Behavior in the Workplace: How Hungarians Work

Regarding behavior in the workplace foreigners made observations about how Hungarians work.

The bridges that span the Danube in Budapest are beautiful and show not only wonderful engineering but also beautiful creativity. One cannot help but notice the delicate femininity of the Erzsébet Bridge constructed in honor of the beautiful empress. On the other hand, the modern Lágymányosi Bridge with its mirrored lighting has fascinated many foreigners.

An engineer from Latin America said, “Hungarians are great engineers. They mix creativity with technical excellence, but they are such deep thinkers they take forever to make decisions! They slow the work down because they can’t seem to make firm decisions. It seems that once a decision is made it would be easier to deal with the problems that come with each decision. Every decision will have problems. So why do they take so long?”

He also noted. “Educated professionals and technical workers apply excellence and pride to their work though they are not well paid. They have pride in their education.”

He noted that in his firm, the unskilled workers do not pay as much attention to details. The technical people and engineers are also not so well paid but he said he believes they have pride in their work because their education and technical knowledge gives them status.

He believes that the Hungarian mentality holds a higher appreciation for education than for talent. Maybe this also explains why so many praised the Hungarian doctors, but felt the rest of the medical workers were not so caring.

A group of Koreans that worked for a Korean electronics firm in Budapest said that Hungarians who worked there liked to do things their own way rather than the accepted way things are done in Korea. They felt the Hungarians were too independent.

Does this seem true to you?

workplace, work ethic, education, talent, Hungarian mentality, business culture