bigjessie

Can someone explain difference from england? Is it more laid back. what hours do you work etc

Apple13

It might help if you told us what industry you are in - private sector, public sector etc.
Obviously banking is going to be a bit different to teaching... and so on.

Wiz'n'Ton

I was talking to people at work about this yesterday. In my work - recruitment - I feel that the company outlook in general is more laid back than the UK, but in this business people make themselves as busy as they want to be. The Kiwi's here who have had OE said that they think UK people don't work as hard as people in NZ do.

From seeing what other companies get up too, I think the overall work load is the same as in the UK, but just the way this gets done is more relaxed. The 'I need it yesterday' attitude of the SE of England is certainly not so evident here in ChCh. I even notice this in the driving as I go about my business in the City. People sit in whatever traffic line they happen to be in - it's rare to see people jump from lane to lane to be in the shortest queue at a set of lights or something. In London it's a free for all, with battle being done at every set of lights to get into a different 'faster' lane.

Be interesting to see what other poeple think.

P2L

My DH is in construction. He goes out the door at 7.25am back by 5.05pm and has a lunch break where he iether comes home or I meet him could never do that in the UK

i think the difference here is that people give 100% at work, but that's where it stays, which is fine by me.

Looking forward to summer and teatime on the beach

sarahw

London driving is better than Auckland. At least in London you get some occasional indicating and a spot of 'mirror, signal, manoeuvre'. Not in Auckland, they just changes lanes when they fancy and pretend they didn't see you!

karonious

As a mental health nurse, I find the work load here to be far, far less than in the UK but with far more staff. I used to work on a 12 bedded forensic ward. As a general rule, we had 4 staff, more if the immediate risks were high. Here, on a 15 bedded unit, we never have less than 6 - 7, generally more in the region of 9 - 10 staff. There are a fair few UK staff here and we all agree that the staff : patient ratio is far better here.

donnaf

I find the pace of work slower and therefore frustrating sometimes. I certainly don't want the stress I had in the UK and my role was different (ward manager in the UK compared with practice nurse here) but it is a provn fact that you need some stress to stay healthy. Boopy and I work together and definitely have a different work ethic to our colleagues, as well as a faster pace of working.

Boopy

Yeah! we still have the get them in get them out attitude. While others will sit chatting with a patient for up to an hour, keeping their patients waiting by running late. Donna, we're the fools, we could have an easier job here - when in Rome do what the Romans do.