Erin Gold
Skyline of Tel Aviv at dawn
I’ve always thought of autumn as a time of work. As I watch the leaves change, I think of the summer holidays behind me and the goals that lay ahead. This year, as I set out on my duties, I’m constantly reminded of the five months that I worked in Tel Aviv, and how I balanced the exciting new atmosphere with a demanding internship.
There were a couple of things that made my workplace more relaxed. When I showed up for my interview in Tel Aviv, I wore my best dress Capri pants and a blouse, hoping I looked professional enough. To my surprise, the editor wore jeans and a faded t-shirt. Blame it on the heat or the attitudes, but barely anyone wears a suit to work.
People at Erin’s office didn’t dress up – most are much more casual than what North Americans consider “business casual” as pictured above
“They have something called ‘Israeli time’,” I tell my friend in Toronto as we’re catching up, “there’s no such thing as being late for work. 9 to 5 means you get there sometime between 9 and 10 o’clock stay until 4, 5 or 6 o’clock and they don’t care, as long as you get all your stuff done.”
“God Damn our Protestant work ethic,” she responds with jovial reference to Max Weber. What I hadn’t explained was that Israelis do have a strong work ethic. Tel Aviv is an expensive place to live. Wages are not very high. Most of the citizens I met carry two jobs. The difference in so-called work ethics is that Israelis have a strong cultural ethic that pervades work and lightens the load. “Israeli time” is just one example.
An anecdote about Purim, a holiday similar to Halloween, says it best. After a long night of partying at the street festival, where I saw DJs on apartment balconies, costumed people dancing in the street, restaurants open all night and everything joyous and wild; I totally slept through my alarm. I woke up at 10am, thinking it was late even for Israeli time, and ran, panicking out the door.
I rushed into my office, and to my surprise, it was empty. I was dumbstruck. I set up my laptop and looked around. My editor came in a few minutes later, nonchalantly carrying a coffee. “Where is everybody?” I asked. “This writer’s drunk or something, the other one went to see him.” He said, adding nothing about the graphic designer or anyone else. “Time for a cigarette break” He announced and walked back out. “Ok,” I shrugged and followed suit.
When the assistant editor eventually showed up, she explained that it was the day after a holiday, so it was kind of expected that everyone would be late and hung-over.
Sounds fun, no? The amazing part is how my office, with a staff of six plus an intern or two, running on Israeli time, could pump out five magazines a month. To pull off a tough career, you just need to balance with wholehearted celebration. That’s the general attitude. Have a balance between work and fun, and go full throttle on both ends, or as they say in Hebrew slang; gever, gever.
Image 1 © Dmitry Pistrov/iStockphoto
Image 2 © Lise Gagne/iStockphoto