News

• 90 percent of all organisations surveyed proactively endorse staying at home if unwell
• The average rate of absence per employee by days is up to 6.7 in 20241  vs. 5.5 in 2022
• The annual median cost of absence for a typical employee is $1,319 in 2024 vs. $1,235 in 2022
• Despite the recent economic downturn businesses have not lessened their emphasis on workplace wellness

Southern Cross Health Insurance and BusinessNZ have released their seventh edition of the Workplace Wellness study, canvassing 111 entities across the private and public sectors employing a total of 173,982 people, including 163,030 permanent staff.

The findings reveal a consistent effort from organisations of all types to focus on employee health and wellbeing, however this does come at a cost, and sharpens decision-makers’ thinking about how to get the balance right.

Southern Cross Health Insurance CEO Nick Astwick says, “the Workplace Wellness report shows emphatically that organisations are supporting their people to be well, with a definite increase in absence due to people actively using expanded sick leave entitlements to get better, and to be there for their whānau.

“Perhaps this is a more accurate reflection of the time people need to recover from illness, and to look after dependents who may be sick. Caring for a family member or other dependent due to illness or injury is the second highest driver of absence, and while the health of whānau is not something employers can control, providing employees with access to good healthcare and ways to model and maintain wellbeing is simple.

“If employees are encouraged to take the right measures to be healthy they can get back on track more rapidly and continue to make a sustained contribution for longer. This can help drive the considerable costs of absence down.

“With the annual median cost of absence per employee up to $1,319 in 2024 from $1,235 in 2022, and the related New Zealand economic burden of $4.17 billion, undeniably it’s in everyone’s best interests to support our people and their families to be well.”

The kinds of wellbeing support valued by employees include Employee Assistance Programmes followed by vaccinations, flexibility around working from home where possible, education and training and parental leave.

Astwick says, “From personal experience leading a business with more than 600 employees, I absolutely get this. Our wellbeing programme fosters open conversations about health and provides practical tools that empower our teams to thrive. We’re constantly looking at enhancing our wellbeing culture to align closely with our strategy of being a proactive and supportive health partner for our people.”

Katherine Rich, CEO BusinessNZ says of the results, “the stand outs from this year’s findings include higher costs of absence and higher levels of sick leave taken, reflecting policy changes and economic conditions. This will no doubt cause a degree of consternation among some quarters, however this is our landscape now, and organisations need to put measures in place to help keep their people well, in a bid to keep rates of absence and its associated cost down.

“Of note, the report also shows remote working or working from home for one or two days per week has become standard work practice, although some workplaces are now reconsidering this due to current economic conditions.

“However, I believe the survey’s most important finding is that New Zealand employers are serious about workplace wellness and continue to place greater emphasis on workplace wellness in their daily operations.”

This year the survey included questions about what organisations are doing to support New Zealanders who have a disability.

Astwick says, “most enterprises surveyed do not have specific policies in place, although larger enterprises are more likely to than smaller ones. There is clearly more work to be done across the board. We have an ageing population which is likely to experience more issues with eyesight, hearing, mental health and physical limitations. As leaders we must put measures in place to address this.”

Rich concludes by saying, “business is the engine-room of our economy – and success will come from improved business productivity. It stands to reason if organisations put a sound approach to wellbeing in place for their people, we can enhance productivity, reduce the financial impact and improve our collective economic success.”

Workplace Wellness 2025 report highlights

Absence rates

• A key sick leave entitlement change to 10 days per annum, introduced in 2021, appears to be having an obvious effect on absence rates
• The average rate of employee absence of organisations surveyed in 2024 was the highest ever at 6.7 days per employee. This compares with a range in sickness entitlement of 4.2 to 5.5 days for 2012-2022
• The average number of days off for sickness for manual workers (7.5 days) and non-manual workers (5.9 days) was the highest recorded for the survey
• When the survey results are projected across the entire New Zealand workforce, the increase in the average days lost per employee and the ongoing lift in the total number of employers combined, meant the total number of days lost due to absence in 2024 was close to 13 million working days. This was significantly up from 10 million in 2022 and 7.3 million in 2020
• Staff turnover in 2024 was the lowest recorded over the history of the survey, with around 75% of businesses considering their turnover levels comfortable. This likely reflects wider adverse economic conditions and reduced hiring activity.

