Watch our webinar with Jarrod Kerr, Chief Economist at Kiwibank, as he unpacks what’s next for New Zealand’s economy

Will 2026 deliver sustained growth or new headwinds for Kiwi businesses?

Last Thursday we hosted our third online economic update with Jarrod Kerr, Chief Economist at Kiwibank, and the insights were both timely and compelling.

📉 Why the early optimism for 2025 didn’t eventuate

📉 How the recession ran deeper than forecast

📈 What sparked the first signs of real recovery late last year

2026 paints a noticeably more optimistic picture - one leaders should be paying close attention to as they plan ahead.

If you lead teams, own a business, or are making strategic decisions for the year ahead, this is essential viewing.

If you were unable to join live or would like to revisit any part of this economic overview, you can watch the full webinar recording [59:33] on our Convergence YouTube channel below. This is a valuable conversation for anyone leading teams or planning for the year ahead. 👇

The Pulse of New Zealand's Economy 2026 - Expert Analysis from Jarrod Kerr, Chief Economist at Kiwibank

Discover what defines a top COO candidate. Michelle Elsley highlights the mindset and behaviours that matter most

What Separates a Truly Strong COO Shortlist from an Average One?

COO searches are fascinating because the title sounds clear, but the reality rarely is.

Even when the brief looks straightforward on paper, it usually reflects something more nuanced happening in the organisation. It could be stabilising performance, preparing for growth, or sometimes succession planning that hasn’t quite gone to plan.

New Zealand produces plenty of capable supply chain and operations leaders who are technically strong, commercially aware, and highly experienced.

In most processes, the initial longlist looks solid.

But when that list narrows to a true shortlist, a pattern tends to emerge. The candidates who stand out and progress are already thinking well beyond their function.

They can articulate how they would assess the health of the whole business, not just their own area.

They talk openly about trade-offs between margin, capability and culture.

They engage confidently with finance, risk and commercial drivers.

And critically, they’ve built genuine depth below them and can point to successors they’ve developed.

In New Zealand, where executive teams tend to be lean and leadership depth can be limited, that enterprise perspective becomes even more important. What I’m seeing in stronger shortlists isn’t necessarily the most technically impressive CV. It’s leaders who demonstrate breadth of judgement. People who have already begun operating at the enterprise level before the title changes.

I work with some highly specialised supply chain leaders who are either aiming for a broader Head of Supply Chain mandate or, over time, a COO role. The shift is rarely about technical capability. It is about perspective and direction.

Are you influencing enterprise decisions, or responding to them?

Are you shaping commercial thinking, or executing within it?

Are you deliberately building the breadth your next role will require?

For organisations, the same question often sits underneath a COO or broader operational brief: Are we hiring for functional strength, or for enterprise leadership that will support the next phase of the business?

Clarity on that tends to shape the calibre of the shortlist you end up with.

If you’re thinking about your own progression or considering how your operational leadership bench will evolve over the next few years, I am always open to a confidential conversation.

Sometimes stepping back to look at the broader picture is where the real value sits.

Culture gaps weaken performance and retention. This article shows leaders how to redesign work with humanity for stronger, lasting results

Closing the Culture Gap

Culture isn’t the wall posters or the values video...

It’s what your people feel in the thousand tiny moments:

when someone is struggling, and someone else notices

Right now, those moments are revealing subtle and cumulative fractures.

Culture dissonance is becoming one of the most significant risks to trust, wellbeing and performance in New Zealand workplaces. It is also one of the greatest opportunities for HR leaders who feel the pulse of their organisations more intimately than anyone else, to humanise how we lead, how we design work, and how we honour the dignity of people who are trying to do their best inside systems that often make that harder than it needs to be.

Workplaces across New Zealand are shifting into a new phase, marked by rising expectations for transparency, fairness, and genuine employee voice. The emotional strain many people have carried since the pandemic has reached a tipping point, and trust has become more fragile in several communities. Fatigue is widespread, and the normalisation of hybrid work has reshaped how employees evaluate fairness, leadership, and the overall quality of their working experience.

