Four out of five New Zealand businesses offer employees flexible working hours, with larger companies leading the charge, according to a new Statistics New Zealand report.

The latest data from Stats NZ’s Business Operations Survey revealed that 81% of businesses in the country offered their workers more flexible work schedules in 2023. Of these, 30% gave the option to all their employees, while 51% gave it only to some of their staff.

As much as 90% of large businesses, or those with 100 or more employees, offered flexible work hours, compared to 79% of small businesses, or those with six to 19 workers. Three industries led the way as far as offering flexible working schedules:

• 95% - Professional, scientific, and technical services

• 94% - Information media and telecommunications

• 92% - Financial and insurance services

The New Zealand government has been very supportive of employers offering flexible work hours to their workers as such an arrangement can benefit both parties.

For businesses, offering flexible working arrangements can help them retain skilled staff and reduced recruitment costs, as well as retain staff morale and reduce absenteeism. It can also help them meet changes in the labour market more effectively.

Meanwhile, for workers, having a flexible work schedule can help them develop a better work-life balance.

Providing part-time work arrangements

Aside from flexible work hours, New Zealand businesses were also open to providing their part-time work to their staff.

Of those interviewed, the companies that were most likely to offer part-time work came from:

• 95% - Health care and social assistance

• 94% - Accommodation and food services

• 93% - Arts and recreation services

• 92% - Education and training

In 2023, businesses also other forms of support for their workers such as for their mental health, physical health, and overall wellbeing.

“Larger businesses were more likely to offer health and wellbeing support, and to offer beyond what is required by law for parental leave, redundancy, and illness or injury provisions,” Ricky Ho, Business Performance Manager of Stats NZ, said.

Offering work-from-home options

Work-from-home arrangements became popular because of restrictions during the Covid lockdowns. While companies in other countries have since required their workers to return to the office, New Zealand businesses seem to go the other way.

The top three industries that offered WFH arrangements were:

• 86% - Information media and telecommunications industry

• 84% - Financial and insurance services

•81% - Professional, scientific, and technical services

As much as 30% of employees within the information media and telecommunications industry chose to work from home on a typical day in 2023.

“More than 2 out of 5 businesses offered their employees the option of working from home, and 14 percent of their staff took up this option on a working day,” Ho said. However, some companies chose to leave off the WFH option from their offering to workers.

The three industries that were least likely to give employees the choice to work from home were:

• 10% - Accommodation and food services

• 16% - Agriculture, forestry, and fishing

• 25% - Other services, such as repair and maintenance

Addressing other employee concerns

Stats NZ’s Business Operations Survey revealed other important moves taken by businesses to address employee concerns.

More than half (53%) of New Zealand businesses adopted a formal policy aimed at encouraging employee representation in health and safety issues.

Meanwhile, workplace bullying is also a key issue addressed by companies, with 47% of them adopting formal policies or actions to prevent it from happening. Such policies or actions were most common among companies in the health care and social assistance industry (66%).

Four in five businesses had their workers undergo training in 2023. The most popular training type offered was in health and safety.