November 21st, 2024
A significant majority of businesses in New Zealand have embraced flexible working arrangements, offering their employees the option to choose when they work, according to recent data released by Stats NZ on Monday.
This trend, prevalent across various sectors, underscores a shift towards more adaptable work environments.
The big picture: Four out of five businesses in New Zealand provided flexible working hours to their employees in 2023, a practice even more common among larger businesses, with 90 percent of those employing 100 or more staff offering such flexibility.
Zoom in:
Industry leaders in flexibility: The professional, scientific, and technical services industry led the charge with 95 percent offering flexible working hours, closely followed by the information media and telecommunications sector at 94 percent, and financial and insurance services at 92 percent.
Part-time work and beyond: Beyond flexible hours, part-time work emerged as the second most popular flexible work option. Larger businesses also tended to offer additional support in health and wellbeing, parental leave, redundancy, and provisions for illness or injury, going beyond legal requirements.
Work from home trends:
Over 40 percent of businesses gave their employees the option to work from home, with 14 percent of staff opting for this on a typical working day.
The information media and telecommunications industry was most likely to offer remote working, with 86 percent doing so, and 30 percent of staff in this sector working from home on an average day.
What's next:
With the shift towards more flexible working arrangements, businesses across New Zealand are adapting to new norms that prioritise employee wellbeing and work-life balance. This trend is expected to continue, influencing recruitment, retention, and overall business strategies.
Between the lines:
The varied uptake of remote working across industries reflects the diverse nature of jobs and the practicality of working from home. Sectors like accommodation and food services, agriculture, forestry, and fishing, and other services such as repair and maintenance showed a lower propensity for offering home-based work options.