This moment is not a crisis, but a crossroads. In 2026, organisations will either take deliberate steps to close their culture gaps or risk watching those gaps expand into lost capability, slower performance, and avoidable turnover. For leaders willing to place humanity and clarity at the centre of how work is designed, the opportunity to strengthen culture and unlock performance is significant.

Trust is softening, especially for communities who already face more barriers
Employment New Zealand’s 2025 Workforce Monitor shows a steep drop in high trust for young workers to 16 percent, for Asian workers to 16 percent, and for Māori workers to 25 percent. One in six workers feel their employer does not listen to their concerns. This is not only sentiment. It is a signal of emotional risk. People avoid raising issues when they fear consequences.

For Māori kaimahi, the emotional load is heavier
More than half of Māori workers report concerns about their employment situation, with more than one in four citing workplace culture and safety issues. Trust has dropped most sharply for Māori under 40. This is not a story about dissatisfaction. It is a story about identity, belonging and psychological safety.

Rising absence is a message, not a metric
Average absence rose to 6.7 days per employee in 2024, with a multi billion dollar cost to employers. Workers are not taking advantage. Many are recovering from workload pressure, family care responsibilities and systemic fatigue. When absence climbs, people are not disengaged. They are depleted.

Pay equity progress is real, but uneven
Culture is not only behaviour. It shows up in pay packets. The national gender pay gap narrowed to a record low in 2025, while wider ethnic pay gaps persist. In the public service the gender pay gap fell further due to transparency and systemic change.

Hybrid work is working when it is intentionally designed
Public service data in 2025 shows hybrid is productivity neutral or positive when clarity and consistency are present. Hybrid is not only about flexibility. It is about trust, fairness and purpose.

Culture dissonance is not a people issue - it is a pattern that slows everything

When the lived experience does not match the stated culture, people withdraw. They become cautious instead of creative. Self protective instead of collaborative. Silent instead of courageous.

Research on cultural fit shows that misalignment elevates coordination costs and interpersonal friction. New Zealand’s long standing productivity challenge is tied in part to weak knowledge diffusion and slow organisational learning. These are culture issues at their core. In other words, culture is economic, measurable and a driver of performance, safety, innovation and retention.

A simple vignette makes it real. A young analyst has an idea that could save a team time. She hesitates to raise it. Last time feedback was labelled as negative. Two months later the team purchases a new tool to solve the same problem. When small signals teach people to brace rather than speak, organisations pay twice. First in trust. Then in results.

Pay equity through transparency
The public service continues to close its gender pay gap through clear rules, visible data, and shared accountability.

Air New Zealand’s Mangōpare programme
This Māori and Pasifika leadership journey strengthens cultural identity, belonging and confidence. It shows that durable culture change begins with people’s sense of self, not with slogans.

HRNZ award‑winning organisations redefining culture from within
From Powerco embedding Te Whare Tapa Whā in leadership, to NZ Post’s Te Korowai conflict resolution model achieving a high resolution rate, culture design is happening through co-creation rather than top down messaging.

Forestry crews reshaping safety culture with Safetree
Timberlands adopted the Growing our Safety Culture programme across all teams, including the board, because it improved relationships, trust and day to day safety. This is culture shift from the boots up.

Worker‑led safety improvements across diverse sectors
Case studies from WorkSafe show tourism operators, utilities, logistics companies and farms lifting engagement and trust through shared ownership of safety practices. When people shape the system, they trust it more.

Public service teams strengthening voice and psychological safety
More workers report comfort having honest conversations about safety and performance, with satisfaction in employer responses rising. Small changes in leader behaviour have created big shifts in confidence.

This is not the year for a values refresh. It is the year for honesty, alignment and humanity.

Listen bravely where trust is lowest
Young workers. Māori kaimahi. Asian employees. Women in mid career. The data already shows where strain lives. The work now is to create spaces where people can tell the truth without fear.
Example: run a 20 minute listening huddle with one high strain group. Ask two questions. What are we not seeing that we need to. What one thing would make the biggest difference to your day to day experience.

