Working hours in NZ

[Diny]

PB works 6 a.m to 6 p.m and is on call for the other 12 hours. He works 7 days a week for 4 weeks straight and then gets 4 weeks off.

When I was at work I was contracted to work a 45 hour week.

he says that they do a 40 hour work week over there which I think is a little more than we do in the UK or in the USA

Not too sure about that comment as I'm pretty sure that the vast majority of full time employment in the UK is at least 40 hours.

Diny

[Tate6]

My hubby works as a supervisor in a wood processing mill. He works 4 days- 7am-7pm, 4 days off then 4 nights- 7pm-7am. As he is salaried, he usually doesn't actually get to leave until all paperwork is done--1/2 hour or so longer. He commutes 1/2 hour drive, plus he likes to get there a little early to check on the crew before him. So, he leaves at 6 and gets home between 8:30 and 9:30.

I, on the other hand, work part-time at the school. I work M-F 11:45am to 3:25pm. :angel
Poor hubby!

Terry

[Timbo]

The company I work for let me work as many or as few hours per week/day as I want to. Unfortunately, I will not be able to be SELF employed in NZ for a while though.

[ruthyroo]

I'm in a bog standard public service job (planning) and the standard hours are 40 per week, 8am to 4.30pm. The early start took a bit of getting used to (I rolled up at 9am on my first day - an hour late!) but now I like it, more time in the evening. The big bummer is the lack of holidays - standard is 15 days unpaid leave in the first year... then 15 days paid. This was a bit of a shocker after my 30 days paid leave from my previous UK job. Up to 5 days paid sick leave. Generally quite relaxed about tea break - morning and afternoon tea being institutions in NZ.

[Wannaway]

I work in the accounting profession. Office hours are officially 8.30 to 5.00 but most people in by 8 and quite a few still here after 6. This is partly because of a lot of work and not enough people, in my line of work all the Kiwis want to go to UK/US for experience, so creates big vacuum in the local market. The environment here seems to be more hardworking and conscientious back home, with people generally putting in the hours. Most want to seem to do what they can during the week to avoid at all costs having to come in at the weekend. There is no paid overtime or time of in lieu (except if you have to work on statutory hols, a reasonably new law) also no real weighting on salaries to reflect higher cost of living in Auckland than anywhere else in NZ. My view is that generally employees are worse off here than in the UK, but most of them seem happier than people I worked with in the UK. Go figure that one!

[Annierobrigado]

if you mean worse off because of lower salary or less leave times, then maybe the kiwis are worse off. but i think they're happier because their attitude towards life is more relaxed, and as long as they can live the life they want, then they're better off. many americans have everything that the world could give them, money in the pocket, money in the bank, money coming out of their ears, recognition, awards, a new car, a new condo, countryclub membership, a yacht, a jaguar, a porsche, a speedboat, the best table at the best restaurants, the whole floor of the ritz carlton, a country house in the hamptons, a jet, whatever else you can think of, i can't think that much . BUT they still commit suicide or end up on the couch of a $500 an hour psychiatrist who will tell them the reason they're messed up is because their mom was never there for them while they were growing up. they still lack self esteem!

so which one is better off?

annie

[mechidna]

I work for the state and my hours are 8am to 5pm, Monday thru Friday. We get 96 hours vacation and 96 hours sick leave. It makes up for the pitiful wages I guess.

I'm a little confused about something. Everyone keeps mentioning contracts. I don't think most US places use contracts for general employment, probably only contractual work. Is this a common practice for most employment in UK and NZ?

Michele

[annaerb]

As a Employer we have one young guy (18) that works for us. We pay him $12hr less tax. He works from 7.30-4pm M-F and works on sat depending how busy things are generally for 5hrs. Everyone in NZ gets 3 weeks Holiday a year after their first year (Soon to change to 4), 5 days sick leave after the first year. We have bought our young man things for his car ie; Batteryetc and given him extra bonuses because he's done a good job etc, plus my OH would hate it if he left.
If a Company asks you to work on a public Holiday you get paid time & a half plus a day in lieu.
Most companies have contracts drawn up which I think may be compulsory now.

[sarahw]

Depends what line of business you're in really - for us Construction & Admin work it seems a lot slacker than at home. Everyone stops for coffee breaks and lunch - Ian actually got told off for having lunch at his desk and was told - its not all nose to the grindstone you know!

Ian works as a Surveyor in Construction and his hours are 7.30am - 4pm (and 7.30am - 3pm on a Friday - where they have a beer fridge in his office & drink for 2 hours!!!) which means he gets a whole evening - add that to less of a commute and it means we spend loads more time together - in London it was normal for both of us to be at work by 7.30am!

I am volunteering at the moment for a charity organisation. They seem to work from 9am-5pm - however, I was there until 5pm yesterday and there were only 3 of us left out of 20 odd people!!! - most people left between 3 and 4pm! and today I left at 3.40pm and there were only a handful of people left!

All our neighbours get back from work about 4-4.30pm.

:cool Its still plenty warm to sit out for a few drinks at the pub by then!

[Carol]

Primary school teacher hours:

Monday to Friday 8:15am (I'm a late starter becuase I've got three kids to get out the house) until 5:30pm
9:30pm - 11:30pm Monday to Thursday
Saturday 6am - 11am
Sunday - could be at school for anything up to about 4-5 hours.

I am honestly SERIOUSLY thinking about changing my job - purely because I am so sick of the hours I have to put in to keep up with paperwork.