30 AM on August 17, 2011
Things that were different from my previous (South American) job experiences:
The positive
-Expect for there to be a lot of food celebrations. Lunches for a million different things. Crazy inventions like Muffin Monday or stuff like that.
-although American people will tell you otherwise because they don't know any worse, it's a lot easier to get promoted solely on performance here, in comparison to many South American countries. You will rarely find sons, godchildren or neighbors in positions they shouldn't have. (it happens, but not so often)
-Eye contact is a must, must must. Smiling helps a lot, too.
-Coffee is a thing. Many offices will invest in nice coffee makers and very good coffee. It happens to be a very good talking point if you want to socialize. People have orgasms about coffee here.
- Everything you need to know will very likely be written down in a manual. So you just have to read it carefully.
- Most companies are very strict about preventing/penalizing sexual or racial discrimination, which is awesome.
The negative-
-people tend to make you feel guilty about taking time off. There's a bit of an "if you must..." attitude towards anything that requires that you leave the office.
- You "don't have to" attend the late night meetings, the weekend seminars, etc. But you kinda do. It helps you score points.
-hugging, touching, or smiling too much could result in a sexual harrasment complaint
-you are expected to regularly miss lunch hours in many jobs, they were just a formality on paper in most of mine.
- No nap time after your non existent lunch. This will sound crazy to many Americans, but several companies in other countries close for lunch and siesta. This is a laughable idea in the US.
posted by Tarumba at 7:56 AM on August 17, 2011 [1 favorite]
The positive
-Expect for there to be a lot of food celebrations. Lunches for a million different things. Crazy inventions like Muffin Monday or stuff like that.
-although American people will tell you otherwise because they don't know any worse, it's a lot easier to get promoted solely on performance here, in comparison to many South American countries. You will rarely find sons, godchildren or neighbors in positions they shouldn't have. (it happens, but not so often)
-Eye contact is a must, must must. Smiling helps a lot, too.
-Coffee is a thing. Many offices will invest in nice coffee makers and very good coffee. It happens to be a very good talking point if you want to socialize. People have orgasms about coffee here.
- Everything you need to know will very likely be written down in a manual. So you just have to read it carefully.
- Most companies are very strict about preventing/penalizing sexual or racial discrimination, which is awesome.
The negative-
-people tend to make you feel guilty about taking time off. There's a bit of an "if you must..." attitude towards anything that requires that you leave the office.
- You "don't have to" attend the late night meetings, the weekend seminars, etc. But you kinda do. It helps you score points.
-hugging, touching, or smiling too much could result in a sexual harrasment complaint
-you are expected to regularly miss lunch hours in many jobs, they were just a formality on paper in most of mine.
- No nap time after your non existent lunch. This will sound crazy to many Americans, but several companies in other countries close for lunch and siesta. This is a laughable idea in the US.
posted by Tarumba at 7:56 AM on August 17, 2011 [1 favorite]
I have worked in Brazilian offices as a business partner and have had them work here, and I will say first off that the differences aren't huge. Relative to other cultures I've worked with there wasn't a huge amount of difference. Even his default behavior is going to be roughly within social norms.
The main area I'd call out was around working hours. At least in my industry the US was more compressed - start earlier, quick lunch, end earlier. In Brazil it was start late, long lunch, end late. This does go against the stereotype of US being work all the time, but I found that the Brazilian employees were away from their home far more often on a typical day. This may vary by industry, however.
posted by true at 8:29 AM on August 17, 2011
The main area I'd call out was around working hours. At least in my industry the US was more compressed - start earlier, quick lunch, end earlier. In Brazil it was start late, long lunch, end late. This does go against the stereotype of US being work all the time, but I found that the Brazilian employees were away from their home far more often on a typical day. This may vary by industry, however.
posted by true at 8:29 AM on August 17, 2011
I'm not South American but an Australian that moved to the US, but found quite a few things different in the corporate culture in the US that well I wasn't expecting. I did arrive just as the economy here tanked and moved to the midwest so that may have influenced things a bit too. I've work in the office/management side of hotels and resorts all my life.