Treat hybrid as a design discipline
Hybrid is not a location policy. It is a relational practice. Create clarity on when to gather and why. Define connection, not presence. Anchor the rhythm of work in purpose.
Example: publish a six month rhythm for your team. Name anchor days, deep work windows and the purpose of in person moments.

Align systems with values, visibly
People forgive mistakes. They do not forgive hypocrisy. People do not need perfect leaders. They need consistent ones. Publish pay gap data. Make progression criteria transparent. Show your working.
Example: share your job grade criteria and an example of how a recent progression decision was made.

Support leaders as humans, not heroes
Managers are overwhelmed. What they need is not more slide decks. They need simple rituals, coaching and permission to be human.
Example: introduce a 10 minute weekly load and wellbeing check in. Once a month hold a learning review to reflect on what we tried, what we learned and what we will change.

Redesign work so people can breathe
Before launching another wellbeing initiative, ask two questions. What can we remove. Where can we create space. Lighten expectations. Simplify processes. Exhausted humans do not create thriving cultures.
Example: pause one low value report or meeting for 60 days and measure the impact.

Measure what matters and close the loop
Track trust, voice, fairness and clarity at team level. Pair each signal with a simple action and a visible update.
Example: pick one measure that matters to your people. Publish the baseline and the next small step.

2026 will test every organisation’s cultural foundations. Trust is softer, expectations are sharper, and workers are making decisions based on lived experience rather than promises. When culture dissonance grows, organisations pay for it - in productivity drag, avoidable turnover, slower learning and risk exposure.

But when leaders close the gap between intent and experience, they unlock the opposite: higher trust, stronger voice, faster problem solving, and teams that generate rather than absorb pressure. Culture becomes an economic advantage.

The message is simple. Culture is not an HR project. It is a system. And the organisations that commit to alignment and humanity will move faster and more confidently into the future. The cost of inaction is rising. The return on action is compounding.

Employment New Zealand, Workers in New Zealand - Snapshot 2025. [employment.govt.nz]

Employment New Zealand, Māori kaimahi and Māori employers - Snapshot 2025. [employment.govt.nz]-

Southern Cross & BusinessNZ, Workplace Wellness Report 2025. [southerncross.co.nz], [rnz.co.nz]

Stats NZ, Gender pay gap narrows to lowest on record (2025). [stats.govt.nz]

Te Kawa Mataaho, Public Service Pay Gaps (2025). [publicservice.govt.nz]

ZEIL, Hybrid Working in New Zealand - 2025 Data. [zeil.com]

Organization Science, Two‑Sided Cultural Fit (2023). [pubsonline.informs.org]

IMF, New Zealand’s Productivity Challenge (2025). [imf.org]

Air New Zealand, Mangōpare Leadership Case Study. [workplaceinclusion.org.nz]

HRNZ, Shaping the Profession 2025 Case Studies. [hrnz.org.nz]

Safetree NZ, Growing our Safety Culture Programme. [safetree.nz]

WorkSafe NZ, Worker Engagement & Participation Case Studies. [worksafe.govt.nz]

WorkSafe NZ, 2025 Workforce Insights Programme. [worksafe.govt.nz]

AI boosts performance only when work is redesigned. Discover how NZ leaders digitise workflows for cleaner data and faster decisions

Digitised Work Will Fuel The AI Advantage

Artificial intelligence is advancing faster than ever, but the organisations seeing the greatest gains aren’t simply those buying AI tools. They’re the ones redesigning how work actually happens.

The biggest performance lift doesn’t come from isolated AI deployments; it comes from shifting work into structured, traceable, digital workflows. When work is digitised at the source, organisations continuously capture cleaner data, strengthen AI models, and generate compounding efficiency and insight.

For HR leaders, this creates a strategic opportunity, and a growing responsibility. As data becomes richer, people will rightly ask: What’s being captured? How is it used? Is this fair? Trust, transparency, and ethical use become central to the workforce strategy.

