Portuguese Work-Work Balance

Date: 11/09/2023 19:18:05

#personal

The biggest lie I’ve ever seen about the Portuguese on the internet is about people here being laid-back, work-life balanced, and free of overwork.

This is the first impression when you see people chilling in cafés or bars every day.

Thing is, this doesn’t mean anything. As a person with a Portuguese job, salary (you know those Portuguese salaries), service providers, and friends, I see lots of people holding two jobs (and am actually thinking of doing the same, truth be told). They just won’t talk to you about it, you’re not in their close communication circle. A café or a bar is just an easy and cheap way to relax.

I had a friend in my old building, a nice woman called Sandra. She worked as an admin for Ryanair, but also had a pet funeral business that she did in her spare time. All the servicemen I’ve ever spoken to worked 6 or 6.5 days a week, whenever they had an opportunity to earn. My dance teacher? That guy is all over town, working at five studios at once.

Even my pet care person, the one I leave my dog with when I go out of the city, is fresh out of university, but already has three jobs: she’s a dance teacher, a pet groomer, and a pet carer. Some of my colleagues consult or program for money on Saturdays and in the evenings.

Talking to dog owners on the street (and once you live in one place for several months, your conversations start to deepen) reveals that they also usually have a job plus something on the side. So, yeah. 50 to 55 hours of work per week, but then you take your family and go chill on the beach.

I think that we need to learn to chill like people here do because it seems to be effective in those few spare hours.