Workers In New Zealand Report Lower Levels Of Engagement, Intent To Stay, And Well-being Than Their Global Peers

Workers in New Zealand reported lower levels of engagement, intent to stay, and well-being over the last 12 months than their global peers according to new research released today by Qualtrics.

Drawing on responses from more than 1,000 employees in New Zealand, the annual 2024 Qualtrics Employee Experience Trends report shows the 5 key indicators of a positive employee experience (EX) stalled in 2023: engagement; exceeding expectations; intent to stay; inclusion; and well-being:

Change management, values alignment, and trust in manager emerge as key pieces of the EX puzzle 

As workers continue to experience evolving hybrid work programs against a backdrop of economic uncertainty, change management, values alignment, and trust in manager emerged as some of the strongest drivers of overall EX; alongside the existing - and traditional - indicators such as growth and development. With a separate Qualtrics study revealing manager enablement and change management rank bottom of HR leaders’ current priorities, the shift in drivers outlines the urgency at which they must be elevated to deliver positive employee and business outcomes.

“At a time when organisations in New Zealand are trying to lift productivity and organisations are operating in uncertain and challenging markets, the flat growth in the indicators of a positive employee experience are a concern. When you consider great employee experiences are linked to positive business outcomes - including profitability, productivity, retention, and customer satisfaction - employers need to act now or they’ll be missing out. And one of the most important actions they can take to reverse this trend is ensuring managers have the insights, tools, and support they need to lead teams through the current period of continued change at work,” said Dr. Crissa Sumner, Senior Manager - XM Advisory Services, Asia Pacific & Japan, Qualtrics.

The EX Trends in New Zealand in 2024

Alongside highlighting the drivers of EX in 2024, the dedicated team of EX experts at Qualtrics analysed the findings to reveal emerging trends in the workplace:

· Some time in the office is better than none - unless it’s five days

· Employees would rather AI assist them than evaluate them

· Frontline employees are unhappy, poorly supported and least trusting

· The new job honeymoon phase has vanished

· Employees are comfortable sharing work emails and chats for an improved employee experience, but more ambivalent about social media posts being used

Some time in the office is better than none - unless it’s five days

As the debate continues over how many days employees should spend in the office, the Qualtrics research shows the key indicators of a positive employee experience are highest for employees with hybrid work schedules.

Employees would rather AI assist them than evaluate them

Workers in New Zealand are less willing to adopt select AI-powered tools in the workplace than in most other countries, with half of local respondents (50%) saying they are not open to having AI help them at work (compared to 42% globally).

When workers are more comfortable with AI in the workplace it is when they have a sense of control over it - such as for writing tasks (55% of employees would use AI for this), or as a personal assistant (40%).

Frontline employees are unhappy, poorly supported and least trusting

Frontline workers2, like cashiers, restaurant servers, and retail workers are critical to business results, and often the most important driver of a great customer experience. However, compared to all employees morale and satisfaction is lowest among frontline employees - they don’t feel their basic pay and benefits needs are being met, they are less likely to trust leaders, and don’t feel they can propose changes to the way things are done.

Employees are comfortable sharing work emails and chats for an improved employee experience, but more ambivalent about social media posts being used

Today’s employees are comfortable with their employer listening passively to work emails, work processes like interview notes, virtual meeting transcripts and chat messages to improve their experience. Two-thirds (66%) of workers are comfortable with their organisation using email data to better understand and improve their experience at work. They are less comfortable with companies using social media posts, whether anonymous or not - 31% of employees are comfortable with social media being used.

This change comes as recent advances in feedback technology give organisations new ways to find out how employees are doing beyond engagement surveys. Unlike directly solicited feedback, “passive listening” does not require extra effort from employees but still provides critical insights.

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