Guest Comment: Collaborative and easy-going Australian offices are a myth. Frankly, I preferred working in Hong Kong

There’s an often touted perception that only outbound expats run the risk of culture shock when they leave their home country. There is an abundance of self-help books and troves of internet-based resources to guide the nervous expat on how to cope with the challenges they may face. However, rarely do we hear about the shock expats suffer after they return home There is an expectation that readjusting to their native country will always be a shoo-in. Not so.

As a returnee to Australia, and having spent time working both domestically and in Hong Kong, coming back was much more of a cultural shock than my initial trip to the city of the fragrant harbour and neon lights. Ironically, the second shock was not the cultural elements of my home city, but the working ethos and the lack of camaraderie that has become so pervasive in Australian corporate culture.

Hong Kong’s work environment has long been (rather unfairly) stigmatised as cold, calculating and unpleasant. Hong Kong doesn’t try to hide its hard-working, fast-paced lifestyle. Rather it heavily promotes it and offers it as a challenge for the hungry career-minded individual. It is precisely this “work hard, play harder” attitude that is the cause of much talent flow from the West to the East.

Australia, on the other hand, is proud to flaunt its work environment as people-friendly, fun and pro work-life balance, and is quick to pass judgment on those that do not share its perceived universal work ethos.

My own experience working in Hong Kong was not entirely without cultural road bumps. But it was there that I discovered a sense of camaraderie, co-operation and a truly fun working experience that is so sorely missing in the Australian work culture. So far working in Australia has been lukewarm at best.

Working under the helm of an unsupportive and narcissistic head of department, in a team where speaking out is to your detriment, paints a very different picture of the enjoyable, productive and collaborative work environment that Australia likes to portray. Recent statistics and opinion polls show that while wages and living standards have improved, Australians are much less happy than they were 10 years ago.

Asia’s growth and demand for overseas talent does not appear to be slowing down – there is still time for Australia to stem the brain-drain flow, but the window of opportunity is increasingly becoming smaller.

The author is an Australian financial services professional. The views expressed are her own and not those of eFinancialCareers.

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