In Sweden I have seen that people just understand that others are human. If you stay at home because you have a sick kid, I support that. If I leave half an hour early because I have a doctor appointment my manager understands. My manager may take extra vacation days and that is ok. One employee does not sabotage the needs of the others, work is done anyway and everything works better when people is relaxed and can focus when needed instead of overworked.
I understand that in countries like the USA employees complain about other employees just for being sick and call them lazy, and management forces people to do extra hours to impress upper management. Or at least I get that from many comments here in HN were I have seen people been called lazy for having human needs or caring for their families.
I’m sure some commenters here will agree with your points, but I think you’re generalizing.
I’m not even joking, I’ve come across a number of Swedes on the internet who seemed to have this judgmental, superior and vaguely nationalist stance, and your comment does nothing to dispel that impression.
Yet I wouldn’t dare say Swedish people are like that.
I think this can extend to all of Europe. It's not a nationalist thing. From a European perspective, North American work culture (yes, I'm looking at you, Canada) is truly puzzling.
I understand that in countries like the USA employees complain about other employees just for being sick and call them lazy, and management forces people to do extra hours to impress upper management. Or at least I get that from many comments here in HN were I have seen people been called lazy for having human needs or caring for their families.