Digital workflows have moved from a competitive advantage to a prerequisite for meaningful AI impact. Organisations operating in digital‑first environments are already realising accelerating benefits:

Smarter deployment of skills and resources

More adaptive operating models for hybrid and distributed teams

Globally, the trend is unmistakable: 88% of companies now use AI in at least one business function. High performers have gone further - they are re‑architecting work itself.

New Zealand organisations are moving even faster. AI adoption has jumped from 48% to 87% in just two years, with measurable improvements in productivity, customer experience, and operating efficiency across sectors.

Why Digitisation Is Now Business‑Critical

AI Cannot Scale Without Clean, Structured Data

Manual, unstructured processes slow AI rollout and reduce accuracy. High‑performing organisations avoid this friction by embedding effortless data capture into everyday workflows - not through extra admin, but through smart digital design.

In New Zealand, digital workflows now underpin the most common and impactful AI use cases: automation, analytics, customer experience, and workflow optimisation.

Efficiency Isn’t the End Goal - Reinvention Is

While many organisations begin their AI journey with task automation, the leaders go further. They use AI as a catalyst to redesign processes, uplift capability, and reimagine how work is delivered.

New Zealand SMEs using AI report stronger revenue, lower operating costs, and faster customer responsiveness. Crucially, these gains don’t come from adding AI onto legacy processes... they come from rebuilding those processes digitally.

Redesigned Workflows Unlock AI’s Full Potential

Globally, half of top‑performing organisations have already redesigned workflows to enable AI at scale. In New Zealand, leaders recognise this need, but many remain early in their transformation. Common barriers include:

Digitisation removes these obstacles and accelerates maturity.

The Growing Divide Between Digital Leaders and Laggards

A widening performance gap is emerging and accelerating. Digitised organisations benefit from:

Better allocation of skills and resources

New Zealand’s national AI strategy highlights this opportunity, estimating a potential $76 billion economic contribution by 2038, with digitisation as its core enabler.

Organisations delaying the shift risk rising technical debt, lower productivity, and competitive disadvantages that become increasingly difficult to reverse.

Balancing Digitisation With Trust, Transparency & Care

As work becomes more digital, data becomes more abundant, and employee concerns naturally intensify. Trust is not a “soft” concept; it is a measurable performance driver. HR leaders play a critical role in shaping a transparent and responsible approach to data. This includes:

Demonstrating how data protects and enables people rather than monitoring them

NZ specific research shows uneven public confidence in AI, particularly among Māori and Pasifika communities. This makes culturally grounded communication and inclusive governance essential for long‑term adoption.

Digitisation must be positioned not as surveillance, but as a pathway to safer, smarter, more meaningful work.

To unlock the full value of AI‑powered work, leaders must focus not only on tools but on redesigning the foundations of how work happens. Four actions matter most:

Digitise Today To Unlock Tomorrow's AI Advantage

Organisations that embrace digitisation now - re‑engineering workflows and rethinking roles - will be the ones who use AI to elevate people, not replace them. They will unlock higher innovation, stronger capability, and more meaningful work.

Those that hesitate risk not only falling behind technologically, but missing the chance to shape a fair, trusted, and people‑positive future of work.

Digitised work is more than a technical upgrade. It is a leadership choice, and one that sets the foundation for a workforce that is skilled, empowered, and ready for the next era of transformation.

AI Forum NZ “AI in Action: Key Findings from New Zealand’s Third AI Productivity Report,” 2025. [aiforum.org.nz]

Datacom “2025 State of AI Index,” 2025. [datacom.com]

AI adoption in NZ summary, The Colab Team, 2025. [thecolab.ai]

McKinsey “State of AI: Global Survey 2025.” [mckinsey.com]

NZ AI Strategy 2025, Nemko Digital. [digital.nemko.com]

Datacom and The Web Company insights, NZ AI Index 2025. [https://datacom.com/nz/en/solutions/artificial-intelligence/ai-insights/state-of-ai-index-2025]

Aotearoa AI Summit insights, 2025. [aotearoaai.nz]

We walk through how clear availability, connected tools, and steady team rhythms turn scattered calendars into a fair, flexible model

Building Fair Flexibility Infrastructure

Hybrid and flexible work have moved well beyond trend status. They now represent a foundational philosophy shaping how modern organisations operate.

