Key questions
- What impact have these new leave entitlements/costs had on:
- Prices/inflation?
- Productivity/NZ economy?
- Mental health of employees?
- Mental health of employers?
- Is it fair to make employers pay for domestic violence leave?
- Overall, what is the optimal leave entitlement/cost system?
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Have your say
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Full data
Please contact us if you would like the full analysis data files.
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Notes
- All publicly available data has been included.
- We chose to start at the year 2000 because:
- It is a natural historic milestone.
- It allows us to cover two decades of changes.
- It was hard to find data and Holiday Act versions before this date.
- Annual leave increased from 3 weeks to 4 weeks in 2007.
- Statutory/public holidays have had three major changes since 2000:
- Waitangi Day and ANZAC day were Mondayised in 2013. Before this, there could be 9, 10, or 11 public holidays in a year.
- Matariki was introduced as a new statutory public holiday in 2022.
- The one-off statutory public holiday for Queen Elizabeth II Memorial Day was also introduced in 2022.
- Sick leave entitlements doubled in 2021 from 1 to 2 weeks (5 to 10 days).
- Bereavement leave varies from 1-3 days depending on the relationship level.
- Miscarriage leave was incorporated into bereavement leave in 2021.
- Domestic violence leave was added in 2019 with the cost burden being placed on the employer rather than all taxpayers.
- Sick leave, bereavement leave, and domestic violence leave entitlements are all available after employees have worked for 6 months.
- See https://www.business.govt.nz/hiring-and-managing/handling-holidays-and-leave/introduction-to-holidays-and-leave/ for more information.
- See https://www.mbie.govt.nz/business-and-employment/employment-and-skills/employment-legislation-reviews/holidays-act-review/ for the Holidays Act Review and proposed new changes.
- We have not included:
- 26 weeks paid parental/maternity leave since this is taxpayer-funded and not employer-funded.
- Kiwisaver contributions. It is an additional cost for employers, and benefit for employees, but is not a form of leave.
- Minimum wage increases.
- All numbers are provisional and subject to revision.
Thank you to the Factors who helped pull this together.
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Sources
- 2007-2020 leave entitlement changes https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/opinion-analysis/300136244/heres-why-its-getting-harder-to-employ-new-zealanders
- 2000-2021 statutory/public holidays https://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/new-zealand/2000?hol=1
- 2022 current leave entitlements https://www.business.govt.nz/hiring-and-managing/handling-holidays-and-leave/introduction-to-holidays-and-leave/
- 2021 miscarriage, stillbirth leave announcement https://www.employment.govt.nz/about/news-and-updates/bereavement-leave-to-cover-miscarriage-stillbirth/
- 2007 4-weeks annual leave announcement https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/four-weeks-annual-leave-starts-1-april
- 2007 version of the Holidays Act 2003 which we used to check for changes in annual, sick, or bereavement leave https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2003/0129/6.0/DLM237174.html?search=sw_096be8ed8016b58a_bereavement_25_se&p=1
Licensed for use under the creative commons attribution licence (BY) 4.0
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