The vast majority of working New Zealanders are satisfied with their jobs and manage to achieve a successful work-life balance.
The vast majority of working New Zealanders are satisfied with their jobs and manage to achieve a successful work-life balance, according to Statistics New Zealand’s latest “Survey of Working Life’ survey, December 2012 quarter.* Of all employed people, 85% were either ‘satisfied’ or ‘very satisfied’ with their main jobs, while only one in 20 (4.7%) were ‘dissatisfied’ or ‘very dissatisfied’.
“There are some differences in level of job satisfaction. Self-employed people and employers tended to be more satisfied with their jobs than employees in temporary work,” Diane Ramsay, industry and labour statistics manager, said. Among employers there was a satisfaction level of 88.79% and among self-employed people this was 87.49%, but this was lower among temporary workers: 81.63%.
“However, we found a different picture in satisfaction with work-life balance,” Ramsay added. “Here, temporary employees showed the highest levels of satisfaction and employers the lowest.” Almost 80% (79.19%) of temporary employees were satisfied with their work-life balance, while 78.15% of permanent employees were and only 69.31% of employers.
Of all employed people, employers were the most likely to work more than 60 hours per week, and they were also the most likely to be stressed at work. While only one in 5 people (18.2%) had ‘always’ or ‘often’ felt stressed at work in the previous 12 months, three in 10 employers (27.7%) had done.
In addition most employees (86.7%) felt that their employer managed health and safety risks ‘well’ or ‘very well’, and a similar proportion (85.4%) felt that they had reasonable opportunities to improve these. However, one in ten workers reported having experienced discrimination, harassment, or bullying at work in the previous 12 months.
*The ‘Survey of Working Life’ provides official statistics on people’s work arrangements, working conditions, and job satisfaction. Results based on representative sample of 14,500 employed New Zealanders
