FlexiTime reports average weekly earnings rise significantly for employees in Level 3

New Zealand employment solutions provider FlexiTime has reported a 7.7 percent rise in the average earnings of employees paid weekly, after the country moved to COVID-19 alert level 3. The increase comes after a total 22.8 percent decrease in average weekly earnings since before the move to alert level 4. 

The Wellington technology company, which specialises in payroll for businesses that employ casual and part time workers, is reporting up-to-date statistics on its website showing the impact of COVID-19 on businesses and employees. The data is from a sample of over 23,000 employees paid weekly across more than 2,100 companies.

The most recent figures showed the average gross weekly payroll cost to businesses had also increased by 7.2 percent to $8,883, compared with a decrease of 0.7 percent a week prior.  

“It's heartening to see average weekly earnings go up as a result of moving to alert level 3,” FlexiTime CEO Rob Owen said.

“Now that the government has announced the timing for moving to level 2 and further easing of restrictions, hopefully we’ll continue to see average weekly earnings get closer to normal levels in the coming weeks.”

Tracking average weekly gross payroll and average earnings for weekly employees reveals data on the real impact of the COVID-19 crisis for businesses and employees as the country moves between alert levels, Owen said.

An earlier analysis under COVID-19 alert level 4 showed the pandemic had caused a significant decrease in average earnings per employee as well as in the number of employees being paid by businesses who pay their staff weekly. 

Owen said the number of businesses in the sample running weekly pays is still down about 5 percent from mid-March, with some of that due to businesses that may have been using casual employees for whom there was no work during Level 3 or 4. Some will be businesses that have shut down for the season or no longer have any employees, he said.

FlexiTime has been providing assistance to customers affected by the pandemic. “Our recent offer of a one month free subscription holiday to customers receiving the wage subsidy was well received with over 450 businesses applying. We’ll be rolling out a series of new offers to help out over the next few months,” Owen said.

The full breakdown of COVID-19 FlexiTime payroll statistics is on the FlexiTime website. The sample is taken from companies paying their staff weekly using either PayHero or FlexiTime Payroll and is being updated weekly during the COVID-19 crisis.