Employees in New Zealand want more WFH opportunities

About six in 10 employees in New Zealand were working in roles that allow them to work from home and about 78% are working remotely some or all the time in 2022.

Of these employees, more than half (54%) have expressed a desire to work from home more frequently that they current are, according to InternetNZ, a not-for-profit open membership organisation and designated manager for the .nz country domain.

In a poll of 1,001 New Zealanders aged 18 and above, Internet NZ found that employees who worked from home very infrequently, or not at all, were the most eager to do so more often. 53% of respondents who had the option to work from home were also willing to move cities to look for cheaper and better housing options and an improved lifestyle, provided they could retain their current job and work remotely. This marked an increase from a net 45% in 2021.

Describing this as an “employee drive”, Vivien Maidaborn, CEO of InternetNZ said, “I think it asks of employers, how to respond culturally, how to respond to make it a positive for productivity, make it a positive for teamwork.”

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Compared to 2021, more respondents believed their workplace culture had improved due to the increased number of employees working from home, at a net 30% compared to 19% in 2021. The number of New Zealanders with a fibre connection at home has also continued to increase to 64% in 2022, up 2% from 2021.