One big difference between offices in East and West is that usually if you take time off work, you don’t need to make up that time on a different day. The same thing is true of festivals and national holidays. When Westerners come to work in the East, they are always surprised to hear that they must come in on a Saturday or Sunday to make up the time missed because of a festival. For Westerners, holidays are holidays: they do not require workers to give up their weekend.

Of course, not all offices are the same. If your job involves doing lots of projects, you might need to put in some extra time. But that is the decision of the worker, not the management. When a long holiday, such as Christmas, is coming in the West, everyone knows that they should finish their work beforehand. It would be pretty rare to see the office open on a weekend.