AllyKev

Hello again - I'm now addicted, so here's another query!

My husband works ridiculous hours in IT & I did when I was working in IT before we had the children, but I will go back to it soon.

One of our reasons for considering moving to Oz was the working lifestyle - working to live not living to work. So that we can spend more time together as a family. Is this a myth?

For those already in Oz - are you finding the working days longer than or the same as the UK? I know that is quite a generalization, as each trade/profession will be different. But just a rough idea on average would be great thanks.

Allison

Amazulu

I work about the same, about 45hours per week (sometimes 50 hours), maybe slightly more actually and earn more now as well.

AllyKev

What trade/profession are you in? And where do you live?

Thanks for the response!

Amazulu

I do electrical design in the mining industry and live in Perth. Where are you heading to? A lot of the people in my office work fairly long hours but then we are on an hourly rate and are quite well paid.

AllyKev

We have no idea where to go to yet! We are coming out for a trip in March/April 08 to get a feel for the place. We will start at Perth, then go to Melbourne,Sydney & Brisbane.

Centurion

To think that you'll earn the same sort of money and have the same financial lifestyle is a myth I think generally speaking.

Like anywhere you can work stupidly long hours and have the money to go along with it, or perhaps more importantly you can choose more a life balance approach and the difference is that it isnt frowned upon as its not all about financial reward and percieved sucess. Something I found in the UK to be the normal culture.

People flashing large amounts of cash can sometimes and often be called "up themselves" here. I think really what I'm trying to say is that (generally speaking) people are more genuine. Exceptions obviously exist but its not all about what car you drive, clothes labels and so on. And that, thankfully, I've found to be the norm.

AllyKev

Thanks for the reply. But I was more concerned about the long hours being the norm and being expected of you, rather than you having a choice. As, as you say there is more to life than money.
We just don't want to get over there and find that my husband is expected to work the same ridiculous hours as he does in the UK. We certainly don't want to work those hours - given the choice, no matter how much money he coud earn. As long as we are comfortable, family time is more important to us.

Rob Morton-Jone

I am an Engineering manager and i work less hours than i did in the UK.

I work from 7 am till around 3, Monday to Thursday and 7 till 1 on a Friday

Hope that helps

AllyKev

That's more like it!

It would be fabulous for us to have that much family time.

Thanks Rob - appreciate your input.

Allison

Smartinis

My husbands in IT too and we've been in Melbourne for nearly 18 months. He works far longer hours than he did in the UK, there he had a 35 hr week and was 15 minutes from home, now he has to work a 40 hour week plus any unpaid over time thats required to meet the job requirments. He has to travel into the city each day which adds on another 2 1/2 hrs to his working day. He often has a 14 hr day and finds it exhausting.

Employers here often seem to expect you to go the extra mile for your money we have found and not having any leave entitlement for the first year or at least none your expected to take can also be draining. In my job the people around me rarely seem to take their holiday leave but let it add up from year to year, we had a new girl start the other week and because we are always busy she said how do we cope if someones off sick, the bosses reply was people don't go off sick!!! I think he was joking ( but I have been with them some time and noone has had a day off yet!) but taking a sicky if not totally necessary would be really frowned upon beacuse the work load just gets worse for those left.

Need less to say hes considering changing out of IT if he gets the chance and hes been doing it for over 20 years.

Apart from the work side though we are really glad we made the move over here, we love the outdoors lifestyle when we get a chance to use it and wouldn't move back to the UK.

Everythings a bit of a trade off and as others have said you may have to be prepared to take a bit of a step back financially to get the idillic life your looking for. We plan to get our kids through school and uni and then will concentrate on slowing down to get the slower lifestyle we would really want.

themerlin

Not all companies are like that and you find the ones that are have a higher staff turnover.
I know some companies judge you not by your work but how long you stay in the office.

AllyKev

[QUOTE=Smartinis;4508084]My husbands in IT too and we've been in Melbourne for nearly 18 months. He works far longer hours than he did in the UK, there he had a 35 hr week and was 15 minutes from home, now he has to work a 40 hour week plus any unpaid over time thats required to meet the job requirments. He has to travel into the city each day which adds on another 2 1/2 hrs to his working day. He often has a 14 hr day and finds it exhausting.

Employers here often seem to expect you to go the extra mile for your money we have found and not having any leave entitlement for the first year or at least none your expected to take can also be draining. [QUOTE]

This is exactly what we are dreading - as i know IT deadlines are cut throat most of the time, but we were hoping that the Aussies had more of an easy going attitude towards deadlines rather than squashing a weeks work into 3 days - as in the UK. What sector is your husband working in?

Not surprised he is exhausted - can't be fun working all those hours especially when you are trying to start a new life! Has he thought about trying to find another job with a different employer or do you think the majority will be the same?

How long is your working day?

Can't believe the holiday entitlement issue either - that's just as bad as in the UK.

Vanessa

I think it depends on what type of work you do and/or your level of seniority. My husband probably works longer hours here but has less travelling distance so his day is probably about the same as the UK or maybe a little longer. He usually leaves at 7.30 to 8.00 and gets home around 19.30. His working weeks is a minimum of 9.00 to 17.30 but rarely works these hours. We also have to do quite a lot of out of hours socialising which impacts on our evenings and weekends. Mind you he wouldn't change it for anything.

grunty123

You can find statistics for UK average working hours here and hopefully for Australia here although I've not had a chance to really look at the ABS website.

I would suspect that individual situations can be misleading as many who move here claim to do so with a view to improving their "lifestyle" so may make conscious decisions that change their work/home balance when they make the move.

FWIW In Scotland, I worked 45 hours /week and it took me one hour per day to travel to and from work. Here, I work 45 hours/week and it takes me one and a half hours per day for travelling.

lollyno1

more, much more

was left to god and providence to find my own way round SACAS

planning every evening, weekends, writing up 5 programmes for every year group in each subject.

Been in Fri evening, all day Sunday and today cleaning and sorting out three years of mess!

May i also add, that this is keeping somewhat sane (or others might beg to differ) miles from anywhere up here.!