Hybrid models and four-day weeks can boost productivity and morale – Editorial
KEY FACTS
- The pandemic led to new work norms like hybrid and four-day work weeks.
- A Telus Health survey found 63% of workers felt burned out, highlighting the need for flexibility.
- Adopting flexible work models can boost wellbeing, productivity and help retain talent.
A New Year’s resolution New Zealand should get behind is catching up to the changes in the world of work.
The pandemic rewrote the rulebook which helped lead to businesses worldwide embracing greater flexibility. New norms have emerged, such as hybrid working and four-day work weeks.
And while the country’s workplaces are making steps to embrace this new world, we need to be making strides.
Without change, burnout will rise and talent will leave for greener pastures.
Burnout is a real risk among Kiwi workers. A Telus Health survey of more than 1000 New Zealand workers in the June 2025 quarter found 63% felt somewhat or extremely burned out, while 41% reported feeling constant stress.
The issue of greater workplace flexibility is not strictly whether New Zealand businesses are offering such arrangements – we know they are.
Hybrid working has gained real traction in New Zealand. According to Datacom’s third annual Business Outlook Survey, 55% of the 200 senior managers polled said a hybrid work model best described their company’s way of working. Furthermore, a Stats NZ June 2025 report showed 34% of workers engaged in home-based work regularly, and about 42% of public service employees work from home at least one day a week.
While hybrid work is more mainstream, the four-day work week is slower to get off the ground in this country. However, some businesses have cottoned on to the fact that offering the 9-to-5 variation is a major drawcard when it comes to motivating people to apply for roles.
Instead, what needs updating are the attitudes to flexible working. The divide was best illustrated by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon in 2024 when he sparked a debate about the country’s work arrangements after ordering public servants back to office. He emphasised that working from home was not an entitlement but a privilege needing employer consent.
Despite political headwinds urging more in-office days, the evidence supports hybrid models and four-day work weeks as boosting wellbeing and output.
New Zealand businessman Andrew Barnes pioneered the four-day work week with no loss of pay at financial trust Perpetual Guardian. He saw improved productivity in the workplace.
Despite paving the way, Barnes didn’t promote legislating a four-day week.
“There is this dynamic balance that we argue for – the 100-80-100 rule. 100% pay, 80% time, 100% productivity. If it becomes a right without the obligation, then something will suffer,” he said.
But he was in favour of changing legislation so it was easier for businesses to implement.
Unilever NZ took the plunge and trialled a four-day work week. The global consumer goods company reported a 34% drop in absenteeism, a 33% reduction in stress and 67% lower work‑life conflict.
Hybrid models are shown to have the same positive results – improved productivity, engagement and employee wellbeing. Yet critics caution the working model can hinder collaboration or generate inequality between remote staff and those in the office.
New Zealand needs to move past the old ways and bolster morale and productivity plus retain talent by adopting workplace flexibilities – rather than resisting them.