Work/Life Balance .nl

My boss just sent this to me:

[List of Employee names and Me],

As agreed verbally, I'm requesting you to work on the weekend of 28-29 March, in order to attend the RIPE Atlas Hackaton. Your attendance at the evening socials is optional (and not recognised as extra hours).

According to the HR policy [link to policy on our intranet], you're entitled to compensation for this. Please let HR know if you prefer monetary or VAC days.

Cheers, [Boss' Name]

"Welcome to Europe" he said jokingly.

I just wanted to post this to stand in sharp contrast to how companies tend to work in Canada, ie:

You're working this weekend. No we're not paying you for it. If you're not ok with this, you're replaceable.

Back home, there's a lot of talk about "Work/life balance", but employers here actually understand what that means and practise it.