How hard do the Aussies work??

[Fotherespie]

Hi everyone, We've had some debate in our household lately as to weather we will get more family time when we make the move to Adelaide or if we will have to work just as hard. So wondered if people would mind sharing their experiences? We work 9-5 here, is this the same is Aus or do they start / finish earlier?? I did work in Melbourne many moons ago and found it much less stressful than my previous job in London. I've also read than the holiday allowance in smaller?

[TomJonesDad]

Hi everyone, We've had some debate in our household lately as to weather we will get more family time when we make the move to Adelaide or if we will have to work just as hard. So wondered if people would mind sharing their experiences? We work 9-5 here, is this the same is Aus or do they start / finish earlier?? I did work in Melbourne many moons ago and found it much less stressful than my previous job in London. I've also read than the holiday allowance in smaller?

 

In my limited experience (been here 6 months) whilst the standard hours worked per week are the same there isn't the same expectation of working late, unpaid overtime as there was in the UK. I don't find the workload to be as overbearing as it was in the UK and I'm generally much less stressed than I was in the UK. Start and finish times are pretty flexible as long as you get the work done and are there during core hours - I have a few colleagues who work 8 - 4 and then others who will work 9:30 - 5:30, but no hard and fast rules where I am.

Can't comment on holidays as I'm contracting so if I don't work, I don't get paid!

 

I'd be interested to hear thoughts from others but I do find Aussies will take sick leave at the drop of a hat, at least compared to most workers in the UK!

[Lily Rainbow]

I have a different experience than TJD.I worked more hours in Oz with less holiday allowance.I get nearly 8 weeks here (UK)whereas in Oz I got 4 weeks.More expensive to travel outside of Oz too.Most folk I know go up the river camping or hire a shack,and some travel interstate.Tbh I think its abit of a myth you get more family time in Oz.If you're working 60 hours a week in the UK and don't have a life,then you created that life.I don't know anyone who works these hours in the UK.I can remember an episode of Wanted Down Under.A family from Wales.The husband complained he was sick to death of working 60+ hrs per week.Why on earth was he working so many hours??????I often wonder whether he repeated the same mistake in Oz!Personally if you live within your means,you'll get more family time wherever you happen to live in the world.

[Henley girl]

How long or hard you work will depend on your job and your circumstances, but typically the holiday allowance is less with 20 days per year

 

Hi everyone, We've had some debate in our household lately as to weather we will get more family time when we make the move to Adelaide or if we will have to work just as hard. So wondered if people would mind sharing their experiences? We work 9-5 here, isthis the same is Aus or do they start / finish earlier?? I did work in Melbourne many moons ago and found it much less stressful than my previous job in London. I've also read than the holiday allowance in smaller?

[Blossom]

I had far more free time in the uk. I worked flexi hours, and although I worked some weekends too, I'd be home earlier.

 

My normal hours in the uk were about 37.5 hours, with an extra 6 hours every fourth weekend. Normally 8-4 with longer breaks (by far) than here.

Here I work 7.30/8 - 4.45 with much less breaks and the odd weekend.

 

I live about the same distance from work.

[Blossom]

Forgot too, I got a weeks more holiday a year in the uk too, and far more money.

[zebedee]

Annual Leave for me is 4 weeks as well. I was on 6 weeks in the UK. The place I work for is more generous when it comes to TOIL though, and if I work a Saturday - I get 2 days off so overall I think I am probably about equal. Long service leave is big here - but at the moment you have to be with the same company x years to get it. There has been talk about it being portable I believe.

 

I think I am about even in terms of free time - the difference is that the free time here is generally blessed with blue sky and in our first year we've been doing more in the evenings, down the beach couple of times during the week during the summer.

 

The earlier comment on sick leave rings true - my Aussie mates say, make sure you keep it back for when you are well. I find that really hard to get my head around - sick leave is, for being sick!?!

[AussieRob]

I think for work ethics it seems dependant on the industry in my experience. I've worked in defence here which was really easy going, apart from when critical mile stones were due, then all of a sudden some guys would work from 8:00am to midnight or later. Then we would all be rewarded with a present and a BBQ for a job well done.

Another company I worked at in electronics was very different, it was almost a test of manliness to see who would go home first, and he would be the loser.

Now in Automotive, there are staff and managers who may just break over the 40hr week mark, but there are others who send e-mails late at night, so it's a very mixed bag. I probably average 45 - 50 hrs, but it feels more is expected, as staff all overtime is unpaid.

As for the holidays, if you can stay in a job long enough you are laughing with Long service leave. I get pro-rata long service next year so I get an additional 9.1 weeks of holiday allowance, then another 4 weeks 3 years later, and then 1.3 weeks for each additional year. I can see a world trip coming on.

