Nearly half of Kiwi office workers would consider quitting if office flexibility reduced: survey

Nearly half of employees in New Zealand would consider quitting if their current flexibility were reduced, according to a new survey.

The poll from Cultivate, which surveyed more than a thousand office workers, came as a growing number of employers in New Zealand and around the world are implementing office-return policies.

It found that 45% of employees in New Zealand would reconsider their employment if current flexible working arrangements were taken away, with 38% saying work-from-home flexibility is a "deal breaker" when considering roles.

The top reasons for the continued WFH preference are to save commuting time (30%) and being more productive at home (27%).

"The results clearly demonstrate that organisations need to embrace the notion that work is no longer defined as the place you go, but rather what you do," said Cultivate co-founder Tony Pownall, in a statement.

"The concept that workers are most productive when in the same room is a hangover from the industrial revolution and doesn't fit our increasingly knowledge-based economy."

In New Zealand, 72% of organisations continue to offer some WFH entitlement, while only 7.5% are implementing fully remote policies, according to the Cultivate report.

By industry, the Utilities and Energy (87.5%), Government (87%), and Information and Communication Technology (86%) are found to be the ones with an ongoing WFH entitlement.

Growing office-return policies

The findings came as more employers in New Zealand and across the world are ordering employees to get back to the workplace.

In New Zealand, the government recently issued a set of guidelines expecting public servants to return on-site, stressing that WFH arrangements "are not an entitlement."

Trina Jones, co-founder of Cultivate, said she believes this move will lead to retention and recruitment problems for the government.

"The government's decision to reduce flexible working in the public sector contradicts what employees are expressing as their strong preference, and I believe this will lead to staff departures and make it more difficult to recruit for roles," Jones said in a statement.

According to Jones, employers need to start embracing hybrid work as a "permanent fixture" in the modern work environment to remain competitive.

"COVID only accelerated a trend that we saw happening anyway. We know that happy team members are productive team members so giving staff WFH allowances is a win-win for both employers and employees," she said.