In 2026, the question is no longer whether employees should have flexibility but how to ensure that flexibility is delivered fairly across roles, professions and locations.

For years, hybrid work was framed as a simple choice between remote and office attendance. That framing never captured the deeper shift under way. People do not simply want freedom of location; they want the ability to align work with the cadence of their lives, energy levels, family responsibilities and the natural rhythms of their teams. At its best, flexibility is a system that makes work both more humane and more effective.

Fair Flexibility: The Challenge Beneath The Aspiration

Today’s challenge for HR leaders is not advocating for flexibility but ensuring it does not quietly create inequity. Fair flexibility means transparent schedules, predictable workloads, equitable visibility and coordination that does not depend on informal networks or proximity to the office.

This is where many hybrid models struggle. Teams often face overlapping absences, unclear availability, calendar congestion and uncertainty about who is working where. These frictions are not administrative nuisances; they erode trust, reduce efficiency and can compound inequities, particularly for those who work remotely more often.

Even in New Zealand, where hybrid work has settled into the national working rhythm (with around one third of workers doing some work from home as of mid‑2025), the picture remains uneven. Many employers have expanded flexible hours while restricting remote days, reflecting a broader shift toward time flexibility rather than unlimited location autonomy. The signal is clear: the core of modern flexibility is coordinated scheduling, not desk location.

Why Infrastructure Now Matters More Than Policy

Flexible work succeeds when supported by infrastructure that reflects how people actually operate day to day. Without it, flexibility can feel chaotic or unfair, particularly for employees working across regions or managing care commitments.

Three conceptual pillars now define effective hybrid infrastructure:

Employees and leaders need a consistent, transparent view of who is working where and when, expressed through structured signals rather than ambiguous labels (“working from home”). High performing organisations treat presence information as a shared resource that enables planning, workload distribution and inclusion.

Teams function best when workflows, collaboration tools and scheduling norms connect seamlessly. When availability settings, leave categories, working patterns and regional holidays sit in separate systems, friction accumulates. In New Zealand, with its varied regional holidays, unified scheduling is particularly important to maintain coherence across teams.

Fairness is not a natural outcome of flexibility; it must be intentionally engineered. This means removing biases that favour in‑office visibility, ensuring remote staff are not excluded from conversations and using repeatable structures rather than relying on individual managers to “make it work”. It also means anticipating legal and compliance shifts. For example, new privacy requirements for indirectly collected data, taking effect in 2026 under IPP3A, will require HR platforms and workflows to adapt. [privacy.org.nz]

A More Strategic View Of Hybrid Co-ordination

Rather than treating hybrid work as a balancing act, HR leaders can view it as organisational choreography. Every workplace has its own rhythms (weekly cycles, seasonal demands, project phases) and hybrid infrastructure exists to harmonise those patterns. Workload planning, wellbeing rhythms, collaboration rituals and technology workflows become part of a single organisational tempo.

Forward‑looking organisations are shifting their focus by prioritising:

Cross functional visibility, not compliance-driven check ins

Team level coherence, not unconstrained individual autonomy

Work lifecycle mapping, not ad hoc scheduling

It is now a complex ecosystem that requires deliberate design. As such, HR leaders should look to concentrate on:

Building shared visibility across calendars, leave types and availability signals.

Integrating tools and rhythms so work feels consistent rather than fragmented.

Embedding fairness and compliance into the architecture of hybrid work rather than relying on informal norms.

Preparing for upcoming regulatory shifts, including hours‑based leave reforms and new privacy obligations for indirect data collection.

