Sourced Report | IT & Technology | March 2021

How has COVID-19 affected IT in NZ?

Key Findings:

1. Just under a quarter of Christchurch respondents and nearly half of Auckland respondents said they were previously happy in their work, but since the pandemic have become unhappy.
2. Slightly more Aucklanders are still on reduced pay or were made redundant because of COVID-19.
3. Not only did most Kiwis work from home due to the pandemic, but a clear majority enjoyed the experience.

For 63% of Christchurch workers, COVID-19 still hasn’t changed their opinion about their job. On top of that, most (56%) have had no changes to their working life due to the continued pandemic, a similar result to our prior report, and 23% have lost a sense of happiness in their role. Auckland fared a little worse, with 46% saying they were previously happy in their job but now arent, leaving just a third to say their attitude hasn’t changed. More Aucklanders (24%) than Christchurch workers (16%) saw changes occur in their role because of COVID-19 which have since returned to normal, and more Aucklanders are still on reduced

pay (2% more) and were made redundant (4% more).

Key Findings:

1. More respondents indicated they were unemployed this year than last – rising from 5.5% of IT workers to 22%.
2. The length of time for which people have been unemployed also increased; 61% have been out of work for more than four months.
3. Workers in small companies were nearly 20 percentage points more likely to say that their salary is too low than those in large companies.

Employment has only gotten worse for some IT workers. We saw an increase in the number of people saying they are

unemployed (5.5% to 22%), which could be a sign of a turbulent employment market, or simply an increase in responses generally from this category of people. Plus, those who have been unemployed for longer than four months increased from 54.5% to 61%, in addition to 14% who have been unemployed for one to four months. In Christchurch, most respondents felt their struggle was due to their being overqualified for the available roles (33%), whereas in Auckland most felt it was because they did not have

enough experience (47.5%). Visa issues, an oversaturated market and perceived ‘ageism’ were also key trends.

Salary has gained a bit more importance since our September report mostly in Auckland. We asked respondents to rank the importance of salary in their choosing to stay or leave a job on a scale of one to five, with one meaning ‘Very Important’ and five meaning ‘Not Very Important’. Last year, 32.5% of Christchurch workers said it was two out of five, and an almost identical amount said

 the same this year. However in Auckland, September’s majority (29.5%) said three out of five, while this report most respondents answered two out of five (29.5%). Results were similar when comparing respondents from small or large enterprises (both ranking two out of five), although those in the latter group felt more strongly.

But do these salaries meet people’s expectations? While the majority of IT workers said yes, their salary is fair, those in small companies were nearly 20 percentage points more likely to say that it wasn’t fair than was. 37.5% say their salary is lower than expected, compared to 23.5% of those larger organisations.

Recruitment Trends in the ‘The New Normal’

Key Findings:

1. Hiring activity is bouncing back, with most recruiters hiring one to five employees in the past six months.
2. 75% of recruiters intend to hire more staff in the coming six months.
3. Recruitment agencies coupled with external promotion contributed to the most hiring success.

As we proceed into 2021 full steam ahead, it looks like hiring activity is once again picking up. Back in March 2020, 85% of recruiters said they had hired one to two employees in the six months prior. Then in September, right after the second lockdown, that had dropped to 36%. Now, hiring activity is returning to normal – a third of recruiters hired three to five employees in the past six months while another quarter hired one to two.

Hiring is getting easier again, too. Looking at September 2020, only 44.5% of recruiters had found success hiring three or more candidates, which itself was down from 60% the

 report prior. Now in March 2021, that’s bumped to 73%, potentially a result of strong supply due to high unemployment levels. Even better, three quarters of respondents plan to hire even more staff in the coming six months, showing that this recruitment fervor can be expected to continue.

So where is this success coming from? Most successful recruiters (73%) are using a recruitment agency coupled with advertising and external promotion. This is followed by just over half who are using their professional networks to source right-fit candidates, and finally just over a third who are promoting people from within.