Remote work trend a plus for Tauranga

CRC Media executive director Arthur Warner works out of his home office in Papamoa. The company is based in Christchurch but plans are afoot to shift it to Tauranga, he says. Photo/Andrew Warner

Technological advances mean more options are opening up for people to work from home, industry leaders say, with some employers from outside the region basing staff in the Bay.

Priority One projects manager Annie Hill said although the organisation was a strong supporter of people coming out from their home office into co-working spaces "it is becoming much more common to work remotely".

"We have heard of a few people doing this, and often it is because they make a decision to move to the Bay of Plenty for lifestyle reasons and their employer is keen to retain them in the business.

"The increasing ability of technology to enable people to work remotely is obviously driving this trend, so in many jobs you can live and work where you want, even if this is in different cities or areas."

In terms of attracting businesses to Tauranga and the Western Bay of Plenty, if it means they need to work from home then that is a great thing and better than deciding not to move here at all, she said.

CRC Media executive director Arthur Warner works out of his home office in Papamoa but the company's headquarters are in Christchurch.

But plans are in place to relocate the company - which operates a video demand channel in conjunction with Good TV, runs the New Zealand Young Filmmakers competition, and designs and installs state of the art sound systems - to Tauranga.

Mr Warner said the decision to move to the Bay from Auckland 14 months ago was a lifestyle choice and the board was aware of that when they hired him.

"They approached me around the time we moved here to see if I would help reinvent the organisation and bring it into the digital media space. I said I have just made this lifestyle choice to shift to Papamoa and they said that is totally fine ... it was a win-win for both of us."

Eco Effect owner Gavin Cherrie started his business eight years ago from home and has just launched another company, 2plus Ltd. Both businesses were closely related as Eco Effect helped people redesign their business and manufacturing processes while 2plus was a technology company based around green chemistry that could cut water, energy and chemical costs to industrial and commercial systems, he said.

Mr Cherrie said working from home allowed him flexibility and he committed 20 per cent of his time to developing his skills and attending conferences "to keep current".

The chemical engineer said the advent of cloud computing had made it easy to run a business.

Chamber of Commerce chief executive Stan Gregec said working from home was not an option for everyone.

"We need to be realistic, and realise that a lot depends on the nature of the work to be done and the technology available to support it," he said.

But good organisations knew they would get more rather than less from their employees if they opened up options for where and how work was done, Mr Gregec said.

"Life and work are definitely becoming more of a mash-up in all sorts of ways, as technology creates options for people and organisations for more flexible working arrangements."