We outline how transparent pay goes beyond compliance to cut legal risk, improve equity insights, and strengthen culture to help future proof your EVP

Future‑Proofing Through Pay Transparency

As New Zealand moves further into 2026, the conversation around pay transparency and equity has never been more important.

With major reforms to the Equal Pay Act 1972 taking effect in 2025, employers are operating in a new landscape, one where expectations of fairness, clarity, and accountability are rapidly rising. And while global markets accelerate toward mandatory pay‑gap reporting and public salary transparency, New Zealand finds itself at a pivotal moment.

Although pay‑gap reporting is currently required only in the public service, calls continue for the private sector to follow global trends. Transparency is now a strategic driver of trust, engagement, and competitiveness in the labour market.

The business case for transparency is no longer theoretical. Organisations across New Zealand and globally are seeing how openness around pay lays the foundation for a more confident, stable, and productive workforce.

Keeping salaries hidden tends to benefit only the strongest negotiators. Transparent pay practices level the playing field by requiring employers to justify salaries within a clear, consistent framework.

Even when pay‑increase budgets are tight, employees are more likely to accept outcomes when they understand the rationale. Transparency reduces speculation and reinforces confidence that pay decisions follow fair, organisation‑wide logic.

It Strengthens Trust, Morale, And Engagement

Understanding how pay is set and why differences exist, removes the ambiguity that often undermines morale. When employees can see the structure, methodology, and criteria behind pay decisions, trust in leadership grows.

This clarity enhances engagement because people feel seen, valued, and fairly treated. Transparency provides reassurance that pay reflects genuine contributions, not negotiation prowess or hidden biases.

It Strengthens Businesses And Reduces Risk

Transparency is not just an ethical decision; it’s a strategic one. Organisations that embrace clearer pay practices benefit from:

More accurate insights into workforce equity

As global standards shift and employee expectations rise, organisations that adopt transparency early gain a competitive edge, not just in compliance, but in culture, performance, and talent attraction.

It Improves Candidate Attraction And Hiring Efficiency

Today’s candidates expect clarity. Publishing salary ranges signals honesty and maturity, and helps jobseekers quickly assess whether a role aligns with their expectations.

Without this information, candidates often rely on online review platforms, which may paint an incomplete picture. Being upfront allows your organisation to control the narrative, strengthen its EVP, and stand out in a crowded market.

The Strategic Upside: More Than Compliance

While legislative changes often prompt the conversation, the real value of transparency lies in its ability to transform organisations from the inside out.

A More Resilient Workforce
Employees who understand how pay works are more confident and less likely to disengage or leave. This stability is invaluable in a competitive talent environment.

A Signal Of Organisational Maturity
Transparency shows your organisation has nothing to hide. It communicates strong governance, fair systems, and responsible leadership, all qualities that matter to clients, candidates, investors, and employees.

Alignment With Emerging Workforce Expectations
New Zealand workers, particularly younger generations, expect openness. With AI‑driven pay insights and global transparency norms shaping expectations, opacity now looks outdated.

Reduced Friction And Improved Performance
Clarity reduces confusion, resentment, and time spent second‑guessing decisions. This frees leaders and teams to focus on delivering value, not navigating uncertainty.

Many organisations hesitate because they fear transparency means exposing every detail or losing control. In reality, transparency is far more measured.

❌ A guarantee that all employees will be satisfied

Transparency is about clarity - not full disclosure. It means explaining how pay works, not sharing individual pay packets. It means applying criteria consistently, not removing flexibility. It means building fairness into the system, not rushing into a new model overnight.

How New Zealand Employers Can Implement Pay Transparency Thoughtfully

Before sharing any pay information, review your current pay landscape. Identify variances, determine whether they’re justifiable, and prepare clear explanations.

Practical example: A professional services firm found inconsistent pay across locations. They standardised role definitions and corrected gaps before introducing transparency, avoiding conflict and reinforcing trust.

