Kiwi workers keen to move to fresh fields
New Zealand workers have new-found confidence and are ready to move jobs as Covid-19 worries within our borders diminish. Melanie Carroll reports.
WITH the coronavirus lockdowns now amemory, New Zealanders are getting ready to hit the job market this year.
The number of adults looking to change their jobs this year has risen to 11 per cent from 7 per cent in August, according to Horizon Research.
More people also think it will be easy to change jobs, perhaps reflecting confidence in New Zealand’s economic prospects, Horizon Research principal Graeme Colman said.
‘‘The Covid brakes seem to be easing and, barring another lockdown or community transmission outbreak, there are a lot more people on the move,’’ Colman said. ‘‘Thatmeans employers will perhaps need to compete more for some groups.’’
In labour-starved areas such as agriculture and labouring, nearly one in five intended to change jobs, with a similar result for senior business decision-makers, including selfemployed business people.
Employers had to consider what employees needed if they wanted to keep them: ‘‘There’s a lot fewer people locked in. There could be implications for some employment practices in horticulture, if you want to keep New Zealand adults on the job.
‘‘They’ll need to understand if they’re competitive in terms of pay conditions, working conditions.’’
In contrast, the number who expected to lose their jobs was the same as the August survey.
‘‘It’s sitting at about 7 per cent, which seems to align with other forecasts ... so it looks like we’ve still got a Covid-related economic employment impact happening but some people are feeling less constrained by that, and they’re prepared to get up and move.’’
The employees keenest for a changewere in Nelson, Marlborough, and Tasman, areas dominated by agriculture.
Despite the wide spread of Covid-19 outside of New Zealand, 1 per cent of adults (or 68,400 people), planned to go overseas to work during the next year, 32,400 of them temporarily.
Tasman Bay Herbs at
Riwaka, near Nelson, normally had very low staff turnover but three people had resigned already this year.
‘‘A lot of ourworkers have been with us for many years. They’re older in age, which makes a big difference,’’ administration and HR manager Sam Braithwaite said.
Last year the company had hired some younger peoplewho were planning to work for a year to save up for travel or study, but Covid-19 meant they had stayed on. ‘‘This year already, we’ve had three resign. That’s been because they now realise life has changed, they can’t travel any more overseas, so they’ve decided to study now and start their careers.
‘‘It’s very unusual, such high staff turnover. I can understand, they can’t go to America.’’
Another factor may have been that the business was for sale, she said.
On the plus side, job adverts had attracted a lot of applicants as recent hail damage meant a lot of local orchards were letting workers go.
Tasman Bay Herbs is relatively small compared with other growers in the region, but had never struggled for workers, Braithwaite said. ‘‘As far as minimum-wage or near minimum-wage jobs go ... it’s pretty zen compared to working in an orchard or fish factory.’’
Trade Me head of jobs Jeremy Wade said it was quite common for people to assess their position during the holiday break and decide they’d like to change jobs, but generally a smaller percentage actually moved.
‘‘In some sectors where there has been more uncertainty from
Covid, there’ll be some folk who have hunkered down in 2020 and not considered a change of jobs due to potentially moving to more uncertainty elsewhere. ‘‘So there’s likely a bit of pent up desire for change,’’ Wade said.
One exceptionwas IT, which had done well during the pandemic.
As a result of Covid-19, many people had reassessed their priorities and were looking for remote working opportunities, or just reconsidering their worklife balance having experienced a different way of life during lockdown.
In some industries, employee confidence would be stronger, but it would be patchy across the board, he said. ‘‘While the economy and unemployment are far better than any of us expected, there will still be sectors like tourism and hospitality where there will be oscillating confidence.
‘‘It would only take another lockdown to substantially increase uncertainty in such sectors,’’ Wade said.
‘‘There is good reason for some to be confident. With it being difficult for employers to access backpackers or bring in immigrant workers, for some there are more opportunities than has traditionally been the case. Albeit a lot of these are seasonal roles.’’
Horizon’s national survey last month, of 1595 adults aged over 18, had amargin of error of plus or minus 2.5 per cent.