Great wine, food, events is forty hours too much?

Since being back in New Zealand I have noticed two things very quickly; that there is no shortage of great jobs and no shortage of great wine.

The New Zealand social calendar seems to be inundated with wine and food festivals, vineyard concerts, weddings held at wineries etc… in my short time back I have been to one festival, one wedding and am planning on attending a concert in the next fortnight.

This boom in the wine industry is an indication to me of the confidence in the economy. From a consumer point of view it highlights to me that New Zealand is still very much a work hard, play hard type culture.

There seems to be an ever abundance of other events that offer New Zealanders the chance to enjoy life outside of work, be that sporting, arts, cultural or music. Furthermore, there seems to be a never-ending thirst for the outdoors and activities around that.

This desire to enjoy life is creating another reason why staff are looking for opportunities that provide greater work/life balance. In an increasingly tight labour market New Zealand organisations are realising the need to provide flexible options to retain their top performers.

I believe this demand for a flexible work environment will mean an increase in contractors, part-time workers or staff that look at opportunities to take on fixed term contracts as opposed to joining an organisation on a permanent basis.

In addressing issues around attraction and retention I believe the organisations that embrace innovation in the way they structure their teams will benefit in both the short and long term.

From a candidate point of view the option to spend more time taking in the finer things in life, be it wine, outdoor pursuits or just spending more of their ‘waking week’ outside of a work environment could be very attractive.

For management, my experience has shown that in many cases where workplaces are open to flexible arrangement for existing or incoming staff they are provided with a greater experience level and a more refreshed employee who gives nothing less than 100%.