Intouch : Balance Rates Higher Than Security

Wall Street may be in meltdown and thousands of City of London workers may have lost their jobs, but New Zealand’s finance and accounting professionals are still more worried about work-life balance than they are about job security.
A survey from international recruitment specialist Robert Half shows New Zealand’s finance workers are among the least concerned about the effects of the global financial crisis.
When asked what their greatest concern today was, the 228 New Zealanders opted for work-life balance (33 percent) ahead of maintaining compliance (26 percent) and job security (17 percent).
And while 80 percent of them are concerned about the health of the global economy, this lags most of the other 13 countries in the global survey of 3500
finance and accounting professionals.
In Ireland, 93 percent of finance and accounting professionals are concerned, or very concerned, about the world’s economy, as are 91 percent of Brazilian workers, 90 percent of those in Singapore and 87 percent of those in Britain.
New Zealand’s finance and accounting professionals are also relatively unconcerned about the effects of the crisis on the national economy. While 77 percent of them are concerned, more workers in Ireland (94 percent), Japan (88 percent), the United Kingdom (88 percent), Singapore (87 percent), Spain (87 percent), Belgium (87 percent), France (85 percent), Hong Kong (80 percent) and Brazil (78 percent) are worried.
However, Australians are even less worried than New Zealanders about their national economy, with just 75 percent expressing concern.
As the focus moves from the world down to their specific jobs, New Zealand’s finance and accounting professionals become increasingly confident.
Just 30 percent say the global economic situation has led to decreased growth for their employer, compared with 57 percent for Ireland, 45 percent for Spain and 43 percent for Italy.
And only 32 percent of Kiwis are feeling less secure in their jobs than they were 12 months ago, while in Ireland 62 percent of finance and accounting professionals are feeling less secure, as are 54 percent in Hong Kong and 49 percent in the United Kingdom.
Robert Half senior manager Megan Alexander says the relative lack of concern shown by New Zealanders in the survey does reflect this country’s finance and accounting employment market.
“New Zealand has for several years experienced severe skills shortage in finance and accounting, with many employers simply being unable to find suitably qualified candidates.
“That has changed in the past few months, with fewer jobs on offer and more candidates available as we receive more enquiries from ex-pats about returning home.
“But rather than this leading to glut of finance and accounting professionals in New Zealand, it simply means there is less of shortage. Employers have bit more choice and candidates have to work bit harder to get their dream job,” she says.