Four out of five businesses across New Zealand offered flexible working hours to their employees in 2023, according to data released by Stats NZ.
The organisation says that the offer of flexible working hours increases to 90% for large businesses (those with 100 or more employees).
It says the option of flexible working hours was more likely to be available in the following industries:
- Professional, scientific, and technical services (95%).
- Information media and telecommunications (94%).
- Financial and insurance services (92%).
Stats NZ says part-time work was the second-most popular offer relating to flexible work and support provisions.
Larger businesses were more likely to offer health and wellbeing support
Business performance manager Ricky Ho says in a statement that 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.
“More than two out of five businesses offered their employees the option of working from home, and 14% of their staff took up this option on a working day.”
The industry most likely to make this offer was the information media and telecommunications industry (86%), followed by financial and insurance services (84%) and professional, scientific, and technical services (81%).
Within the information media and telecommunications industry, 30% of staff worked from home on a typical day in 2023.
Stats NZ says the industries that were less likely to offer the option of working from home were:
- Accommodation and food services (10%).
- Agriculture, forestry, and fishing (16%).
- Other services, eg, repair and maintenance (25%).
The Business Operations Survey reports on businesses with six or more employees. Businesses were surveyed from August to November 2023 and the survey included questions on business operations, innovation, business practices, and climate change.
