How Work Culture Differs Between The US And UK

Moving to a new city somewhere else in the country is a scary prospect, especially when we jump into a new job at the same time. But what about going to a whole new country, perhaps half way round the world, for a job? What are the kinds of barriers you might expect to face?

Of course there are many benefits to doing this, otherwise nobody would, and in fact a lot of people love to do exactly this. Travelling to a new country is always exciting and provides a lot of opportunities you would otherwise have never had access to. However, we can safely say that for almost anyone this is going to be a learning curve and you might come across some difficulties as a result of the culture you’re used to.

Coming from America to work in the UK, for example, you would most likely notice some crucial differences in the way our cultures compare. For one thing, many people might be taking this path because they are part of a work experience or internship scheme. In the US, this is a relatively common thing to do, while in the UK it isn’t so much. People in a British workplace may have more trouble adjusting to your presence if you’re an intern.

To some extent, you may find that work is a more serious place in the UK and there is a greater focus on concentrating and getting the job done. US employees, by comparison, seem more likely to be chatty and open at work. However, this stereotype is slowly changing as businesses become more global and adaptable, so it really depends on the type of firm and the decisions of individual managers regarding how they want to run their workplace.

A key point of comparison regarding working culture in these two countries is that of work versus life balance. Especially in recent years, UK companies have placed an increasing emphasis on the need to keep employees happy and fulfilled. This includes monitoring the balance they can maintain between the stresses of work and time they can spend relaxing and having fun.

In America it is more common to encounter a classic “workaholic” atmosphere and company structures which reward the most hard-working and competitive staff systematically. There is an argument to be made that in the long run, having to incentivise all productivity and strictly control employees to get the maximum amount of working hours out of them can actually be detrimental to productivity in the long run, so it will be interesting to see how these cultures change in the future.

Bringing British Brands To America

uk brands

We hear (and write) plenty about all the trends that have originated or been popular in the United States before spreading to the UK and rest of the world. There are lots of American influences in modern European culture, but the same could be said in reverse. The rational plan for companies and brands based in the UK and looking to expand is to target markets like the US, and many have been able to do just that over the years. But what does it really take to crack America?

Historically it has been quite common for British firms to fall into the trap of thinking America is very similar to the UK compared to other countries. Our languages may be (almost) the same, but cultural differences make a huge impact when it comes to marketing goods and services, and in many cases the USA differs vastly compared to other markets within Europe. It takes a clearly defined strategy for UK brands to succeed in America, but by paying attention to the right factors and tools, it can be done. Continue Reading

Multi-Level Marketing Going Multi-National

Multi level marketing



American business trends coming to the UK in 2016

America is known for being the home of many of the world’s biggest brands, and is of course a massive test market that the rest of the world can look to for ideas about what might dominate global business next. There are a few emerging trends that we expect to see more of in the UK as they grow in popularity across the Atlantic.

1) Having everything for nothing

There is certainly a growing trend for on-demand services of all kinds, something that has been seen in America for some years now but only recently begun to catch on in the United Kingdom. For example, streaming services like Netflix and the newly launched YouTube Red are redefining the rules about how people pay for their entertainment – music streaming services likeSpotify, Apple Music and Tidal are doing the same in their market.  Amazon has also been experimenting with food and drink delivery within hours, something they may be able to roll out to their whole product range within years. Everything is about paying a set fee for something and getting an unlimited amount back for your money, and since this is based around convenience and making life easy, people are increasingly getting on board with this. The idea of paying yearly subscriptions for music venues is something we expect to see launching within the next year, for example. Continue Reading