UNITED KINGDOM

The United Kingdom is mainly known for its capital, London. A city famous for its culture, history, top rate restaurants and theatre shows. The UK is also economically strong with a lot of active trade and it is a country in which many multinationals have their headquarters.

Climate/working climate
The UK is known around the world as the country of the umbrellas and yet the rainfall is not that bad. The region with the most sunshine is the south west. The UK has a mild sea climate, which means that the country has warm winters and cool summers. The average temperature in the summer is 19° C but this can increase to quite high figures inland; the average winter temperature is around 4° C.

The British working culture is more conservative than the Dutch one
This is expressed in a strong hierarchical structure. Colleagues do not quickly form personal relationships with each other but relationships must be good. Many companies strongly focus on earning money. All plans are based on increasing turnover. They work longer hours at British companies for a relatively lower wage. British employees also have the fewest number of days off of Western Europe and social provisions are not as well arranged as on this side of the North Sea. That is the downside of the coin of having a strong economy. The British have a strong team-based mentality and being headstrong is not really appreciated.

Facts and Figures
Capital city: London
Area: 129,720 km², 4x the size of the Netherlands
Population: 51,000,000
Time zone: GMT/UTC
Currency: Pound sterling (£)
Languages: English

If you want to know more, visit:
www.britishembassy.gov.uk
www.enjoyengland.nl