bourbon-biscuit

But for those of us without cash to move over the exchange is great news

londonescapee

yep, we're still having to send money back to the UK - thrilled with the exchange rate at the moment

DennisBergkamp

the cost of stuff here is pretty high

phone calls
internet
food


also the fact that you have to build up annual leave is annoying as hell

londonescapee

This does my nut. What is seriously uncool is the mandatory shutdown over Xmas - I hate being dictated to as to when I take my annual leave!! Heck, the world doesn't stop working just because of Christmas day! And where I am they make us take 11 DAYS out of my 20 days a year simply because they have so mismanaged the long serivce leave element some people have like 200 days a year (which in itself surely has no place in the modern workforce??). Totally not made clear to me at interview!

Apparently I have to pay my leave back if I leave in the first twelve months but I don't think this is across the board. I've always had to build up annual leave in previous jobs but you just 'borrow' it if you need to take it which is the same here (once I'm past my 12 months of course, if I make it that far ). I just work for a rather strange employer.

Also sick leave here is a bizarre concept. They are trying to introduce a law which gives the employer the right to demand a doctor's note if you are off sick for even 1 day - imo this leaves employees subject to ruthless bullying from an unscrupulous employer although the argument is that it is designed to stop people taking every single Monday off sick. This is an issue in the public sector - but that's surely a performance issue that needs to be addressed in a separate manner

Oh and they are only now consulting on probation periods at work. As an employer what a nightmare if I recruit someone and it doesn't work out - I am stuck with some useless person I can't get rid of I nearly fell off my chair!

Don't get me started on the lack of any form of disability and discrimination act......

moan over

Bo-Jangles

They drive me crazy, those 'casual' conversational product endorsements, come interviews, with plugs for all manner of crazy things from Lani Lopez latest miracle cure to pilates. Isn't it truly astonishing that every one of the radio hacks on NewstalkZB rides an Avanti bycycle, recently moved house with World Moving and Storage, bought a car from Rod Milner Motors, goes to Peak Pilates every week, eats St Pierre Sushi for lunch, has dinner at Mikano and swears by a handful of the old ResV+ everyday. Do they really think people are stupid?


That's not to mention the company that writes the jingles - for heavens sake don't they have any new material or voices? What a bunch of amateurs; they all sound the same and any company out there that's using them must be just as bad. Phone 0800 Need-a-Nerd. Phone: Origin, Origin IT. Phone 0800 Nebulite and if you want to be party to creating more of this crap, Phone 0800 Jingle

Bo-Jangles

It all sounds pretty normal to me. It's all utterly bonkers!! Both mine and OHs employer have the same issues with people who have accrued months and months of annual leave and the rest of us are penalised for this by having leave enforced upon us. This enforcement is a newish turn of events for a lot of companies, as in these recent times of financial hardships they can realise substantial 'savings' by making staff take the leave that they have accrued in their balance sheets. It also seems to me that it's pretty rife that people don't take their leave preferring to take time sick or just go on the missing, this enabling them to accrue those huge leave balances and get a 'cash-out' or paid out when they leave.

Government is still talking about the one week leave buyout which I think is utter crap, it's only relatively recently been mandatory to get four weeks and people fought long and hard to get that, now they don't want it and would prefer to work and take the extra money.

DennisBergkamp

i've only been here 6 weeks and i'm seeing things

1. SO much collaboration and discussion at work on everything. I try my best to keep my gob shut, but people just love meetings and more meetings
2. Other drivers are mental
3. The annual leave thing bugs me
4. No bank holiday on a monday if the actual event is on a sunday. People get ripped off big time over that
5. Very few shops open after 5pm

jmh

It's a long time since I worked in New Zealand but if I recall correctly I used to work through Christmas to provide cover and there was never any work to do because everyone was away. Don't forget that Dec/Jan is the big holiday period is NZ so while is seems unreasonable to you right now, you might feel differently about it when you have experienced it, especially once you have kids to consider. You'll probably find you have much more to amuse yourself with because of the better weather at that time of year.

ecalperif

was considering going to nz as truck driver ..the driving replys have put me off somewhat...

BEVS

Why ? You would be in a monster truck mate. Not a wee car or on a bike.
Mind you, you might find some of the roads a bit different. Especially the logging roads.

BEVS

We've have that .
Every year it is the compulsory Xmas shutdown ,which is rubbish for us as we have no kids . Stuff is more expensive and /or booked out by families as you would expect. Then, during the winter, it was enforced leave at times to suit the employer, the result of which is that there is not enough accrued days now to cover the next compulsory shutdown so it will be unpaid.

concretepump

when in Rome, do as the romans ???????????????????????????????????

bourbon-biscuit

Exactamundo! I think it would be sweet as to be a truckie in NZ- up high, so great views, not the horrendously long stretches like Australia and a less harsh climate to drive in plus you can get a decent pie and coffee from the BPs. Could almost have a career swap I could!!!

berkeleymatthew

Before I say anything I would like to say that NZ is pretty cool and we have thrived here, it may not be permenent, but it is and has been good. But the question states what is uncool.....

What is really uncool about NZ

1. Wages. They suck compared to anywhere else on the big 5 emmigration list (Canada, US, SA, Oz and NZ).

2. World geographical location (this hasn't changed since I planned coming here, I just didn't realise the implications of it) eg Ability to travel - this island is in the middle of nowhere and it costs a fortune to travel anywhere. Also a lot of the big companies don't ship their full range here, many musicians don't tour here, difficult to buy anything that isn't mainstream (eg specific tools etc - and to ship from the US etc is a fortune!) etc. It is seen as too far away with too little a population to justify the expense.

3. Before I came here I thought that Fiji, Samoa etc were beautiful, idyllic exotic islands (and they probably still are, I have just lost the rose tinted spectacles), now I get to see the news about the riots and tsunami's and the pacific islands don't quite have the same tropical appeal they once held.

4. Inter Island post costs - The south island is still part of NZ, but due to lack of population etc, most stuff is shipped from the North Island, and we have to pay a premium for it (I object to this as it is one rate in the US and they are pretty vast in comparison and I never used to pay extra for the Channel Island postin the UK)

5. Cheap Chinese imports. Probably due to no.1, the demand is for cheap imports, so finding quality furnature etc is a mission.

londonescapee

But not good if you want to use your leave to go and see your family back in the UK at a time of year more affordable - and take your kids to see them too! This is the modern world, businesses work 24-7 these days. Enforced shutdowns also happen in the UK to be fair, but my beef is how long they are for at my workplace. It's just their crap management of long service leave that has created a problem. And this in itself has absolutely no place in the modern workforce.