Kiwi employees more disengaged: report

New research has shown that more than 63 percent of New Zealand employees felt disengaged as of January 2020.

Peakon, an employee success platform has analysed over 255,000 New Zealand employee comments, and found the topics of diversity and inclusion, climate change, wellbeing and flexible working all rose sharply in importance for Kiwi’s when compared year-on-year.

Peakon’s APAC Director, Luke Amundson (pictured), says shifts in employee expectations are being felt across all generations, industries and regions.

“The level of discussion we have seen from New Zealand employees on these topics demonstrates a real need to know that their voices are being heard, and their views acted upon. Business success relies on employee engagement, so organisations must ensure they’re properly using their employee data to reveal insights, identify new trends and drive strategic decisions,” says Amundson.

Diversity and inclusion is a hot topic across New Zealand, with a 44 percent spike in employee comments over the past 12 months. In 2019, New Zealand workers left behind the second highest number of employee comments on this topic, only behind Denmark.

New Zealand also experienced extremely sharp growth in the number of employee comments relating to climate change, with a 216 percent increase year-on-year, second only to Australia. The local increase is more than double that seen in the UK (85 percent), and almost five times that of Germany where concern grew by 42 percent.

Of all countries analysed, New Zealand employees were the most vocal on the subject of wellbeing, with a 37 percent jump in employee comments on this topic in the past 12 months. This increase is significant, and more than double the rise experienced globally (17 percent).

The connection between individual employee success and overall business success is clear and proven, and organisations have an opportunity to tap into that to boost engagement and productivity long-term.

The full report is available here.