Australian Work Ethic
 

I've been in Melbourne since March, working for one of the big 4 banks.

I'd be very curious to hear about others experiences regarding the Australian work ethic. I spent many years in London and in New York, and I continue to be shocked with what I experience here.

I had my annual performance review recently and for my 'negatives' I was told I 'work too hard' and that it 'looks bad to finish work on weekends'. In almost 9 months, I've probably worked a net of 20 hours total over the weekend and work in the office to 6 or 630 rarely and only then to meet a deadline. In the USA or even the UK, my work effort here in terms of hours worked would be viewed as utterly lazy. I regularly witness people leave at 5 pm as if a school bell went off (despite deadlines), leaving work unfinished, or presenting something to senior executives that, frankly, if you tried in New York or London you'd likely be shown the door or given a personal development plan.

There also seems to be a strange sense of pride in NOT having qualifications - I've heard many say things like 'I wouldn't waste my time on an MBA' or 'I do compliance and never needed to study law formally' etc etc. Most of the ex-pats I work with have impressive credentials so perhaps some of this is just trying to justify not having them by some of the locals, but again I find this attitude strange.

The most common expression I hear weekly is 'I am not putting my hand up for that' and the amount of blaming others vs admitting you screwed up is unreal. I have been involved in some projects that would have been completed in two weeks in London or New York that are still going on, never progressing past a powerpoint (which is then reworked) presentation since no one will take accountability to actually deliver something.

Is this typical, or did I just land at an unusual bank or department? Something just feels a bit off to be working the least hours in my life, and making by far the most money, while being surrounded by people that seem to take no pride whatsoever in their professionalism or quality of their work.

*Note: Australia itself is great, I love Melbourne and all there is to do here, this is just a question about the Australia work ethic.

Re: Australian Work Ethic
 

Don't know why you're experiencing that poor standard - it's certainly not my experience at all. Everyone I work with has a strong work ethic and takes pride in their work. We all regularly work late, very long days and at weekends. Even sometimes when we're on leave!

High standards are a personal thing - I don't think it can be attributed to a nationality/country - there are sloths and hard workers everywhere -but like I said, no idea why you're seeing it so consistently. Maybe you can raise their game by example!

Re: Australian Work Ethic
 

Good to hear, it may well just be the bank and the department then. That said I do think standards do change a bit country to country - comparing working hours in New York vs London for example. It is not always a bad think, my work life balance in London was far better vs New York, as the American culture is more based on hours in the office and putting work first at least in my area (banking) - certainly not healthy long term and I always respected the British approach more which I think is a nice balance of professionalism and work life balance. Thanks for your view!

Re: Australian Work Ethic
 

I don't work in finance - and never wanted to - it all seems a bit cut throat! My boss is great - we are judged solely on performance which means I can happily dictate my own destiny!

Hope it improves for you and your next review is more appreciative of your efforts!

Re: Australian Work Ethic
 

Professionalism and the word Quality are missing from the Australian business dictionary.

As a recent study showed what takes a day in the US will take a week in Oz.

Working in London is like having a double expresson with no sugar
Working in Australia is like taking tea with teabag used 5 times already with full cream and sugar to give it taste.

Re: Australian Work Ethic
 

As immigrants usually only have a few companies to base their experience on you often see totally contradictory opinions on threads like this. When people try and extrapolate out their good or bad experiences to a whole country it often just doesn't work. I think the trick is to know when it makes sense to generalise and when it doesn't. Imo this falls into the latter, which is probably why you've asked for other's opinion...

Re: Australian Work Ethic
 

My boss said if there is a deadline, we should pull together in order to meet it. If every day is an 'emergency' then things need to be questioned, you do what you can in the time you are given and if every day turns out to be an emergency, then managerial and work tactics need to be re-evaluated.

I have worked behind before to get stuff done but if I suggested coming in on a Saturday to work, I would not be allowed - my company feel time off is important.

I have worked in places where most people come in on a Saturday and if you dare not to or you go home on time, someone will look at their watch accusingly.

So whilst it is admirable that you go in at the weekend, perhaps others might feel pressure that they too should be going in as well, I have had that pressure and it isnt nice.

Personally I work to live, not live to work.

Re: Australian Work Ethic
 

Actually, I rarely go in on the weekend. My point was simply that, at least where I work, working after 5 even once in a blue moon to get the quality of work to a certain standard is rare. I agree this can be a negative going the other way too as your example shows, but what I am talking about here is leaving at 5 pm as if you have a school bus to catch vs working once in a while an extra 5 or 10 minutes to do a better job. Id also add many of these people take off at 4 or 3 for various 'appointments' as well so many don't even work a true 40 hour work week.

Again, I have seen this sort of thing even when what is being produced is critical for a product launch, or is for example a report for a senior executive where as extra 30 minutes of effort to get a number right or fix an issue would have made a big difference. I'll be curious to read about more experiences here - also please note I am talking about highly paid people at a major bank, my view of my industry in New York and London was that while we were well paid, with that pay came an expectation that we did good quality work and put in the required time to do so.

Re: Australian Work Ethic
 

I have been here just over 2 years now I work in construction and would say its similar in my line of work sometimes if you were to the extra half a hour you could save half a day.

I would say its a 50/50 split some do some dont or will not as some one said its like the school bell ringing oh I have to go and just leave everything for someone else to pick up ,it's the same for my wife she is in a very tough area of nursing and some of the nurses will not start treating some one if its going to make the work half hour over ,it's always the uk trained nurses who stop back to clear that days work.

Re: Australian Work Ethic
 

I think I work quite hard here and I think that the work ethic is quite strong amongst the more senior ranks.

But amongst the troops there are many doing the absolute minimum they think they can get away with and these are people on $130-$150k or thereabouts. There is one lad in the team and we cannot even get him into the office before 9.30am and he only lives in North Sydney.

I am an accountant in financial services, as I was in London for a long time and many people here would not survive five minutes in the London market.

Re: Australian Work Ethic
 

I am surrounded daily by feckless work-shy slack arses who can't wait for the weekend to arrive and life to start.

I fit in well.

Re: Australian Work Ethic
 

:thumbsup::D

Re: Australian Work Ethic
 

The irony being that most of my workmates are imported Poms or Kiwis :D

Re: Australian Work Ethic
 

Every single person I work with, doesn't know how long their day will be when they arrive at work. They all do OT as the work demands and we've rarely seen less than a 12 hour day for months now. It's almost like a bonus when we only get 2 hours OT and can get home relatively early.

In fact some of us are doing 6 days a week..... I baulked at that one. It's Football season for xsakes.


Dreading Xmas. :unsure: :eek:

Re: Australian Work Ethic
 

I work for a consulting engineering company in oil and gas, and the only way we can compete on the international stage is to sell quality, smarts and experience as India and other similar countries can undercut us on man hour rates every time. So it is in our interests to ensure that our staff get adequate time off and are not working excessive hours - most work 40-45 hrs a week and only go over that when a deadline needs more input to be achieved. That way we ensure that our engineers get a good balance between work and family/social life and are never too tired to be at the top of their game.

Ozzieeagle, how long do you think you can work 12 hour days before performance and productivity decline drastically and people start making expensive mistakes?