“When I told my friends I was off to Paris they were green with envy for the food, the style and the quality of life. It was only when I got here I realised working might be more difficult than I’d thought,” says Sandra Schwarz who arrived from Austria five years ago.

The first problem for most ex-pats is language. Not only the French language but, as they soon learn, the poor standard of English spoken in many French firms. In the novel A Year in the Merde by Stephen Clarke, the English hero meets a colleague who introduces himself as “the chargèd of Haiti.” Only after lengthy reflection does he realise he’s met the head of IT.
 
 “Arriving from Brazil,” says Alfonso Lee Song, “I didn’t understand a word that was said to me. I was supposed to get my work badge from the “responsible of furnitures.” As I’d been given the number in French I found it a bit hard to contact him! I ran hopelessly after that badge for about a fortnight without anybody batting an eyelid.” 
 
Organisation and Management Skills

The language is not the only problem faced by ex-pats. “As a French-speaking Belgian, I expected to fit into the company with no problem,” recalls Frédérique Génicot, who’s been in France for seven years. “But I soon found otherwise. As well as the language there’s the fact that French - and their methods of organization and management - are so complicated.”
 
Maureen Rabotin, an American living in Paris since 1979, also found things complicated. “At first, I got the impression I was always doing something wrong. I called everybody ‘tu’ which exasperated my superiors and made my French colleagues keep their distance. As soon as I asked a question they said the answer was obvious.” Her experiences made here aware of the difficulty of intercultural communication and she now teaches ex-pats and businesses alike on how to get over the problem.
 
The Subtle Codes

Deciphering the subtle codes that rule the French workplace constitutes a real challenge for many ex-pats. According to Professor Charles-Henri Besseyre des Horts of the HEC business school in Paris, French workplace culture is essentially “unspoken and informal,” distinguishing it from the “contractualised and formal” Anglo-Saxon office. The absence of clear rules and evaluation criteria can create an impression of chaos.
 
“Faced with a management so aloof and so emotional, I had to adapt: I learnt to show my presence; to mark my territory by staying late after work even if it was counter-productive; to go to meetings where nothing was decided; to wear shoes with flatter heels so as not to knock the egos of my shorter French colleagues,” says Frédérique Génicot.
 
“To get over the culture shock you have to abandon some of your habits,” explains John Gaynard, an international management coach. “Above all you shouldn’t try and impose national methods: when an American manager arrives in a new job, he organizes a barbecue straight away to get to know his colleagues. Doing that in France is unimaginable: everybody would find a good excuse not to come because nobody wants to go to their boss’s place. In that sense the rules are much more fixed, the sense of hierarchy is deep-rooted and the French keep their professional and private lives firmly separate.”
 
To adapt to French professional life you need to “observe, observe, observe. Don’t get too offended by the excessive hierarchy of power, the difficulty of teamwork and the extreme importance attached to diplomas and elite schools which ex-pats often notice”
 
While integrating into French businesses can prove harder than expected, France continues to attract plenty of ex-pats. The quality of life, culture and cuisine constitute reason enough to come. As Alfonso Lee Song says “What I like about the French is that they never miss an opportunity to eat out: exam results, birthdays, leaving parties. I go to a restaurant at least twice week with my colleagues.”
 
Gaynard feels that even if the French struggle to establish clear rules in the workplace “they are to be admired for the flexibility and creativity of their work.” And as Stephen Clarke says, reduced working hours and good job security prove “the French have the right idea, they’re productive when it’s required and have a good life at the same time.” He adds that those who come to the country have the right idea too.