A lot more of an attitude of working to live instead of living to work, what you "do" for a job/career seems to define you a lot more over here.
I was used to 4 weeks of holidays/vacations/days off a year and 10 sick/personal days. I found the only having 2 weeks hard to take, especially when I found out if I actually took the whole 2 weeks off people made rude comments.
Clothing is more casual than I was used to in office environments.
Despite everyone over here saying that everyone is part of the team and things are "classless" over here there seems to be a more the management is separate from everyone else vibe over here than I was used to back in Australia. ie Back in Australia I thought nothing about Management hanging out with maintenance guys, office workers mates with housekeepers but over here it seems a lot less common. I call it the college degree divide, at least that's how it seems to me.
The good news is most people I've met over here are pretty tolerant if you are from a new country despite what you hear and I've never been anything but welcomed. As long as you learn from any mistakes you make and have a laugh about them most everyone I've met has been very forgiving.
posted by wwax at 11:51 AM on August 17, 2011
A lot more of an attitude of working to live instead of living to work, what you "do" for a job/career seems to define you a lot more over here.
I was used to 4 weeks of holidays/vacations/days off a year and 10 sick/personal days. I found the only having 2 weeks hard to take, especially when I found out if I actually took the whole 2 weeks off people made rude comments.
Clothing is more casual than I was used to in office environments.
Despite everyone over here saying that everyone is part of the team and things are "classless" over here there seems to be a more the management is separate from everyone else vibe over here than I was used to back in Australia. ie Back in Australia I thought nothing about Management hanging out with maintenance guys, office workers mates with housekeepers but over here it seems a lot less common. I call it the college degree divide, at least that's how it seems to me.
The good news is most people I've met over here are pretty tolerant if you are from a new country despite what you hear and I've never been anything but welcomed. As long as you learn from any mistakes you make and have a laugh about them most everyone I've met has been very forgiving.
posted by wwax at 11:51 AM on August 17, 2011
I know nothing about office culture in Brazil so I won't be able to pinpoint differences, but I wanted to chime in to say that not all offices/companies/coworkers will give you a hard time about taking vacation time. I'm sure there are places where snide comments about people taking time off are the norm, but I've never worked in one.
posted by that's candlepin at 1:22 PM on August 17, 2011
posted by that's candlepin at 1:22 PM on August 17, 2011
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Have him step back after his first few weeks and ask himself: how much am I really at work? Is this what I expected? Finding this out in advance can be difficult, but sometimes being "passionate" about your job to your boss means that you're there 70 hours a week if you count "lunch meetings" and "dinners with clients".
There may be people he works with who haven't got partners or families, and "replace" those things with the office culture; they may even be the majority of the office - so if he chooses to, say, do something as radical as leave work after being there for what he considers enough time to have done a day's work and plan a bit for tomorrow, he may raise eyebrows: "Leaving so soon?". There's usually no malice here, but if the culture of the workplace is such that everyone stays at work until 11:30 pm or something to "finish up a few things", it may be worth reevaluating the expectations that were set by the person who hired him.
Also, because smaller companies like this might not have dedicated, separate human resources or payroll departments, either, it can be tricky to navigate things like time off or overtime pay, especially if everyone hangs out together outside the workplace, and suddenly you're asking nicely for something you're actually contractually entitled to, hoping it's "approved". Things can slip through the cracks - a half-hour there, a vacation day here - so it's a good idea to use a budgeting program or even just a simple spreadsheet to track hours worked, vacation time accrued, expenses, etc.
While I'm not saying he should keep his distance and coldly calculate his every move, I think it's a good idea for him to just keep his eyes peeled for expectations of total dedication, "donated" hours, and those pesky after-work "optional" meetings that everyone just happens to be attending.
posted by mdonley at 12:06 AM on August 17, 2011