Being “always on” is taking a toll on Kiwi employees

To understand employee feelings on a deeper level, let’s look at recent data from ELMO’s Employee Sentiment Index (ESI) for April to June 2025.

Our survey of over 500 New Zealand employees found that:

• 65% have responded to work messages outside of hours just to appear committed or avoid judgement
• 24% have experienced negative consequences for not responding, from employers questioning their commitment to being overlooked for promotions
• 38% don’t feel comfortable ignoring out-of-hours contact, rising to 44% for women

These aren’t just numbers. They speak to genuine pressure felt by real employees, issues in workplace culture and a costly oversight for businesses hoping to retain and energise their people.

Burnout is a serious and calculable issue

Nearly half of employees (48%) say they’ve felt burnt out in the past three months. To add to this, 21% took a mental health day, both strong indicators that this is a very real phenomenon that needs to be addressed by HR leaders and businesses at large.

The problem of presenteeism

But this isn’t just about self-reported burnout or the pressures of after-hours connection, it’s also what’s known as ‘presenteeism’. For example, 43% of employees reported working while feeling unwell. This persistent drive to be visible, even in the face of ill health, shows us that many still equate value with availability.

Burned out or unwell employees who show up deliver their last reserves, not their best work.

When financial stress keeps people “always on”

The pressure to stay connected after hours isn’t just about culture,  it’s also financial. We can see these stressors in the following ESI findings:

• 52% of employees say their income doesn’t meet their financial needs
• 14% feel they’re earning nowhere near enough
• Only 22% feel economically secure
• 47% believe they must work harder or longer to keep their jobs safe

In this kind of economic environment, ignoring after-hours contact can feel risky. No surprise, then, that almost two-thirds of employees admit they respond just to ‘look committed’, and one in four have faced actual consequences for not replying — including being accused of a lack of commitment, being passed over for a promotion and even having salary or performance reviews affected.

What may look like dedication could very well just be survival mode. Addressing all financial concerns may be out of your hands, but looking at your overall culture around wellbeing and disconnection — and putting strategies and useful tools in place to manage it better — is possible.

Burnout isn’t merely a ‘vibe’, it’s a business risk

When perpetual contactability, burnout and presenteeism are the norm, you’re probably not getting focused, productive work from your people. You’re getting output that’s likely powered by fear, fatigue and survival mode.

This draining combination can lead to lower engagement, increased absenteeism, and a culture that perpetuates deeper disengagement. Over time, it drives higher turnover and chips away at trust, motivation and healthy team dynamics.

Sustained business results don’t come from employees being always available. They come from teams who are fresh, healthy, supported and clear on their goals.

7 steps you can take now

Burnout can’t just be a nebulous metric you observe and record. It has to be something you actively address. 

While there’s no silver bullet here, concerted effort along a number of policy and culture fronts (particularly in conjunction with managers and leaders) can make a serious difference.

Actions you can get started on now:

1. Work with leaders to reframe productivity around outcomes, not hours
2. Use data from performance reviews, goal tracking, and surveys to identify early signs of stress and disengagement
3. Equip managers to recognise and respond to burnout, and give them tools such as pulse surveys and 1:1 coaching resources
4. Ask managers to make weekly priorities clear during 1-on-1 meetings so employees can focus on key tasks
5. Encourage managers to run regular “wellness” check-ins to identify if workload is impacting employees negatively
6. Facilitate meaningful conversations that clarify expectations, promote autonomy, and invite honest feedback
7. Regularly review and adjust workloads and expectations in high-risk roles or teams

When tackled as an organisation, and led by the unique vantage point of HR, these actions in tandem can create a deeper and more meaningful cultural shift.

Useful tools for burnout visibility and prevention

Solutions like ELMO Performance empower HR teams to track engagement over time, correlate it with performance and feedback data, and proactively flag employees who may be at risk. It also gives employees the feedback, ownership and growth they need to stay motivated, but not overwhelmed.

When combined with ELMO Surveys or other wellbeing tools, the result isn’t just visibility — it’s the potential for meaningful preventative action.

It’s time for a culture change

It’s easy to acknowledge the importance of boundaries, but if nearly two in five employees still feel uncomfortable ignoring after-hours work and one in five think employer support for switching off is ‘just for show’, then culture and internal policy enforcement are falling short.

HR and business leaders must go beyond reminders and memos. This means:

• Reinforcing boundaries through good policy and LMS training
• Holding managers to account and making role-modelling non-negotiable
• Creating a culture of open feedback
• Placing more emphasis on wellbeing initiatives
• Using employee insights to drive system-wide improvements, not just engagement scores