Work culture in NZ

[size_zero]

Hi. Please help me know a few things about NZ before I embark on a professional voyage very soon:

1. How open are Kiwis to new ideas & changes at the workplace?

2. How much power distance exists in offices? What is the right way to address immediate bosses (by name, by title & surname, Sir/ madam etc) and are informal discussions acceptable?

3. How much focus is given to Team building (like team lunch & dinner, team building events & excursions, office parties etc) or is individualism preferred to collectivism?

4. Do kiwis normally work extra hours & on weekends or generally prefer to stick to the office hours?

5. Do kiwis prefer to keep their professional & personal lives separate or is there no boundary between the two?

I know there may be differences but I would really appreciate if guys working there can give a holistic picture or simply share their individual experiences. Also please share any other points that I may have missed.

[benhila]

I know there may be differences but I would really appreciate if guys working there can give a holistic picture or simply share their individual experiences.

I don't think that there are any "hard and fast" rules here and suspect that if you get 10 answers, each will reflect a unique work environment.

Anyway, based on my own personal experience in one workplace, a start-up in Wellington:

1. People were very open to change and to new ideas, but than, this is probably inherent in being a start-up.

2. Work-relationships in the office were very informal, use of first names and informal discussions acceptable and welcome.

3. Many team-building activities including breakfast teas, drinks after work, weekly info-exchange and brain-storming.

4. People used to work all hours (and often during weekends) but (a) many were contractors and so extra hours were very lucrative, and (b) again, this may be specific to a start-up environment.

5. From own experience, Kiwis tend to keep work and personal life separate; eating lunch together doesn't often translate into a Saturday BBQ at one's home.

[size_zero]

Thanks a lot for sharing your experience. I appreciate the fact that there may be differences in work culture depending on organization, job profile and location. Still sharing ones experience and opinion would definitely help newbies like us to prepare ourselves t acclimatize easily.

[JandM]

2. I don't think you'd have a problem anywhere if you ask outright, 'What should I call you?' (Sir/Madam would be VERY unusual - that's generally only the form for addressing a client whose name you don't know.)

[Sun777]

Below is just based on my experience and I dont claim to have worked with all kiwis

1. How open are Kiwis to new ideas & changes at the workplace?

Not that much if you would have asked me 5-6 months back, probably because my experiences was within large companies. Since few months I have noticed things have changed a lot, every small idea is being considered but it does take a lot of time to implement it.

2. How much power distance exists in offices? What is the right way to address immediate bosses (by name, by title & surname, Sir/ madam etc) and are informal discussions acceptable?

Times have changed and addressing by Sir, Madam is more often (than not) used in sarcasm unless you are in service industry (restaurant, hotel, customer support & the likes of it), go with (first) name (that seems norm in IT/IS industry).

3. How much focus is given to Team building (like team lunch & dinner, team building events & excursions, office parties etc) or is individualism preferred to collectivism?

Team building is essential part of every company now (unless one wants to live like a remote island), collective decision takes precedence unless individual has really amazing/out of the box concepts. It largely depends on your rapport, presentation & crux of the matter.

4. Do kiwis normally work extra hours & on weekends or generally prefer to stick to the office hours?

Depends! Generally people don't (and if someone does then its either they carry additional work or on the flip side can be seen as less productive). Management roles demand good amount of work outside office hour and so does support & roster'd roles.

5. Do kiwis prefer to keep their professional & personal lives separate or is there no boundary between the two?

Yes, it takes a while to break the ice. As first rule of thumb, don't add your colleagues to social networking sites (linkedin etc is ok) if you just exchange formal greetings.

Actually I have varied experiences in this area, my manager & most of the team mates (ex-employer) were quite closed whereas at current workplace our manager organizes team building exercise through BBQ, lunch and other activities (but that doesn't count into formal team building )


Do consider thoughts of other people as well. Hope that helps !

[ralf-nz]

1. Technically very open (if not leading), re management/administration not so much.

2. All by first name: Clients, consultants and contractors.

3. Not so much based on new management ideas but by sharing certain episodes of life, discussing projects, receiving further education in extended tea breaks.

