> When starting a company in the US, informality rules, we all know the HP story that HP was started out of a garage. Now in Europe work is so regulated that you can’t start a company out of a garage because you can’t legally work in a garage.
> A friend of mine was fed up with an employee who worked poorly and told him that if he didn’t work harder he would fire him. This employee went to see a doctor, told the doctor that work depressed him and he was declared a mental patient, as a result my entrepreneur friend had to pay him for a year of doing nothing.
As a European (Netherlands), I recognize these points very strongly. This is not just Southern European stuff. It's absolutely ridiculous how easily angry/unmotivated employees can suck a firm or department dry though sick leave and whatnot.
That said, there's also
> In the end what many European employers do is not give out stock options and give tiny bonuses. In the end what these laws do is that employers go for low fixed compensations and don’t expect outstanding work.
This is so American that it hurts: want people to perform? Put a carrot in front of their noses. The European approach would be trying to make their work interesting and the work environment good, so that employees are intrinsically motivated to do outstanding. Sure, there's many companies that don't understand this, but then there's real many that do. It is simply not a strong part of European culture to be motivated by money, primarily.