Most New Zealanders enjoy flexible hours: Stats NZ

Over one in 10 people in New Zealand’s retail trade and accommodation and food services were able to do some work from home, according to data from Statistics NZ.

For some occupations, 58 per cent of professionals were able to work from home at some time, followed closely by managers, 57 per cent. About seven in 10 people in education and training have done it.

Unsurprisingly, the occupation where it was least likely to have done some work from home was for machinery operators and drivers, 6.0 per cent, followed closely by labourers, 6.5 per cent.

Statistics NZ’s data shows over 50 percent of employees in New Zealand have flexible work hours, allowing them to start and finish work at different times each day, and one-third have worked from home.

The survey of working life, conducted between October and December 2018, asked employed people about their work arrangements, employment conditions, and satisfaction with their job and work-life balance.

It found that flexible start and finish times were one of the most common forms of flexible arrangements offered by businesses.

According to Scott Ussher, labour market statistics manager, flexibility at work comes in different forms, and can include being able to vary the hours, days, and location of work.

“Although most New Zealanders experience fairly flexible work arrangements, the types of flexibility people experience at work vary, depending on the industry they work in and what job they have,” Ussher said.

Although half of employees have flexible work hours, more men, 54 per cent, than women, 49 per cent, have flexible hours. Parents of dependent children are more likely to have flexible hours, 57 per cent, than non-parents, 49 per cent.

The proportion of employees who have flexible work hours varies considerably by industry, ranging from over seven in ten employees in rental, hiring, and real estate services, to under four in ten employees in healthcare and social assistance.

“It’s not surprising that industries like healthcare and social assistance, and education and training have lower rates of employees working flexible hours, as these industries include professions, such as doctors, nurses, and teachers, where fixed working hours are largely unavoidable,” Ussher said.

There is also variation by occupation, with employees working as managers having the highest proportion of flexible work hours (67 per cent), compared with community and personal service workers, where only 37 per cent are on flexible hours.

Statistics NZ noted working from home did not always correlate with an increased satisfaction with work-life balance.

While most employees who had done work from home were satisfied with their work-life balance (69 per cent), they were more likely to be dissatisfied, or very dissatisfied (12 per cent), than those who did not work from home (6.9 per cent).

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