One of the more notable features of the work culture in New Zealand is the relax or laid back attitude in the work place. It is close to a kind of family atmosphere and the management of workers is also often informal. This informal method of management can be thought of as a reflection of the strong independence of New Zealanders and the managers themselves are still respected. In addition, workers are usually dressed quite casually, or at least much more so than found in the U.S. or other places. Employers are generally very respectful and courteous of the worker’s personal and family time. According to a survey, nearly 90 percent of workplaces were ok with letting employees take off time for a special event involving family. Many New Zealanders feel that their workplaces are very flexible as well, which is to be expected since consideration of flexible working hours is required of employers by law in New Zealand. The scale of the businesses in New Zealand tend to be on the smaller side. A majority of the businesses will only have on average about 14 employees. The U.S., in relation, usually employs double that number. This means that there is more involvement on the part of employees as well as less specialization. Due to the lack of specialization workers are generally assigned a wide array of thing for their role and expected to be flexible in solving these new challenges. However, although New Zealand attracts many skilled migrants with the premise of this small and laidback work environment, the work culture can be one of the largest sources of discontent among immigrants. For immigrants, this small and close work environment can work to their disadvantage greatly. For instance, the promotion of individuals to management positions or positions of greater status is often given to those who have worked for the company the longest rather than those who are more skilled. This is seen as preferential treatment to New Zealanders by many immigrants. In addition, those who come from a more formal workplace environment view New Zealand’s practices as so informal as to be unprofessional. Lastly, the New Zealand idea of taking on a wide array of problems with just the tools you have on hand and finding solutions yourself seems to be seen as inefficient by many immigrants, who would argue that this only increases the workload and cost. Sources
https://www.newzealandnow.govt.nz/work-in-nz/nz-way-of-working
http://e2nz.org/migrant-stories/chapter-4/work-culture-in-new-zealand/
https://www.newzealandnow.govt.nz/move-to-nz/new-zealand-visa/work-visa
http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migrant/general/generalinformation/news/internationalstudentchanges.htm
http://nzstudywork.immigration.govt.nz
http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migrant/stream/study/canistudyinnewzealand/allaboutvisas/
https://www.newzealandnow.govt.nz/work-in-nz/nz-way-of-working
http://e2nz.org/migrant-stories/chapter-4/work-culture-in-new-zealand/
https://www.newzealandnow.govt.nz/move-to-nz/new-zealand-visa/work-visa
http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migrant/general/generalinformation/news/internationalstudentchanges.htm
http://nzstudywork.immigration.govt.nz
http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migrant/stream/study/canistudyinnewzealand/allaboutvisas/