A recent Employment Hero survey of 500 New Zealand workers, titled Employment Uncovered, found 41% are actively or passively job-seeking.<\/p>\n
Yet 62% avoid applying for roles because the hiring process is too frustrating.<\/p>\n
The most common barriers included vague or confusing job ads, unrealistic skill requirements, slow or inconsistent communication and no salary benchmarks.<\/p>\n
62% of Kiwi workers avoid applying for roles because the hiring process is too frustrating, according to an Employment Hero survey. Photo \/ 123rf<\/p>\n
Flexibility will expand beyond location<\/p>\n
Webster said businesses that rethink hours, scheduling, part-time pathways and alternate models will win access to wider talent pools.<\/p>\n
New Zealanders are increasingly rejecting traditional 40-hour, fixed-location employment, with 73% saying they would prefer to work \u201con-demand\u201d, according to Employment Hero\u2019s Employment Uncovered survey.<\/p>\n
That figure rises to 80% among workers aged 18-34.<\/p>\n
Webster said people want work that aligns with their life, not the other way around.<\/p>\n
He said job design will become a competitive advantage for employers.<\/p>\n
\u201cFlexibility is no longer a benefit. In 2026, it will be a baseline expectation.\u201d<\/p>\n
A survey from consulting firm Robert Half earlier this year found 39% of Kiwi workers had flexible work arrangements (including the ability to leave early or start late and compressed hours) as a work perk.<\/p>\n
It was also the second-equal most important perk Kiwis wanted to ask their employers for, behind an agreed bonus.<\/p>\n
AI capability will determine which businesses accelerate<\/p>\n
Despite more workers experimenting with AI tools in everyday life, the Employment Uncovered survey found only 47% of employers encourage staff to use AI at work.<\/p>\n
Webster said the New Zealand businesses that win will be those that empower staff to use AI, not fear it.<\/p>\n
\u201cAI will remove repetitive admin, streamline hiring and free teams to focus on high-value work, but only if capability grows alongside technology,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAI is not replacing people. It\u2019s removing the admin burden that stops businesses from growing. When you combine smart tools with human capability, everything improves \u2013 speed, fairness and access to talent.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the organisations that invest in AI literacy, smarter processes and people-centred technology will move faster and operate leaner in 2026.<\/p>\n
With the new year approaching, Webster said 2026 will be the year New Zealand \u201cmodernises\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cEmployers who embrace this shift early will have an undeniable advantage.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cameron Smith is an Auckland-based business reporter. He joined the Herald in 2015 and has covered business and sports. He reports on topics such as retail, small business, the workplace and macroeconomics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A recent Employment Hero survey of 500 New Zealand workers, titled Employment Uncovered, found 41% are actively or…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":207422,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[2246,365,9526,665,138,126561,219,58276,2082,71,106,10938,28162,296,232,120,663,225,111,139,69,29432,34751,12425,30248,1120,61,11418,6923,17708,379],"class_list":["post-207421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-2246","tag-ai","tag-another","tag-around","tag-business","tag-capability","tag-economy","tag-emerge","tag-for","tag-from","tag-head","tag-herald","tag-hold","tag-into","tag-jobs","tag-likely","tag-looks","tag-market","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-optimism","tag-parttime","tag-pathways","tag-renewed","tag-takes","tag-to","tag-trends","tag-what","tag-workplace","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=207421"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207421\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/207422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=207421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=207421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=207421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}