Good news, at least they work the same way that I used to in the previous company. A lot of talking, consultation and the occasional jumping of conclusions and many many miscommunications. You'd think it was easy, but having a diverse team of multi nationals trying to speak English and sounding coherent is tougher than it sounds.
Most of the people here speak French and English and I was quickly introduced to some of the more colorful characters at the office. The first thing I did was try to troubleshoot my own email, seems like it didn't work, another Firewall issue. Gave up on that just about lunch time and continued after lunch with a discussion with the boss cum owners.
A marked difference from any Asian company was in the way they approached work. The first topic of discussion was of work life balance. Oooh we spent over an hour on this one, what was important, what my wife likes and dislikes - our work habits, what's she going to be doing, et cetera. Apparently they like to know these things so they can anticipate if the staff are going to have issues with the family or working too much and neglecting the people at home. How about that?
The learning curve is staggering as well. So much to understand, even things that we had assumed to be practiced or logical had other ways which make more sense to do. Obviously this would be a different experience from what I've had and I'd really need to catch up now.
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