But reports say this will likely decline due to softening labour market
Job advertisements offering remote work remain above pre-pandemic levels in December 2023, but are expected to go down as New Zealand's labour market eases.
The number of job ads in New Zealand that include at least one work from home-related phrase or keyword was at 8.9% in December 2023, interest.co.nz reported, citing data from SEEK NZ.
According to the report, this is still 7.6 percentage points higher than the 1.3% recorded in February 2020, and only slightly lower than the record-high 10.3% in September.
The insurance and superannuation sector reported the highest rate of remote work roles, with 33.1% of job ads there mentioning work from home.
This is followed by the sectors of information and communication technology, as well as the banking and financial services with 22.8%, according to the report.
SEEK NZ determined the rates by identifying how many roles indicated that they can be done remotely in relation to the total job advertisements for a specific month, according to interest.co.nz.
Office return pushback
The findings come amid a recent strong push from executives around the world to get employees back to workplaces, triggering tensions between employers and employees over work arrangements.
Just this month, One NZ call centre employees belonging to Unite union worked remotely for 11 days as protest to the company's plan to increase their number of days in the office, Radio New Zealand reported.
"The company is trying to have them attend the office more often, you know that costs their time, literally their money in terms of parking, gas, could be childcare issues, and the workers don't think it's necessary at all," Unite Union national secretary John Crocker told RNZ.
Remote work to likely decline
Despite this pushback, Cogwill said job ads offering remote work will still likely go down this year as New Zealand's labour market softens.
"As a result of this softening in the labour market, we expect there to be more competition among job seekers for vacant roles," Cogwill said as quoted by interest.co.nz.
"Employers may not need to offer the same kind of perks and benefits to attract staff as was necessary in the very tight market of 2022. The WFH rate may fall a little as a result."
Job ads in New Zealand have been on a decline in the last quarter of 2023, in contrary to the growing number of applications for job ads in the same period, according to previous SEEK NZ data.
