Transcript

Łukasz Gawryluk:

I think here in UK, everything is less formal, and the biggest difference for myself is that you can call your bosses by his, their first names, which is a bit unusual in Poland. In Poland, I used to start earlier and also finish earlier. We have actually flexible working hours, so I can start a few hours later.

Brian Tse:

China, in general, the people work for longer hours during the day and then meetings and business meetings are held over lunch as well as dinner, whereas in UK, um, generally we have very fixed working hours, so after work, people don’t tend to talk about work too much.

Shazia Maqbool:

Generally speaking, um, environment in UK, it’s more informal, more flexible, whereas in Pakistan, it is more formal and does not support too much integration, if you like, between people at work. People won’t call each other with their first names at work for colleagues, they would rather call each other with surnames, Mr and Mrs, and then for boss and for seniors, we don’t call them with their names at all. We either call them as Sir or Ma’am.

Marina Magnabosco:

At the beginning, it was a bit strange, trying to get used to call your boss with his nickname instead of his full name. Talking with colleagues in Italy, you would interrupt each other and everything. You might try to find the, the right spot to interrupt people, so always with respect, of course. Certain culture is allowed. Some other are not, but from where I come from, I think it is allowed. [laughs]