In conversation post-conference yesterday with Leon Hudson from Chong Newztel and Nick from the New Plymouth District Council - two expat Brits who have seen the light and made New Zealand their home.
Leon: Since moving here I have never been so relaxed in my whole life.
Simon: Boy that's not the message we want to send out during a skill shortage - come to NZ to relax.
Leon: No, it's not that I'm relaxing - in fact I'm working longer hours that I used to. It's just that I'm not so tense. In London if I miss the tube it's a huge catastrophe. In New Zealand if I miss the bus, I get out a book to read.
He then said some stuff about cheese that I really didn't understand... but it was food for thought (the conversation, not the cheese... hang on, there wasn't any cheese..!)
And Nick did contribute to the conversation, just not that part of it.
Anyway ... like I said, food for thought. What sort of message should we send out to attract the rightly skilled people to NZ? Not that it's a place for work/life balance (although that's true) because apparently we need high growth businesses and those kind of businesses don't do work life balance.
But Leon's correction - that he's perhaps able to work longer hours because of a less tense atmosphere ... now that's interesting.
More info: my immigration article in Idealog
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