mcuddy1

Can anyone tell me this exists? (work life balance)

50 hours a week and no dinner hour, the culture in my office is work, work, work I just don't get the work ethic over here. It winds me up when you get funny looks when you knock off early.

It was not like this in my UK jobs!!!!!



Also the back stabbing attitude of most of the Kiwi's. You do anything they dislike or interpret as wrong the boss is the first to know.

Weird culture live and let live, I think not.

Is this endemic throughout NZ or have I just been unlucky.(Two large Multi nationals so far)

I would love to know.

lapsed kiwi

I work for the government. 8am to 4pm every day and an hour off for lunch. I find my colleagues generally very supportive and not at all back-stabbing. That's just my experience though - and "comradeship" is one of our core values

Genesis

I found this in the UK..is not the case in Nz from our perspective. I have heard much of this silly hours stuff..do you not know what you are contracted for. I have ONLY ever worked the hours I was paid for..then again I have never had a big job..and don't ever want one having seen them turn my chums into total utter workaholices...really sad..one life and all spent working or sleeping.

Woodlea

I work for an ex-council company and the work ethic is similar to that of pommy councils I would imagine (not that I've ever worked for one). 7.00 til 3.30 and no one does any overtime, morning smoko 10 mins (usually 20), lunch 30 mins unpaid (normally 40 mins), afternoon smoko 10 mins (usually 20). You're criticised if you don't take all your breaks and I've never had so much fun at work! Colleagues supportive, understanding and caring, mind you that maybe cos it's mostly blokes!!

luvwelly

That was my UK experience - people used to dread going on holiday for fear of what they'd have been stitched up with while they were away. Felt like you needed 'permission' to leave at 5pm lol and this was with no O/T paid.
Was happy to give it up when I had kids..no Kiwi experience at all, although for my OH here is more chilled but that's probably because his journey to work is shorter...the actual contracted hours are longer though.

theduke

I 100% agree, I work in the construction industry and it is rife, it is like working with loads of old wifees. Everyone is so emotive, if I hear "this is how we have done it for years" crap again. My answer will always remain the same, "doesn't mean it is right", luckily I am quite high up and can get stuck in a bit, but most of the guys who think they know it all work on the building side and I am on the commercial side. They want to take every sub on who is their mate or is a "good b#@tard" or even who takes them to the rugby, all about them and not about the company, what's in it for me mentality, nothing about Value.

Wow thanks for this thread good to get it all out once in a while.

lardyl

yep, jobs for the boys, management with no backbone, lots of back-stabbing and closed door discussions. Plenty of people who want to do it just the same way and resent anyone new with ideas and drive....tended to pee off the brighter or more experienced who were ready to leave....
My experience of the Kiwi multinational was little/no team work, everyone in for themselves and pretty poor show all round.
Nice drinks on Fridays mind, although it was shocking to see the condition some people drove home in
No problems with my work ethic, was told I was very consciencious and I was probably doing about 80% of what I did in the UK where I was "not fully committed"......

chocolate cake

Experience pretty similar experience myself particularly re:hours and also hols, in particular lack of them in relation to UK. That said US co.s are even worse for hols.

While I worked long hours at times in the UK it certainly wasn't the norm regularly, generally it was much more relaxed until there was take over by a foreign company. In the end I was pleased to leave.

The one thing I do miss from the UK is actually working from home, I was office based but usually worked from home 2 days a week - often got more done too. It seems to be a novelty here.

Batty

I don't take lunch breaks and neither do most of my colleagues but some do and nobody thinks it's wrong that they do so it's our own fault!

I've decided I'm going to look for a Government job

Hokey-pokey

My OH has a government job - and hardly ever gets a lunch break.

Biddy

I'm lucky me....... run my own franchise so get to pick and choose my hours and try to work SMART! This means I get 4 day weeks and home in time for the kids being released each day.
Which is nice.

Thoroughly recomend going it on your own. I know I could never work in a big corporation again.

jojobooster

OH works for the Dept of corrections as a psychologist. He works 8-5.30ish, has no lunch hour to speak of and is currently signed off sick as his work load is physically more than he can handle. Seems the norm amongst many of our friends

lardyl

totally, its completely the way to stay sane in NZ

Bo-Jangles

Hmm - work life balance, so what's that then? Can't say I have seen any personal evidence of NZ having any better work life balance than the UK.

Having had four jobs in NZ my conclusion is pretty much same as most above, they all been crap and so much depends on the one individual person that you work for. If your boss is a shit (which does not seem uncommon here) then work life balance accounts for nothing. I seem to have an appaling track record of attracting the worst boss in the company, when all around me in other departments life seems cruisey.

It seems very important for any easy life, that you schmooze your bosses and don't upset them in anyway - maybe that's where I am going wrong. Don't give them any problems, stress overloads for Kiwi boss include interupting valuable internet surfing time and OMG the fuss it leads to; micro-management, escalating the weeniest problem to stratospheric levels, red face and lots of sighing and puffing. One soon learns to solve own problems and bypass the so-called manager. Coping with your bosses inadequacies and psychopathic tendencies is inevitably more stressful than the job.

Did anyone mention management in NZ is still on Basic learner level? Everything they say is right, you will obey and do as I say, not as I do. That means your boss may be prone to kick, scream, shout, bully and harass staff to do the job they should be doing, in order to avoid all blame, having to get involved or do any work themselves. It's quite hilarious to watch the daily dramas unfold.

My friend's boss has a catchphrase: 'Make it go away'

I left one job where I was abused for not staying on to finish a job at 9PM, apparently it wan't unusual for people to still be there at midnight. Now I wouldn't mind staying to do my bit once in a while if it was my choice, but as a regular occurence where it was expected, no way jose. I did not sign up to NZ inc for this, nor the abuse and added stresses from the perceived fear of not being good enough. Particularly galling when those people who were staying late, probably needed to in order to make up the time they wasted throughout the day doing sweet fanny adams. Their productivity would probably still only be a third of mine, at best, if they stayed there for 24 hours a day. :curse:

Jafas like to get to work very early to avoid the traffic and not unusual to have bums on seats in my ofice at 7.30am as a rule. Still nothing much gets done before 9am, after they've got the first job of the day to have their breakfast and read the Herald.

For me, its a definite case of the more you do, the more they expect, so the key is to start out how you mean to go on. I now work 8.30 til 5, not a minute more or a minute less, but often do work through my lunch.

If it was not for work I would be eligible to post in the 'Happy in NZ' thread, all the other niggles of NZ are just that (niggles) and pale into insignificance when the biggest downside of my living in NZ is having to work here. Working for yourself has to be the way to go, when everything in terms of work has gone against the grain of what I expect from a job and an employer. I despise my inept and useless boss with a vengenace, yet my employers think I am a blooming marvel and lucky to have me. Pity then that they hide it so well.

Batty

I can relate to an awful lot of that. My immediate boss is a very stressy person who doesn't believe in suffering alone I don't ask her very much tbh - just present her with the solution and she does leave me alone to do my job most of the time. That's where I might have a problem in another job - I don't like bosses' interference very much My manager is fantastic and I love the company and it is much better than the first job I had here where I was about 20 years too old for my boss

Do you care too much? I know I do, especially when I see the way my colleagues are - coffee and the Herald until 9am - snap!