ELM presents “Meeting & Greeting” – a video we made based on real events in our office. We are lucky to have a very international team which allows us to observe the different cultural practices and reactions to the same situations!

What would you do if you came to the office and found your boss in the middle of a meeting?

A Dutch person: “When Dutch employees walk in to the meeting of seniors, they greet everyone in the room. Otherwise, they are considered rude”.

A Chinese person: “Chinese employees would never interrupt a meeting of seniors to introduce themselves because they know that they are lower in hierarchy! That’s why they will be silent instead”.

What this video teaches us is that the perception of hierarchy determines the actions and the relationship between the employees and their seniors. In this case we see that a flat hierarchy in the Netherlands prescribes a more egalitarian and straightforward approach. We can’t stress enough how important it is to acquaint yourself with the host culture if you’re planning to work abroad – not only can it heavily influence your professional success but also your overall happiness there!

Specifically on the subject of culture in the Netherlands, we’re giving a workshop for expats in our office on September 22nd “What Makes the Dutch Dutch?”. If you work in a diverse team like we do, have a look at our international team building trainings to avoid any miscommunications.

Re-enacted by: Selene Siregar, Rainer Schreiber, Marianne Kuijpers and Amy Lee.
Directed and edited by: Veronika Norvaisaite.
ELM team

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