Costs, drivers and factors around absence

• The cost to an employer for a typical employee’s absence now stands at $1,319 in 2024, up from $1,235 in 2022
• The direct costs of absence amounted to $4.17 billion across the economy in 2024, up from $2.86 billion in 2022 and $1.85 billion in 2020. This was symptomatic of increased absence rates and rising costs of labour
• Non-work-related illness remains the most common cause of absence in organisations surveyed, with the top five causes remaining in place. However, others such as paid sickness absence days seen as an entitlement by those suspected to not actually be sick, continues to climb up the rankings
• The post COVID-19 landscape continues to see further entrenchment of the notion of employees staying at home when sick. This again corresponds with businesses clearly encouraging their staff to stay home when they are ill
• Overall, employers surveyed generally value staff staying home when sick, and most employees follow this. However, remote work has blurred the line between working while slightly unwell and taking a proper sick day to rest and recover.

Working from home

• Working from home is now a standard component of the working landscape in organisations surveyed, with most larger enterprises being in a position to offer it for their staff
• One to two days per week is increasingly becoming the standard for working from home across all enterprises surveyed. However, small businesses reported a net increase in remote work days from 2022, while larger businesses saw a net decrease
• Close to four out of five respondents believed working from home improved employee satisfaction and retention, while half believed it provided access to a wider pool talent and enhanced flexibility in operations
• In terms of concerns, around two-thirds of enterprises surveyed believed it reduced team collaboration and half saw a loss of organisational culture
• Despite worsening economic and labour market conditions, this did not have a significant negative impact on flexible working arrangements.

Stress, fatigue and mental health in the workplace

• The 2024 results saw enterprises record their lowest general stress / anxiety levels among their staff since 2014. However, the result was still on the side of high stress / anxiety levels
• Stress in larger enterprises surveyed was more prominent but continuing to fall back from 2020 highs. However, those with fewer than 50 staff saw a sizeable drop in stress / anxiety levels
• Workload remains the leading cause of stress / anxiety reported by all enterprises surveyed, with relatively similar results to previous years. The next three most prevalent causes of stress also ranked in the same order between small and large-sized enterprises
• The proportion of smaller enterprises surveyed that did not have any practices in place to identify mental wellbeing / stress is now at its lowest level since the survey began
• In terms of approaches to support mental wellbeing of staff, almost all small enterprises surveyed have at least one approach to support the mental wellbeing of their staff.

Relationships and communication with staff

• Despite the recent economic downturn and resulting job layoffs, employers surveyed are not taking their eye off the wellness ball. The vast majority of businesses have not lessened their emphasis on workplace wellness
• While Employee Assistance Programmes and vaccinations were ranked first and second respectively as benefits to improve wellbeing for larger enterprises, the greatest focus by smaller enterprises was on flexible hours / working at home
• Most enterprises surveyed did not have specific policies in place to support disabled workers, although larger enterprises were more likely to than smaller ones. When it came to infrastructure to support disabled workers, smaller enterprises were even less likely to have such measures in place
• Larger enterprises surveyed are more likely to offer some form of health insurance for their staff, whereas smaller enterprises generally do not and have no plans to do so. A reduction in health insurance costs is the key factor that would prompt more organisations to consider providing it.

About the report

The Southern Cross Health Insurance – BusinessNZ Workplace Wellness report provides a snapshot of the current state of workplace health and wellbeing in New Zealand. The findings assist employers in several ways, including benchmarking wellness performance, identifying opportunities to better support employees, boosting productivity, and enhancing overall staff wellbeing.

The research for this report was conducted between March and July 2025 using data from 1 January to 31 December 2024. In total, 111 responses were received from entities across the private and public sectors. The respondent entities for 2025 employed a total of 173,982 people, including 163,030 permanent staff. The 2025 sample represented 7.93 percent of all employees in New Zealand, up on the 6.57 percent represented in 2023. As such, we believe it represents the largest number of employees for any such survey in New Zealand.

^[1] The 2025 report features data from the 2024 calendar year