Desire For Flexibility Remains Amid Fall In Number Of Remote Workers

Nearly half of New Zealanders who have the option to work from home would like to do so more, however the actual number of people working remotely is decreasing. This is according to the latest Internet Insights annual survey conducted by InternetNZ.

Vivien Maidaborn, CEO of InternetNZ, believes that while employers are reconsidering work-from-home arrangements and are modifying their policies, the call from employees to work from home more is not going away.

"Over half of the New Zealand workforce have the technology to work from home, thanks to the internet. Changes made out of necessity during the pandemic are still deeply embedded for many of us as a workforce," she said.

The annual survey showed a significant drop of eight percentage points in the number of people who work from home some or all of the time. 38% of us now work from home some or all of the time, compared to 46% in the 2023 Insights survey.

Opinion has become divided on how work from home has affected workplace culture. 19% percent of us now believe that working from home improves workplace culture, while 18% feel it makes it worse. 38% believed that work from home had no effect on workplace culture.

"The new trend away from working from home so much, coupled with the persistent desire for options, will affect organisations. Some employers are attempting to provide all the available options, while others are simplifying things back down to what it was like pre-pandemic."

Being required to work in the office by an employer for a certain number of days remains the most common reason that people don’t work more from home. Face-to-face meetings and employer attitudes to remote working were other reasons why workers had to go into the office.

Survey respondents also expressed a willingness to move somewhere else in the country, if they could take their job with them. Among those whose work can be done from home, 46% would consider moving somewhere else in New Zealand. 52% of New Zealanders do the type of work that can be done from home.

The annual Internet Insights research encompasses a range of topics, including Internet use, concerns, online safety, and Artificial Intelligence.

The full findings of the Internet Insights research are available on the InternetNZ website here: https://internetnz.nz/internet-insights

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