 

Maybe I'm lucky though, as many people are casual, and obviously don't accrue any annual leave.

[jim and adel]

If you've been working very long hours then you can decide this won't be the case when you migrate and you can cut your cloth accordingly. To me, though, that always seems a strange reason for moving to the other end of the world. Making that sort of life change can be done where you already are by cutting spend, taking a different job, moving to a smaller house etc; it isn't dependent on migrating.

On a site like this, there are many who'll say they're now working shorter hours and enjoy a better 'quality of life', but for many migrants, making the move is such an expensive thing to do that they work longer and harder than ever, at least for the first few years. Also, for a lot of new arrivals, because they have no reputation or contacts here, the work they do at first is at a lower level than they're used to, so if they want to climb back up the ladder they may have to work harder than their new colleagues (who also probably want to climb the ladder).

We all have a personal slant on this: for me, even after +5 years here I work at a lower level than I did in the UK. My hours are pretty similar to what I was used to in the UK but I don't get as much leave. My wife holds down three part-time jobs and, because each week is different, some days she hardly knows which job she's going to. Her contracts are all casual (Australia has the highest casualised workforce in the developed world), so she doesn't get paid holidays. If you were to ask her if she works shorter hours and has a good 'quality of life' you'd better get ready to duck ...

Regarding the thread's title, well I'm not sure about Aussies working 'harder' but all the studies that get done on this show that Aussies work some of the longest hours in the developed world and take shorter periods of annual leave.

[spanners]

Don't make the mistake of thinking this is the land of milk & honey. Most of your working life will be the same as the UK. Maybe you'll have a shorter commute. If you work long hours in the UK then you'll probably do the same here as its you rather than the job. My wife works as an academic and did long hours in the UK and likewise here - no matter how much she moans about it she still does it. Its not that she has a boss bearing down on her, its just the way she does things.

I'm a freelancer so I can't comment on working in a company but friends appear to start work early and end early - 7 to 3ish irrespective of their jobs.

[soo_the_panda]

I have been here 6 years and worked in three companies in a full time, ongoing contract capacity (the rest of the time temping etc). I think except nurses, teachers etc, 20 days leave per year is normal here amongst everyone I know and everywhere I have worked. Plus the public holidays - I think from memory we get one more per year in SA than in the UK.

 

My current company also offers 2 paid extra leave days around Christmas plus we get 'leave loading' - apparently a very old fashioned scheme where you get an extra 17% pay per day for each day you're on leave?! Not that I'm complaining... We also have a TOIL system to take off extra hours worked.

 

My standard hours have always been around 38 per week - obviously more during busy times. I have worked a mix of patterns between 8 - 6 so don't think hours of standard office work vary a great deal from the UK.

[adelaidenow]

More expensive to travel outside of Oz too

 

Australia is the size of Europe. So leaving Aus is expensive,maybe comparing prices to travelling from UK to other countries is not a good thing?

 

As for the OP, I don't think there is a definite answer. But Moving from London To Adelaide will cut down on commuting and cost involved in commuting.

 

If you want to work in the North but live by the beach, your choice may result in a longer commute, but that's a personal choice you have made.

[Guest BurgessFamily]

I'm contracted to 40hrs but generally do a lot more, and get 5 weeks annual leave (was 4 weeks until I took over as IT Manager). Do plenty of unpaid overtime (which I didn't do in the UK). I'd add that I get paid a lot less here too.

 

It's the commute that kills me here, was taking 30mins in the UK, but here it's more like an hour each way (so wish I could start earlier but I wouldn't be able to help the kids get ready in the morning if I did).

 

Realistically, you're swapping one rat race for another. That's life.

[adelaidenow]

I'm contracted to 40hrs but generally do a lot more, and get 5 weeks annual leave (was 4 weeks until I took over as IT Manager). Do plenty of unpaid overtime (which I didn't do in the UK). I'd add that I get paid a lot less here too.

 

It's the commute that kills me here, was taking 30mins in the UK, but here it's more like an hour each way (so wish I could start earlier but I wouldn't be able to help the kids get ready in the morning if I did).

 

Realistically, you're swapping one rat race for another. That's life.

 

What distances were you travelling in UK to work and what are you dong now? I would be gobsmacked if you are taking twice as long to go less distance.

 

When in UK, stories and complaints about commutes was constant, you don't usually have conversations here about such things.

[Guest BurgessFamily]

What distances were you travelling in UK to work and what are you dong now? I would be gobsmacked if you are taking twice as long to go less distance.

