Work place experience in Auckland/NZ from US/UK/Other

[DMS]

As evident in my signature, I'm soon going to be in Auckland and starting work shortly thereafter. I was hoping that I could hear from others what the professional workplace is like in Auckland. Did you find the work load/pressures to be greater or lessor than in your parent country? Did you find that people take 2 hour lunches or gossiped? What was your impression of email & phone etiquette? Did you notice insubordination or employees that generally challenge their managers? Did you notice a sense of company pride or the opposite ie it's just a job?

I'm coming from a very large global insurance company where our projects move at a very fast pace (sometimes I think they operate as if under a dare) where the leadership roles are clearly defined and politeness in communication is a very high priority. I manage a team of 9 developers as part of the Sr. Mgmt group reporting to our Director of IT (Engineering) and 60 hour work weeks for me are the norm, especially now since I'm in the process of documenting everything my team does, what our processes are and what my responsibilities are as well as doing all of my existing workloads.

One of the reasons for my move is that the emphasis on work-life balance is becoming increasingly out of whack here in the US and that is including my time as a VP for Barclays (that company is one screwy company btw)

In Auckland, I'm going to be managing 5 direct reports and overseeing an additional 9 others. My role has been identified as a program/project manager, delegator, process owner and mentor and less on engineering/development. I'm a direct, hands-on leader with a very strong assertive personality, sometimes veering on the dominant side to the extent, jokingly I have the nickname Mr. Grey. Historically my teams have been very efficient, meet deadlines and are high producing. I like to think I've been well liked as I've always rewarded hard work by fighting for the highest per annum salary increases and bonuses I could.

I'm interested in hearing more about people's thoughts and what I can potentially expect in Auckland.