A European Considering Moving To Toronto Asked About Work-Life Balance & Got A Clear Answer

It might be the thing that Canadians seem the most jealous of when comparing their day-to-day lives to people in Europe — work-life balance.

A European quickly found that out when asking for advice as she and her husband consider moving to Toronto from the Netherlands to see which country they like better.

The question posed in the askTO thread on Reddit has since received hundreds of responses and quite a clear response from some seemingly frustrated and overworked Canadians in the country's largest city.

In the thread, Reddit user twosteppsatatime explained that her husband, who she said is from Toronto, "is worried that living in TO will be mainly focusing on work and not our family," and asked for people's work-life balance experience in the city.

Most people took the husband's side.

"STAY THERE," one person commented, adding, "The attitude towards work and personal time is completely opposite to European standards ... as a born and raised Torontonian who lived in Europe and chose to move back home, I wish I had stayed in Europe."

The same sentiment was expressed in a number of other comments that all began with the same three words of advice to the couple — stay in Europe.

Another person referred to the work-life balance between North America and Europe as being "not even comparable," while someone else called Western work culture "depressing."

When it comes to vacation time in Europe, each country that is a member of the European Union has at least 20 days of mandated leave, with some having as many as 30 days, according to USA Today.

In comparison, most Canadians get 10 days off on average, with the majority of the provinces mandating two weeks of vacation.

Aside from vacation days, many people also advised this couple about the cost of living.

"Toronto is a workaholic, real-estate centric culture," someone else wrote. "If you are not very wealthy, it can beat you down."

Another commenter was more direct in how much they think someone needs to make to live comfortably in Toronto.

"Unless you're making 400k, I don't think you'll enjoy Toronto that much," they said.

Along with the general theme of advising this couple not to move to the city, many people who said they've lived and worked in Toronto for years admitted they would leave for Europe in a heartbeat if they could.

This couple might have a lot more to think about.