A British expat living in Vancouver has opened up about the biggest differences in workplace culture – with no endless tea rounds being one of the biggest benefits.
Lauren Keen swapped her job in recruitment in London for the same role in Vancouver in a bid ‘to enjoy a more outdoorsy lifestyle’, and has noticed a few differences about corporate life in the two nations.
Lauren, or @explorecanadawithme on TikTok said the perks of working in Vancouver, include all-encompassing healthcare and a healthier work-life balance.
In a clip posted recently, she told her 23,000 followers: ‘Vancouver is so much more laid back.
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‘No one is in competition with each other to be at the office as early as possible, or as late as possible – in London it just felt like an absolute rat race’.
She expanded: ‘London feels a little more like living to work whereas Vancouver feels a bit more working to live’.
Another gripe the British expat had with her home country was office tea culture: ‘In London, if anyone’s going for a tea you would offer everyone else around you a cup of tea.
‘The next thing you know you’ve got a f***ing cart and you’re making 20 teas. [This] doesn’t happen in Vancouver like no one’s offering each other cups of tea, rounds of tea or anything like that’.
Alternatively, in Canada, Lauren found that people are more likely to suggest going to get a coffee together.
The recruiter also explained that the custom of bringing home baked goods into the office is more of a British thing.
‘If someone had made cookies the night before they would bring them into work for everyone,’ she said of her old workplace in London.
‘[When] it was someone’s birthday they would go out to buy treats, like sweets, chocolate cakes and put it at the end for everyone to share. This doesn’t really happen in Vancouver’.
On the subject of drinking, Lauren discovered the the boozy London tradition which sees Brits line the streets with pints on any day of the week does not exist and ‘Thursday is not the new Friday’.
‘I get to see a physio, a naturopath, a dietician, an osteopath, a chiropractor. All health benefits I would never get in London’
‘People barely go out on a Friday and Saturday night. London has a huge pub culture and people are going out for drinks after work like literally any day of the week,’ she said.
‘It doesn’t matter what day it is, you will see people outside a pub with a pint of beer, like every single day of the week .
‘You don’t see that as much in Vancouver, as people have to be up early to go for their hike before work’.
Lauren finished her visit on a positive note, detailing the health benefits she gets as a recruiter working in Vancouver where ‘health benefits are so much better, especially if you’re working a more corporate job’.
‘I get to see a physio, a naturopath, a dietician, an osteopath, a chiropractor. All health benefits I would never get in London’.
