Fooferfish

What job do you do and do you feel valued ? Does your company let Brits get promotion ?

Seen and heard of so many Brits getting held back , tall poppy syndrome in nz ?

What's your views of this ?

Bo-Jangles

I have discovered Foofer that it depends who is at the top doing the hiring and firing - if it's a Kiwi then it is pretty much a closed shop and only people that they know need apply. If it's a Saffa in the hotseat then simply being from South Africa and being of the right shade of colour will get you places.

The demographic and culture in my own workplace has changed dramatically (for the better) since we got a Pommie bloke in the hot seat, it's been a heck of a lot more fun and I certainly feel more valued than I have done in all time that I have been working here in NZ. It's been very refreshing, he's a very charismatic leader and I totally get him. I can see others are struggling with this and now wondering what the heck has hit them. I'm loving it as a lot of the old slackards and try-hards that can't take the pace are drifting away - the future looks quite bright for me at the moment.

I find Kiwi dominated workplaces generally to be overly hierarchical and political in terms of being one huge power struggle for recognition and reward - it's all very secretive behind closed doors and all about one up-manship. People are passively aggressive and deliberately obstructive; withholding information so as to use it against you or deliberately avoiding doing work. Decisions and information are not shared and transparent and it takes a long time to figure things out because people will only talk to those that are on the same level - unless you're a weasel and a schmoozer, sucking up and buying the right people coffee then you don't stand a hope.

lisamct

I work in Healthcare and, coming from working in the NHS, I feel hugely more valued here than I ever did in the UK.
In the UK my workplace was dangerously understaffed, I often worked 14hrs with no breaks. I would be expected to work over my hours if they had difficulty finding someone to take over from me without any sign of time back or overtime (or consideration for my ability to provide safe care)
There was pretty much no opportunity for promotion or advancement and, most damaging for me, I could only manage to give the most minimum of care every day.

Here, I can actually offer good care and my hours and staffing structure are set out to ensure that stays the case. I can go to senior management with concerns/issues and they are listened to and acted on. I can choose to work in different ways allowing to earn more or less depending on my personal situation at the time with no pressure to work past my contracted hours.
I've already been promoted once within the job I'm in at present with a view to further promotion within the next 3 months.

So yeah, I do feel valued.

Bo-Jangles

IME of healthcare here it is a bit like little Britain and every other person you hear working there is a Pom. I would expect Poms to be fairly well represented in Senior Management - is that the case in reality? We do have a very long history of importing healthcare professionals and gurus from the UK who would I imagine by now they would have redesigned the system and ironed out all the old NSH issues that wrankled them? I'll take a bet that the majority of CEOs , Board Members and execs are still Kiwis though.

j19fmm

I'm a Primary School teacher, I teach in a medium sized rural school and am treated with respect by colleagues, Principal, children and parents alike. In fact many didn't or don't realise I am from the UK! It's such a melting pot here. I have found that if you are good at what you do they back you all the way.
Wouldn't swap back to a UK for school for anything

Tomsk

Yes, I reckon I feel pretty valued most of the time. I'm in health care again, but a small team (within a much larger organization). My managers are Kiwi & I think that's true pretty much all the way up the line, my colleagues are mainly all Kiwi except for an English (but lived here 20 years plus) support worker & a Fijian Indian nurse. I occasionally get a bit miffed about the expectation to work until the job's done ……. & I rarely actually get everything done that needs to be within paid work hours, so I'm regularly donating 15-20 mins to the organization which does wind me up a bit. But there you go. But the team's supportive & I genuinely feel like I'm a valued member of it. Which is nice.

jmh

Immigrants to a new country generally have to work harder to get promotion, at least initially. Of course if you believe that the British way is superior to all others, then you probably won't get a promotion until you have a British boss. Stands to reason really.

markoneswift

Hey everyone, first time poster and 17 month ex-pat here :-)

I'm in IT working in-house for a national TEC-funded industry training organisation. It's run by Kiwis and I was hired by a Kiwi and I've never felt more valued in more than 25 years in the workplace. I find the attitude towards Brits is great, we are well respected and valued as workers and colleagues. I've held two other posts since arriving in NZ and those experiences were the same.

Cheers :-)

lisamct

My direct line manager is from the UK but the senior management above her (that I know of) are all kiwis.
I think that a lot of the healthcare professionals that come over here, especially from the UK, are so astounded at actually being able to provide good care, in a well staffed environment that they stay on the shop floor rather then move into management a lot longer than they would elsewhere.

RobDon

I also feel much more valued here than in the UK.
Plus all my direct superiors are Kiwis

moving2NZ2013

I'm not working whilst have young children.

My husband works for a agricultural services contractor. He is very much valued in his job and would definitely not be stopped if he wanted to be promoted in the future.

His boss is a newzealander. The company directors are. His foremans are both british.

Justcol

I work for dept of corrections and feel vey valued for what I do
Some of my immediate bosses and their bosses are Brits so I
can't see a problem. I also have a friend who only weeks after
Starting a new job was promoted to a managers post so again
No real issues from what I can see.
I would guess working in an all or mostly female environment
Might be different because women can be such bitches at times
NO OFFENCE INTENDED

BEVS

.......none taken as long as it is clear that men can be equally as mean spirited and really rather carping .

barnsleymat

I can vouch for this, the women at my work are awful, it's like working at Wentworth Detention Centre. My boss knows how bad they are and won't tackle em, instead deciding to send me on a training course on how to deal with difficult people.

I don't think I'll be at this job too much longer. I did fear this would happen going and working in my first ever public sector role, there's just too many layers of bullshit, from shit staff, lazy staff, red tape, bullying, bitching, moaning, unions protecting bad staff and bosses frightened of upsetting anyone.

escapedtonz

Yeah for sure, but I did in the UK also.
The only difference here is the company I work for are so much more individual and family friendly. They are much more interested in ensuring my wellbeing is good and I'm not suffering because I work shifts, whereas in the UK the company would have worked me to the bone and not cared about doing so as long as the work was done and didn't cost them anything.
I love it!!!
There's 27 of us on shift here and majority (19) are kiwi's. Our management team are all kiwi but don't feel the company particularly only goes for kiwi's in our management structure. They've been in place years. All the other departments are very multi cultural with team leaders and managers from all walks of life, so I'm sure it's all down to an individuals talents and not the color of their skin or their accent.