We are more stressed, take more days off and still go to work when sick, a wellness in the workplace report has found.
Southern Cross Health Society and Business New Zealand's nationwide study of 113 employers, with 116,000 employees, found that 80 per cent of workplaces did not cater for the ageing workforce and only a third provided health insurance for their staff.
The survey, titled Wellness in the Workplace, has found stress levels in big businesses, defined as those with over 50 staff, rose by 35.6 per cent, compared with 23.3 per cent for smaller businesses. The top reasons for stress and anxiety increasing were general workload, relationship issues, long hours, pressure to meet targets and financial concerns.
BusinessNZ chief executive Phil O'Reilly said stress in the workplace was a critical issue.
"Businesses need to try and mitigate this to get the most out of their workforce and give their workers the best environment possible to be productive."
When it came to wellness the number of days lost in 2014 were 6.7 million working days, up from 6.1 million in in 2012. The average number of absentee days per employee was 4.7 - amounting to a national cost of $1.4 billion in 2014.
Larger businesses were also more likely to have high rates of absenteeism, though 35 per cent still went into work when sick, despite a push for businesses to make them stay home.