Photo: RNZ
Nearly 20 percent of employed adults in New Zealand work mostly from home, according to the latest census - up nearly 60 percent on results from 2018.
Wellington and Auckland had the biggest increase in remote workers, both regions more than doubling.
The data was made public by Statistics New Zealand this month, just a week after Public Service Minister Nicola Willis directed ministry bosses to tighten up on working from home.
"Updated guidance for the public service will make clear that working from home is not an entitlement and must be agreed and monitored," she said in a statement.
Struggling business owners in the capital and Auckland CBD have blamed the post-pandemic increase in remote work for reduced foot traffic and revenue.
The data
Since 2013, the census has asked people: "In [your main job], did you mostly work at home... or work away from home?"
In 2023, 17.7 percent of employed, adult (aged 15 and older) respondents worked mostly from home - up from 11.9 percent in 2018 and 8.5 percent in 2013.
In the Wellington region 19 percent worked mostly from home in 2023, up from 9 percent in 2018 and 6.4 in 2013.
The Auckland region had similar numbers: 18.2 percent in 2023, 8.7 in 2018 and 7.1 in 2013.
Overall, the Tasman region had the highest proportion of people working from home in 2023 (20.8 percent), followed by Northland (20.7 percent) and the West Coast (19.3 percent).
Post-pandemic working habits
The Covid-19 pandemic accelerated existing trends in remote work.
When the country went into lockdown in March, 2020, only "essential workers" were allowed to travel to work. Others were told to work from home, if possible.
More than 40 percent of employed people did at least some of their work from home during Covid lockdowns in 2020, according to Stats NZ.
In November 2021 businesses were open as usual, although there were limits on gatherings and working from home was encouraged. An Auckland University of Technology study showed nearly half (48 percent) of workers at this time were "hybrid working", with most spending half their working hours in the office and half at home. Just under 15 percent were working from home full-time, and 39 percent were in the office full-time.
A 2022 New Zealand Institute of Economic Research report for ASB found nearly half of workers had a choice about working from home, outside of pandemic restrictions.
Back to the office
Trade Me allows employers to categorise jobs as "working from home". These have always been a small proportion of listings (less than 2 percent), a spokesperson told RNZ. But the number of remote roles on the site decreased 30 percent in the July-to-September quarter, compared to the same time last year.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon told Morning Report a range of studies had shown better productivity and professional development in the office.
"Covid measures were special; four years down the road, it's quite hard to maintain the culture."
Improvements in foot traffic for businesses were a secondary benefit.
In a statement, Willis said: "Many good employers have been taking active steps to ensure their working from home policies are fit for purpose. It's time the Government did the same."
Meanwhile, major companies internationally have been requiring employees to return to the office.
In September, accounting firm KPMG found 79 percent of surveyed CEOs in the United States want their office workers back in the office full-time in the next three years.
The same month, Amazon announced its more than 350,000 corporate employees must return to the office five days a week from January. (Since May, 2023, corporate employees have been allowed to work from home two days a week by default.)
American multinational finance companies JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs have also mandated a return to the office.
Even Zoom has rolled back its flexible working policy. In 2022, the video communications company said less than 2 percent of its employees were in the office full-time. But last year, it asked them to return to the office at least two days a week.
What does the research say?
Research is mixed on whether remote work boosts productivity and wellbeing. But plenty of it suggests hybrid policies pan out well for employers and employees.
"The controversies and disagreements surrounding the productivity effects of work from home reflect the complex nature of the issue," as one overview put it. "There is no sound reason to expect the productivity effects of remote work to be uniform across jobs, workers, managers, and organisations."
It was known people who work from home are more likely to be well-educated and highly paid, and employed in professional, executive, or skilled occupations.
A New York Times report on United States government data said working from home was, for the most part, "a luxury for the highly educated".
According to Stats NZ, while women were only slightly more likely than men to have experienced working from home, women were 10 times as likely to say that arrangement was motivated by a need to coordinate work with family and personal needs.
An NZIER report described workplace flexibility as a "double-edged sword', blurring the boundaries between work and home life. Although men and women described an overall positive experience of working from home during Covid lockdowns, women were more likely to report that they did most or all the childcare and home-schooling.
"With women still taking on responsibility for the bulk of domestic chores, the risk is that the current trend will disadvantage women both at work and in the home."
The 2024 nib Insurance and the Employers and Manufacturers Association's workplace wellbeing survey showed hybrid work and flexible hours were an "expected and welcome part of working life for most employees".
More than 80 percent of employees said flexible hours were important when considering whether to change jobs, and 76 percent said remote working was important.