Young Kiwis pursuing ‘work-life integration’

In 2017, the number of young people able to work from locations other than their employer’s primary site jumped by more than 20% compared to 2016, according to Deloitte’s Millennial Survey.

Moreover, 84% of the respondents claimed to work in a job offering some degree of flexibility which was found to have positive benefits on all areas of work including productivity, employee engagement and being accountable.

 recently spoke to Pierre Ferrandon, New Zealand country manager of International Workplace Group, about how employers are reacting to workers who are increasingly looking for flexible work arrangements, as technological advancements allows them to work remotely.

“Enabling people to actually work closer to where they live means they have less time commuting - which is unproductive time – and they can spend more time with their families and more time with the company delivering outcomes,” he said.

Ferrandon said that some of the major benefits of flexible workspaces and flexible practices is their ability to attract and retain talent.

Moreover, Jason Walker, managing director of Hays in New Zealand, added that millennials, in particular, are “pursuing work-life integration rather than work-life balance” and are happy for work and life to coexist – provided their employer allows them to utilise technology to work flexibly.

“Younger workers are also more willing to move from one work assignment or contract to another than previous generations and have higher levels of confidence when it comes to sharing and collaborating securely online,” he said.

Hays’ own research of 1,253 professionals and 951 employers found a massive 89% of employers said flexible working options are very important or important when it comes to staff attraction and retention.

Of the professionals surveyed, 33% said flexible working options were critical to their remaining in employment. A further 63% said they were ‘nice to have’ and only 4% said flexible work was not important to them.

“A third of professionals identifying flexible work as critical to remaining employed is significant and we predict this figure will only grow as our cities become more congested and the proportion of younger workers increases,” said Walker.

Walker added that there are many reasons why people may require flexible working options, including living further from CBDs to access affordable housing, balancing ongoing caring responsibilities, coming back up after parental leave or “throttling back from full time work toward retirement”.

“The emerging technologies of the fourth industrial revolution have made flexible working arrangements more accessible and transparent, which people are aware of.”