New Zealand employees remained optimistic around career growth opportunities throughout the COVID-19 crisis, according to new research from Peakon.

The employee platform reports that employee engagement significantly improved during the height of the pandemic in New Zealand, rising by 5.6%. That's nearly triple the global average increase of 2%. As a result, Kiwi employers will likely be reaping the rewards of increased productivity, motivation, and loyalty, it says.

Professional growth is one of the cornerstones of keeping employees engaged and motivated. The findings show that despite the global pandemic, New Zealand employers have been able to sustain sentiment around career opportunities. In comparison to the rest of the world, where feedback scores relating to growth declined by 0.5%, Kiwi scores rose 1.5%.

"The rise in employee engagement shows New Zealand workplaces using Peakon have listened to their workers and acted decisively during COVID-19 to ensure their employees are supported on critical workplace indicators that matter," says Luke Amundson, Peakon APAC director.

"Peakon's research shows that when employees feel heard, supported and feel as though they have enough opportunities to learn and develop at work, they are empowered and motivated to help drive business forward," he says.

"Kiwi companies will reap the benefits of this now and into the future."

Additionally, Kiwi employees felt as though their mental wellbeing was being better looked after by their employers during the pandemic, the research says. Scores relating to Peakon's mental health question increased by a significant 8% between January and July.

Working environment scores rose by 7.3% in New Zealand, above the global average of 6%, highlighting how the reimagining of the physical workplace has had a positive impact on Kiwi employees.

This month, Peakon surpassed a milestone of 100 million employee survey responses, as it continues to grow the largest standardised dataset of employee feedback worldwide. The employee success platform analysed 10 million employee survey responses to reveal how the pandemic has transformed employee sentiment towards remote work, wellbeing, and growth worldwide.  

"It is evident once again that, when it comes to business leadership, knowledge is power," says Amundson.

"Real-time insights such as those garnered from our employee surveys have been crucial throughout the crisis and will continue to be as organisations move into the next phase of workplace transformation.

"The key for understanding what to do next is listening intelligently to your employees experiences and using the insights to act and drive positive change," he says.

"As we have seen in this report, when employees feel heard and supported, they are empowered and motivated to help drive your business forward."