Changing trends meant commuters heading in to the office might now be allowed more leeway to choose their, employment experts say. Photo: RNZ / Nick Monro
New Zealand workers are being offered flexible work hours to offset wide-spread return-to-office requirements.
A report by recruitment firm Robert Half indicates only 39 percent of workers still had home/hybrid working options, with most required to be back in the office.
However, 99 percent of workers said their employers were giving them flexible work hours, with only 1 percent of workers saying they did not have flexible work hours.
"While the New Zealand workforce has largely returned to the office full-time, the enduring need for flexibility had remained," Robert Half director Ronil Singh said.
"The widespread adoption of flexible working hours demonstrates that employers are acknowledging the employee demand for more work-life balance and aiming to develop a more attractive and competitive work environment to secure and retain top talent," he said.
"This is where I think employers need to be fairly smart around understanding the individual needs and having a work environment that embraces that."
However, just 59 percent of employees said there had been an increase in flexible work hours compared with last year, while about one third (30 percent) said there had been no change in the flexibility and 10 percent said there was a decrease.
Only 19 percent of workers said flexible work hours had increased significantly.
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