4. Preferred not to, not expected either; might happen as the case may be.

5. Generally quite separate; but depends.

[Manks]

It really does depend on where you work. I've worked at a small (5 people) company and now work for an organisation of nearly 3,000 and in a specific team of around 20. My perceptions:

1. I agree that technically, yes, but it depends on their individual backgrounds. There isn't a huge appetite for change, but if it seen to add value, it will be received well.

2. Definitely first-name basis, right up to the Chief Exec. Some organisations are more hierarchical than others, so you can be quite distant from the senior managers, but it also depends on the management style of individuals.

3. Not a huge amount of focus and it's generally driven from within teams rather than top-down. In the small company, we occasionally had lunches and cheese and wine sessions, but we didn't socialise after work. In my current team, 4.30pm on a Friday is pub time and drinks are an expectation rather than a suggestion!

4. There's much less emphasis on out of hours working here. I've just received a promotion at work and am relatively senior (but not senior management) and I'm being told to watch my work hours because I'm regularly here at 6pm (officially finish at 5pm). But no expectation to work over weekends. Over the Xmas period, the place comes to a standstill. Senior managers differ though. Our GMs have "weekend reading/packs" prepared for them.

5. Mostly kept separate but invitations will be welcomed. I think it's easier to combine the two in a larger organisation/team than in a small company. E.g. I've become much closer to my ex-colleague from the small company since leaving than when I worked there.

[size_zero]

Thanks for your response...really nice to get a first hand account from experienced guys. Well, to sum up my understanding from the posts so far: Kiwis aren't hungry for new ideas though fresh opinions are mostly welcome. They have low power distance and calling by first name is the normal practice. Teamwork is generally preferred though exceptional individual performances are also rewarded. Kiwis like to finish their work within normal office hours and extra hours working is generally not preferred or seen as a negative trait in most job profiles. Also they prefer not to mix their social and corporate lives ...

Lastly, please do share any other thoughts about the work culture in New Zealand and how it is different from UK, US or Asia.

[Hagabel]

Hi. Please help me know a few things about NZ before I embark on a professional voyage very soon:

1. How open are Kiwis to new ideas & changes at the workplace?

Management are open if you can show why another way is better to their organisation. I work in a health care field.

2. How much power distance exists in offices? What is the right way to address immediate bosses (by name, by title & surname, Sir/ madam etc) and are informal discussions acceptable?

Not a lot in my field, all pretty relaxed within dept. First name with Dr's, nurses and most other staff.
3. How much focus is given to Team building (like team lunch & dinner, team building events & excursions, office parties etc) or is individualism preferred to collectivism?

Not in my dept so much. Partly because there are many of us and we all work shifts. Their is always a xmas party and they have a team building race recently.

4. Do kiwis normally work extra hours & on weekends or generally prefer to stick to the office hours?

No not normally, everyone is keen to finish after their shift. There is a better work life balance with regular tea/lunch breaks etc, we work wekends and evenings as nature of our business so cannot comment on working late. When we are short some people with do OT but normally not.

5. Do kiwis prefer to keep their professional & personal lives separate or is there no boundary between the two?

Some people socialise out of work and all over their facebook accounts, me no. I like to keep them both separate.

I know there may be differences but I would really appreciate if guys working there can give a holistic picture or simply share their individual experiences. Also please share any other points that I may have missed.

Hope this helps.

[Sun777]

Lastly, please do share any other thoughts about the work culture in New Zealand and how it is different from UK, US or Asia.

I'm not sure about others but it will be too much of generalization to compare different countries as someone has to work in same organization within all these countries to give firm opinion, however my dig is that work culture is almost same/similar in NZ, UK & US, whereas Asia Pacific is totally different e.g. in Hong Kong, Singapore & Malaysia you are by default expected to work more no. of hours with high work pressure & load, it wont be a surprise to see many workaholics at one go, when I worked in these locations - usual work hours used to be 7:30am-9:30pm and that was across various teams (finance, marketing, sales, Information tech/services etc).