 

When in UK, stories and complaints about commutes was constant, you don't usually have conversations here about such things.

 

Was about 34km - Bryn to Chorley up the M6. Here its about the same from Seaford to CBD.

[zebedee]

Hopefully a bit easier once the train comes on-line? For me the long commute will be off set by the reduced debt of a house which is cheaper, plus living in a nice country town with all the good things that go with it. Personal choice, as many other posters have said, is what ultimately drives life style out here.

[Guest BurgessFamily]

I came here looking for the extra large house on an quarter acre block just a stones throw from work, and going for a song. Still looking.

[adelaidenow]

The M6 was a nightmare day in day out 7 days a week!!! It ONLY cleared after the M56 (or was it M58).

Edited August 15, 2013 by adelaidenow

[Guest BurgessFamily]

Is that the Bryn near Northwich? I am sure that's far more than 30kms, maybe it was 30miles?

 

And the M6 was a nightmare day in day out 7 days a week!!! It ONLY cleared after the M56 (or was it M58).

 

Bryn, near Ashton-in-Makerfield. Was travelling from their to north of Chorley. Only accidents on the M6 was the issue. Was a good run otherwise.

[Keith & Linda]

As previous posts say it depends on your profession/job and where, I work in civil construction with the hours generally longer than in the UK, normally I am at work some 55hrs plus including most Saturday mornings, I consider being close to home, both here and UK if my commute is with-in 1 hr. I am happy with my salary, plus a company duel cab ute with all fuel and tolls Australia wide, also a company mobile phone (blackberry), though we do still run a private car.

 

All countries economies have cycles, and depending where that cycle is when we leave/arrive dictates how we percieve things, as an example when we first arrived here in 1999, my salary here was a fraction over half of that which I was getting in the UK, but houses were cheap and the cost of living here then was below that of the UK, my my how things have changed, we've watched our weekly shop go from $100 to $150 to $200 in no time at all, utility and all other bills going the same way, however my salary did the same so much so that should I return to the UK now, then I would be reversing my 1999 experience of the cycles.

 

I get the same 20 days annual leave plus the 10 days fully paid sick leave, and this is why a lot of Aussies throw sickies, use them or lose them! The payroll office in the first company I worked for could tell me upto a year in advance the actual days some blokes would be having off as sick!! amazing.

 

Regarding time outside work this is entirely upto you! it's not like the UK where you have a well established social life, here you will need to adapt/change and find out about all the things which are possible here! The long evenings in the UK summer helped there.

 

Good luck in all you do and remember you need to paddle your own canoe!

[Keith & Linda]

I came here looking for the extra large house on an quarter acre block just a stones throw from work, and going for a song. Still looking.

 

Did that, bought and lived the dream, 1/2 acre block, big house, pool, landscaped garden, sold it! and built a big house on a small block, as the garden and pool took up all my weekends especially with me working 5.5 days. It now takes me longer to get the mower in/out than actually cutting the grass. Now living a different dream:jiggy:

[Mr Technical]

I work longer hours than I did in the UK. In my current job the standard hours are 40 a week. I also work harder in my current job than I ever did in the UK but enjoy the work more than the work in the UK. But I do get paid more than I did in the UK.

 

As for leave I get a lot less leave in Australia and you have to accrue the leave, the standard is 20 days leave a year. I also only get 10 sick days a year which I have to accrue before I can take them.

 

I feel you do tend to work harder and for longer with less leave in Australia. Having said that I love living in Australia

[adelaidenow]

Hopefully a bit easier once the train comes on-line? For me the long commute will be off set by the reduced debt of a house which is cheaper, plus living in a nice country town with all the good things that go with it. Personal choice, as many other posters have said, is what ultimately drives life style out here.

 

I think you are saying this tongue in cheek, but for those who do think this is possible, I am not sure it ever has been in Adelaide, if you work close to the City.

[adelaidenow]

I work longer hours than I did in the UK. In my current job the standard hours are 40 a week. I also work harder in my current job than I ever did in the UK but enjoy the work more than the work in the UK. But I do get paid more than I did in the UK.

 

As for leave I get a lot less leave in Australia and you have to accrue the leave, the standard is 20 days leave a year. I also only get 10 sick days a year which I have to accrue before I can take them.

 

I feel you do tend to work harder and for longer with less leave in Australia. Having said that I love living in Australia

 

Didn't you work in the public sector in the UK, Nottingham, and now work in the private one here in Adelaide?

Edited August 15, 2013 by adelaidenow

[ian mc]

I would say worked more hours here when I worked for someone. Now self employed and work more hours than I ever did ..