Workers Entering 2026 Feeling Positive – but Challenges Remain in Some Industries, New Data Reveals

New Zealand workers are entering 2026 in a more positive state of mind than a year ago, despite a difficult 18 months of disruption, new data from EAP provider Clearhead reveals.  

In their first State of the Workplace analysis, the New Zealand tech company - which services more than 200,000 workers on its proactive wellbeing platform - has released data showing the changing mood and wellbeing of employees, and despite the significant restructuring programmes that have been underway since 2024, there are positive signs for businesses. 

Using data which identifies 15 psychosocial organisational factors and users’ sentiment towards them, the overall wellbeing scores of employees in large businesses (more than 100 employers) rose significantly in the second half of 2025. More positive sentiment was also recorded towards workplace demands, job security and leaders. 

Clearhead psychologist Sam O’Sullivan says 2024 was a tough period for many workers, particularly those in large companies where change management concerns were listed by many users. “These lingered into the first half of 2025, where staff in bigger businesses were still dealing with the effects of change processes, even as small to medium sized enterprises appeared to recover more quickly. 

“Job security for those who remained in organisations showed an 8% improvement in scores year on year in the second half of 2025 and sentiment towards leaders improved 30% for those in SMEs and 8% in larger organisations. This may indicate that workers in smaller businesses appreciated the difficult period their leaders managed over the past couple of years.” 

The digital mental health and wellbeing therapy provider, which counts Spark, KPMG and Contact Energy among its major New Zealand clients, is also active in Australia where it delivers real-time employee wellbeing data to hundreds of businesses. 

Founder Dr Angela Lim says tracking the changing mood of employees is critical for businesses who want to identify and control psychosocial hazards in the workplace through early-warning data, which is now a legislative requirement across the Tasman.  

O’Sullivan says shifts in mood were clear from the platform interactions of New Zealand employees across 2025. Role clarity was another area where workers felt improvements had been made, potentially due to change processes in 2024 having more clearly defined jobs for those who remained. Overall, employees had a 20% improvement in this factor in the second half of 2025, compared to a year earlier.   

With a large database of workers across industries as diverse as telcos, utilities, health, Government and services, Clearhead’s State of the Workplace analysis shows significant discrepancies between sectors. Of note was the stress felt by those in the Healthcare and Services industries, where reports of Traumatic Situations – workers witnessing or experiencing abuse, threats, neglect or other potentially traumatic incidents – increased 6% for workers in health agencies and clinics and 10% for those in the service industry year on year.  

“2025 was still a stressful period for many New Zealanders economically and so it’s not surprising we saw more recording of those incidents,” says O’Sullivan. “Thankfully in all other industries, the number of those incidents recorded declined.”  

Remote work continues to be a challenge for many workers, with more employees recording difficulty dealing with remote or isolated work across all industries.    

Overall however, says Lim, the state of New Zealand workplaces is looking up.  

“Our mission is for employees to be able to recognise their own stressors and to have easy access to the tools and the right mental health professionals to deal with them, and for employers to see how their staff are faring and make systemic improvements,” says Lim. “Even in a tough year for business, more employers were prioritising their workers’ wellbeing, and that pays off for everyone.”