Flexible leave and work arrangements common

New Zealand businesses provided flexible leave and work arrangements in 2018 in one form or another, Stats NZ said today.

This result is from the annual business operations survey, which is a sample survey that reports on businesses with six or more employees.

Almost two-thirds of businesses reported they had formal arrangements to allow employees to use personal sick leave, unpaid leave, or compassionate leave to care for other people who were sick. The financial and insurance services industry had the largest proportion of businesses (79 percent) providing this type of leave arrangement.

“In contrast, only 10 percent of businesses overall offered childcare-related allowances or facilities. These options were more popular in the education and training industry, and were provided by 35 percent of those businesses,” business performance manager Geraldine Duoba said.

Flexible start and end times, and the option of part-time work were the more common types of flexible work arrangements offered by businesses. More than half of businesses offered these arrangements.

“Having flexibility at work helps both single parents, and families where both parents work, to balance their work and family needs,” Ms Duoba said.