Work life balance is one of the biggest silent shocks of moving abroad, in both directions. Some expats land in cultures where leaving on time is normal, holidays are genuinely taken, and emailing at night is frowned upon, and they wonder why they ever lived differently. Others move into cultures where visible long hours signal commitment and taking full leave feels risky, and they must consciously protect boundaries their colleagues never test.
The cultural drivers are worth understanding rather than judging. Attitudes to hierarchy, whether face time or output gets measured, the role of after work socializing, and legal frameworks around hours and leave all shape daily reality more than company policy.
Practical advice: observe before pushing back, since some norms are softer than they look, but know your legal entitlements, which in many countries are stronger than newcomers assume. And decide deliberately which norms you adopt and which you politely resist, because the default is drifting into whatever surrounds you.