National Survey of Employers

About the survey

The survey monitors employer practices and views on:

• workplace relations and employment standards
• health and safety
• employing recent migrants.

The results provide an evidence base for developing and evaluating policies and programmes.

Some questions in the survey remain consistent from year to year, or are asked every few years, so that we can monitor changes over time in workplace practices. We add new questions to address our current and future-focused work priorities.

Survey topics

To date the survey has included questions on a range of topics including:

• Job vacancies and skill needs
• Trial periods and employment agreements
• Parental leave and flexible working arrangements
• Employment relationship problems and disputes
• Pay equity and equal pay
  
• Minimum wages and the impact of minimum wage increases
• Relationships with unions
• Managing drug and alcohol related issues
• Health and safety leadership, systems and practices
• Employers’ perspectives on workplace health and safety
• Employing migrants, and migrant staff performance and retention
• Difficulties with employing migrants and impacts on the business.

National survey of employers 2018-19

The 2018-2019 NSE was conducted between January and May 2019 and 2,285 New Zealand employers responded to the survey.

National survey of employers 2017-18

The 2017-2018 NSE was conducted between November 2017 and April 2018 and 2,359 New Zealand employers responded to the survey.

National survey of employers 2016-17

The 2016-17 NSE was conducted between November 2016 and May 2017 and 1,878 New Zealand employers responded to the survey.

Snapshot of key trends [PDF, 709 KB]

Summary findings [PDF, 2.2 MB]

Appendix to summary findings: methodology and tables [PDF, 5.9 MB]

National survey of employers 2015-16

The 2015-16 NSE was conducted between September 2015 and March 2016 and 1,528 New Zealand employers responded to the survey.

Snapshot of key trends [PDF, 1.2 MB]

Summary findings [PDF, 2.5 MB]

Appendix to summary findings: methodology and tables [PDF, 4.9 MB]

Note: Revised versions of the Snapshot, Summary Report and Appendix documents were published in May 2018 (see below), due to errors identified in the coding of “other specify” responses in the original data.