A Comparison Between Australian And American Work Cultures, As Shared In This Online Thread

We managed to get in touch with the creator of this post, moviessoccerbeer, who was kind enough to have a little chat with us. “I was researching places to move abroad, and Australia was always one that was recommended,” the user told Bored Panda.

This encouraged them to learn more about the land down under. “Specifically on YouTube, expats will say that the Australian people tend to be more laid back and have a ‘work to live’ mentality.” The user added this was quite eye-opening for them, so they had to go straight to the source to ask Australians themselves.

“I wasn’t expecting it to blow up the way it did, but it was a very pleasant surprise,” they added. Dozens of people shared their wisdom in the thread, and the creator of this post thought the comments were really insightful. Plus, their messages about life there were generally positive. “The only real negative comments were about certain areas of the country and the cost of housing, but no country is perfect!”

“I think that the Australian work culture is ideal and something to strive for, the Anglosphere (and other countries as others have mentioned to me in the post) model of working more than you need to for the sake of chasing money is toxic and needs to be done away with,” moviessoccerbeer said.

The user believes it’s important to bring these cultural differences to light. “People are destroying their minds and bodies, and missing valuable time with their families to voluntarily work extra so they can chase after a Hollywood fantasy,” they explained. “Life is too short, and these people end up regretting it. There is a better way to live!”

“If you don’t need the extra hours at work, don’t take them,” they suggested. “Use that time to rest, catch up with an old friend, spend time with loved ones, go to that new restaurant, travel to that place you always wanted to go to. Life is too short — the love and memories you’ll experience from those things will make you feel richer than money could.”

To learn more about what life in Australia is all about, we reached out to Gigi Foster, a professor with the School of Economics at the University of New South Wales, who emigrated from the US to Sydney several years ago. “Well, living through the Covid era has shown me that Australians are extreme rule-followers — far more so than Americans,” she told Bored Panda.

The professor revealed that for Australians, “the important thing is to comply with authority for the sake of that compliance — regardless of whether the thing you’re complying with makes any sense at all.” Americans, on the contrary, have a “far more of an entrepreneurial, independent spirit”.

When Foster first moved to Sydney, it was initially hard for her to get used to a few customs, “like salad served without dressing and putting the toilet in a separate room to the bathroom”. She still misses a few things from America, such as the American unapologetic can-do attitude.

“Instead, over here in Australia, we have the well-known Tall Poppy Syndrome” — the expectation that all poppies should grow together, and if one grows too tall, it should be cut down to size. This syndrome occurs when people are criticized or disliked because of their success. Plus, there’s the cultural cringe: “Sort of a deep lack of belief that Australia could actually do anything really good and truly worthy. Now that is cultural baggage for you!”

When it comes to job satisfaction levels, Foster thinks that most college-educated workers are probably happier with their jobs in the US than in Australia. “I’d guess this in part because of the US higher education system in which students take lots of different courses, and so have a better opportunity to end up in something they actually are well suited for,” she noted.

“Whereas in Australia, you go to university to study a quite narrow degree program. If you find out that you don’t like it, it’s quite hard to change.” Foster explained there’s a higher chance of ending up in a career “that doesn’t actually suit you, and hence (or so would be my guess), being less happy in your job.”

Still, the “live to work” mentality didn’t catch on in Australia like in the US. “It’s definitely my sense though that a large fraction of Australians work not for the intrinsic joy they receive from their jobs but rather to do things they enjoy — surfing, barbecuing, hanging out with friends.”

Foster told Bored Panda she understands and appreciates this perspective. “In the end, happiness is what matters in this life, and lasting happiness ultimately flows more from love and relationships than from professional success.”

“I was raised with a strong work ethic and still have it, and I also am lucky enough to love my job, but I have softened a bit since being in Australia and I like that change in myself,” she continued. “I feel it brings my behavior more in line with where, on reflection, my life priorities actually are.”