The ultimate work + life balance: Swapping inner-city offices for gumboots and a laptop

Saturday, 18 August 2018

Chris Tyler, left and Carl Richards at the Bridge Street Collective in Nelson. Tyler and Richards work remotely for customers and clients outside of Nelson.

When Sean Weaver speaks to international colleagues they'll sometimes ask about the rooster crowing in the background.

They assume it's a phone ringing - but Weaver has just left the door of his rural Takaka, Golden Bay, home open.

Weaver has cows for neighbours, and a veggie patch and chooks out the back - but he's not a farmer.

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It was technology that made it easy for the executive director of Ekos, a non-profit helping businesses offset their carbon emissions, to develop his business remotely.

He and his family swapped city life in Wellington, for rural living in Golden Bay, years ago.

'You don't need bricks and mortar, you just need good online systems. So we just thought, why don't we live where we feel like living?'

The workplace is looking less rigid than ever before: the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE) estimates about half New Zealand's workers have flexible work options.

In July, Perpetual Guardian reported the results of a two-month trial letting employees work 32 hours instead of 40. The company says the four day working week improved productivity by 20 per cent and staff were more engaged and enthusiastic.

And a recent Regus study found more than half of international global respondents worked remotely at least two days a week; and that evolving technology that demanded faster responses from workers increasingly also led to them needing a better work-life balance.

Part of the flexible working picture is remote working – the ability to work from anywhere allows workers to not only avoid a commute, but to change their lives entirely, moving out of cities and into smaller regions to chase lower property prices, an outdoor lifestyle or a slower pace of life.

'In Wellington the culture was power conversations, but there's not much of a hierarchy here in Golden Bay,' Weaver says.

Sean Weaver, director of carbon offsetting provider Ekos, works from his rural home in Golden Bay

'When you go to the Mussel Inn for a drink people don't want to know what you do. Even really wealthy people wander round in gumboots. People don't push their status.

'It's a lovely place to live, the kind of community where people don't care what you do.'

With staff in Nelson and Wellington, and partners in Australia and the Pacific Islands, Sean has virtual meetings all over the world, and travels a lot, too. But his most frequent trip is 'over the hill' to Nelson.

'Driving over the hill a lot is a kind of tax you pay for living in Golden Bay,' he says. 'When the road got buggered that was isolating, but because I run the business remotely that didn't matter so much in the end.'

Auckland University of Technology's professor of human resource management Jarrod Haar says a 'plethora' of studies show flexible work options are beneficial for employees and employers.

Employees think about leaving less, have greater job satisfaction and commitment to their company, perform better and have better attendance, he says.

'They literally are thanking the trust their employer has in them and thus work harder and become more focused on better organisational outcomes,' he says. 'These are real effects and there is plenty of empirical evidence to support it.

'For psychological wellbeing, the benefits occur because there is more quiet – usually – and thus more ability to focus and make greater work gains. Some like to have a professional 'home office' while others might work the day away in their dressing gown.

'Interestingly, while we might think distractions at home would be detrimental – personally I love being able to do washing when working from home – this does not take up as much time as chatting and socialising and meeting times at work. Plus, if you squeeze in an hour of housework at home – most employees reciprocate by working longer hours anyway. It is often a win-win for employers (and employees).'

In Carl Richards' case, adventure called him to work away from the office. Richards, wife Kaylee and their two youngest children left Park City, Utah, for Nelson two years ago. Richards runs two businesses, is the author of two finance books and writes a weekly personal finance column for the New York Times.

The family was itching for something new, he says, and when a friend suggested Nelson they thought it fit the bill. 'The stated goal was to have an adventure. We involved our children in the process, and we told my daughter she could veto the whole thing if she was against it. But she was like, New Zealand? Let's go!'

On top of adjusting to working in a new way, Richards and his family had to come to terms with life in a new country, a process that took a few months, he said. 'We totally underestimated the cognitive demands of small things, driving on the wrong side or looking for things in the supermarket.'

Co-ordinating life in two time zones has also been taxing: as well as liaising with clients and his editor in the US, their two eldest children are back in Utah, attending university.

'There's a unique set of challenges brought on by geography,' he said. 'I look at Time Zone Buddy a lot, to work out time differences.'

Pretty quickly, Richards realised he'd have to adjust his working hours. 'It is a challenge to get up for a conference call at 5.30am, but it's pretty cool to get most of my work done by noon.'

But overall, the experience has been positive, he said. Business is booming: his company, which co-ordinates training programs for financial advisors, is growing, and he's picked up clients in Australia, New Zealand, China and the UK, he said.

Nelson's an easy place to live and work, he said. 'I like the 'she'll be right' attitude, it does come with downsides but it's like, just relax, it'll work out. In New Zealand people operate under the assumption that you're working in good faith. It's not like that in the US.'

Harr says typically its trust preventing more employers from letting their staff work flexibly. 'New Zealand managers who worry that employees will spend the day watching TV and playing with their pet are unlikely to encourage and/or support such practices,' he says.

While there are downsides to working flexibly – people who work from home might not feel as much a part of the team as someone who is in the office, and run the risk of missing out on opportunities like promotions – there are also wider social benefits like less traffic on the road, and companies can save office space.

'So, while all the evidence is that there is potential for positives, there are some drawbacks.'

Chris Tyler left Wellington to join his girlfriend in central Nelson, swapping a two-hour commute to the capital for a desk in his living room, or a five-minute stroll to the Bridge Street Collective whenever he feels the need for some workday company.

Tyler is an 'integration data architect', helping the country's DHBs joining up their IT systems. 'We looked at the opportunities [my girlfriend] had, but decided that because of the nature of my work I have a little bit more flexibility.'

At first, his company wasn't sure how it would work, and Tyler had to prove the distance wouldn't affect his work. His move across the Cook Strait happened in stages, and he dropped down to a three-day Wellington week before moving permanently three months ago.

Now, he's hit a rhythm, with daily meetings on Skype and working down a set list of tasks. He thinks working from home is more productive than an office environment. 'I've found I'm more productive remote working because in office you have a lot of distractions.'

Although, as far as distractions go, a wedding's a pretty big one, he admits. Tyler tied the knot a month ago, and in the weeks leading up to the big day found himself undertaking all kinds of errands.

'I'd spend half the day collecting tablecloths or things like that, making the work up in the evenings.'

'I really enjoy the Nelson lifestyle, it's big enough that there's a good vibe going on, but it's much more relaxed. In Wellington I tried to have the same lifestyle I had here, but that meant moving to Te Horo, which meant a two-hour commute.'

Founder and owner of Nelson's Bridge Street Collective, Galen King, says the co-working space has had 'steady growth' during the last couple of years, and many of the newcomers are remote workers who are new to Nelson.

Chris Tyler and Carl Richards use the co-working facilities at Nelson's Bridge Street Collective.

However, we could do more to attract more workers, he said. 'It's a place a lot of people want to live, but without the jobs and opportunities, there aren't people. And without the people, it's hard to create the opportunities, it's a chicken and egg thing.'

Offering incentives is one way to do it. 'You could create a package with accommodation, to get people moving. That way, we could say, come on, it's easy to come here.'

King currently lives in New York, but said he'll return to Nelson eventually.

'People want to live here, it's a good place to live. You can walk to work, go mountain biking at lunchtime. Who doesn't like that kind of lifestyle?'