Australian and other working cultures
Nov 29th 2002, 2:17 pm
#1
Guest
Posts: n/a
Australian and other working cultures
Hi all,
I'm curious as to the attitudes and impressions people have of their
current and future working cultures. Before I proceed any further,
take a look at the following discussions on Sydney Morning Herald,
which reflect Australian attitudes towards their working environments
(note that they are discussions and not scientific polls):
http://www.smh.com.au/yoursay/2002/09/23/
http://www.smh.com.au/yoursay/2002/07/25/
So, what are the working cultures like in your countries? What
conditions have you agreed to and what conditions are you working
under? For those people looking to immigrate to Australia, what are
your expectations of working conditions in Australia? Also, how long
do you think it will take you to find employment once you arrive? For
those immigrants in Australia, do the aforementioned discussions
reflect your own experiences, and if not, how are your experiences
different?
I'm a South African working in the US. From my own experience, I can
say that I never had to deal with large amounts of uncompensated
overtime in South Africa and that was the case for my colleagues and
clients as well. IT is still a profession in demand in South Africa
since a large number of professionals have left, seeking greener
pastures. Currently, I'm in the downtown Manhattan area and my
personal experience over the last couple of years is that whilst long
hours were expected during the boom period, workers were always
compensated somehow. Now, in this very shaky economy, there is still
work, but not at the same frantic pace that existed in the past, and
still overtime is compensated somehow. I speak for both colleagues
and clients (multi-national financial services companies) as well.
The conclusion that I am coming to is that the business culture in
Australia (with respect to employer-employee expectations) is not as
progressive as when compared to that in the US: Australian employers
are much more unreasonable than American ones when it comes to fair
compensation. What is the case elsewhere?
Regards,
Frodo.
I'm curious as to the attitudes and impressions people have of their
current and future working cultures. Before I proceed any further,
take a look at the following discussions on Sydney Morning Herald,
which reflect Australian attitudes towards their working environments
(note that they are discussions and not scientific polls):
http://www.smh.com.au/yoursay/2002/09/23/
http://www.smh.com.au/yoursay/2002/07/25/
So, what are the working cultures like in your countries? What
conditions have you agreed to and what conditions are you working
under? For those people looking to immigrate to Australia, what are
your expectations of working conditions in Australia? Also, how long
do you think it will take you to find employment once you arrive? For
those immigrants in Australia, do the aforementioned discussions
reflect your own experiences, and if not, how are your experiences
different?
I'm a South African working in the US. From my own experience, I can
say that I never had to deal with large amounts of uncompensated
overtime in South Africa and that was the case for my colleagues and
clients as well. IT is still a profession in demand in South Africa
since a large number of professionals have left, seeking greener
pastures. Currently, I'm in the downtown Manhattan area and my
personal experience over the last couple of years is that whilst long
hours were expected during the boom period, workers were always
compensated somehow. Now, in this very shaky economy, there is still
work, but not at the same frantic pace that existed in the past, and
still overtime is compensated somehow. I speak for both colleagues
and clients (multi-national financial services companies) as well.
The conclusion that I am coming to is that the business culture in
Australia (with respect to employer-employee expectations) is not as
progressive as when compared to that in the US: Australian employers
are much more unreasonable than American ones when it comes to fair
compensation. What is the case elsewhere?
Regards,
Frodo.
