I got a remote job for a EU company, I'd find it hard to go back to a US-based

Summary

This as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation with 34-year-old Meghan Gezo, from Michigan. The following has been edited for length and clarity.In 2022, I left my job working remotely in people operations for a US company. Juggling my job and raising my one-year-old wasn't working.I wanted to take a break while I looked for another opportunity that would allow me to have better work-life boundaries.After a few months of job hunting, I started as a people experience manager at Storyblok, a fully remote content management company based in Austria.I'd never worked for a company based in Europe before. Living in the US, most jobs that pop up are US-based.People have come to expect more work-life balance in Europe, as the employment laws differ from the US. For me, there have been perks related to my life as a parent, my working hours, and my professional growth.I was immediately drawn to the benefits of working for a European companyI've been working in remote jobs for tech companies since 2016.I'd previously worked in an office, but thought a remote job meant I could focus on higher-impact work than the office administration that usually fell to HR, as well as branch out beyond the manufacturing and automotive industry jobs in my area.It was easier to find a remote job in 2022 than in 2016. I found the listing for Storyblok on a job board. The people I spoke with were genuine and direct. In the first interview, they talked about time off norms and said the standard workweek is 38.5 hours. They seemed to emphasize work-life balance and gave me concrete examples of how it worked at the company.I was optimistic I could be successful in the role while staying involved in my daughter's life.In the US, the norm on paper is a 40-hour workweek, but in practice, people often work until they finish their tasks, especially in tech. I used to work, feed my daughter, put her to bed, and then work some more. It felt normal.At my current company, you focus on work when...