As a fun follow-up to yesterday’s post, I mentioned that the meaning or understanding of an employer offering can change depending on the culture or country you’re in, right?

Well, we saw that for the British a positive work environment was one of the most important criteria of work/life balance (27%). Now for the French, however, the meaning of work-life balance is somewhat different.

Close to 40 per cent of 26,800 French job-seekers say that work/life balance means mostly having enough leisure time for their private life, while respect for leisure time was important to only 13 per cent in the UK – a striking difference.

Another interesting dissimilarity between the two nationalities is with regard to both financial and job security. Eighteen per cent of French versus 26 per cent of British students thought financial security was an important component, as 10 per cent of  French versus 24 per cent of British students thought job security was imperative. It seems that the French are less concerned about money and losing jobs.  

Yet what do they have in common? Similar to students in the UK, the French also feel that a good office atmosphere (35%) and interesting and challenging work (26%) help contribute to finding a harmonious balance – something which both parties seem to agree upon.  So far, so good…we might have found the common denominators for both countries.

The meaning of work/life balance in France