Explain Pay Scales And Decision‑Making Criteria

Transparency works when employees understand the system behind the numbers. Share:

How experience, responsibilities, and performance influence salary

Practical example: A not‑for‑profit introduced visible pay bands with clear timelines for progression. They didn’t share individual salaries, but employees finally understood where they sat and how to grow.

Some employees may still feel underpaid once they see the framework. Competitive benchmarking and targeted retention strategies are crucial.

Practical example: A retail organisation identified high‑impact roles at risk and introduced development pathways and retention bonuses ahead of rolling out transparency.

Consider What Is Right for Small Businesses

Small businesses often face resource constraints. They can still move toward transparency, but at a pace that aligns with their readiness.

Practical example: A small tech startup began by publishing internal pay principles and broad ranges while building a more formal structure over the following year.

Transparency doesn't have to be overwhelming. With the right approach, it becomes a catalyst for stronger culture, better performance, and long‑term competitive advantage.

Audit Your Pay Practices
Review gender, tenure, and role‑based differences. Address gaps early to avoid issues later.

Equip Your Leaders
Managers will field the toughest questions. Give them tools to communicate confidently and empathetically.

Build Transparency Into Your Culture
Start small - clear pay bands, visible progression pathways, and defined, consistent criteria. Even incremental transparency builds enormous trust.

Update Employment Agreements and Policies
Ensure confidentiality clauses and pay‑related policies align with emerging expectations and the post‑2025 legal landscape.

Communicate Clearly and Often
Explain why changes are being made, what employees can expect, and how your organisation is committing to fair, evidence‑based pay practices.

As NZ’s burnout crisis grows, we delve into smarter work design, stronger leadership, and cutting digital overload to protect performance

The Wellbeing Reset: Why Performance Now Depends On Protecting Human Capacity

Wellbeing is no longer a perk. It’s no longer an EAP, a yoga class, or a poster telling people to “speak up.” In 2026, wellbeing is a performance system.

As AI accelerates and economic pressure intensifies, the organisations that win will be the ones that protect human capacity as fiercely as they innovate.

NZ data reveals a workforce under significant strain, but it also signals a clear opening for organisations to reimagine the conditions that help people perform at their best. Below, we unpack the shifts reshaping work and why wellbeing now underpins organisational resilience and long‑term competitiveness.

Burnout is now a structural issue - not an individual one

Burnout in NZ has moved from a concern to a crisis. 63% of NZ employees reported feeling somewhat or extremely burnt out in 2025¹. This is an extraordinary figure that far outpaces global averages. Daily experiences of stress (41%) and anxiety (37%)¹ underscore that employees are not just struggling periodically... they are functioning in sustained overload.

The depth of burnout reveals that traditional “self-care” solutions are no longer fit for purpose. Workload expectations, organisational pace, restructuring, and digital overload are all creating conditions where individuals cannot simply bounce back without system-level change.

Mental health challenges are now direct productivity risks

Wellbeing concerns are not just personal, they’re directly affecting productivity. More than one-third of NZ workers remain at high mental health risk, even as organisations increase their wellbeing offerings². 33% say their mental health negatively impacts their productivity at work² - a direct cost to organisational performance.

Younger workers, including Gen Z and Millennials, report the highest psychological strain. This highlights not only generational differences in expectations but also that younger talent will choose employers who prioritise psychological safety, transparent communication, and meaningful support.

Our people

Understanding people, building connections, and nurturing strong networks isn’t just what we do - it’s who we are. We know the power of the right person in the right place because we’ve built our own team that way.

Dave Rees

Managing Partner

Erin Kirk

Partner - Sales & Marketing

Michelle Elsley

Partner - Supply Chain & Operations

Jenny Parker

Partner - Compliance, Risk, Legal & Actuarial

Claire Ellis

Partner - Finance & Accounting

Claire Gibson

Partner - Technology, Transformation & Change

Amelia Nelson

Associate Partner - Financial Services & Insurance

Suzie Thumath

Partner - Research & Sourcing

Liz Collings

Marketing, Communications & Project Support