Three years of restructures. Over 9,000 roles cut. Record-high sick leave. The drivers of burnout in Aotearoa's public service are structural: job insecurity, workload intensification on those who remain, and boundary erosion. So is the response.
The evidence
90%+
of PSA members had been affected by restructuring at the end of 2024.
PSA Workload Survey, 2025
10.2 days
average sick and domestic leave per public servant in 2024. The highest level since measurement began.
Te Kawa Mataaho Public Service Commission, 2024
48.4%
of NZ workers perceived their job to be under threat by April 2024, more than doubling in four months. Public service workers were among the most affected.
Massey University Wellbeing@Work (Prof. Jarrod Haar), 2024
What it looks like
The clinical pattern in Aotearoa's public service has shifted. Before 2023 the dominant signal was workload-driven exhaustion; from 2024 it is anxiety-driven: job insecurity, survivor guilt, and the intensified workloads carried by those who remain after each round of change. Sick leave is at record levels, engagement is dropping, and tenured kaimahi are leaving with the institutional memory that made delivery possible.
For chief people officers, deputy chief executives and chief executives, the signal is unmistakable: Te Kawa Mataaho's data shows public servants took an average of 10.2 sick and domestic leave days in 2024, the highest on record; the Te Taunaki Public Service Census 2025 places work-life balance satisfaction well below the wider NZ workforce; and the PSA's January 2025 workload survey found over half of members felt they couldn't do everything well, more than 40% regularly worked unpaid hours, and 70% answered work messages outside their working day. This is not a workforce that needs more resilience training; it needs the conditions around the work to change.
The drivers
Over 9,000 public sector roles have been cut since late 2023. More than 90% of PSA members surveyed had been affected by restructuring by the end of 2024. The Massey 2024 data identifies job insecurity as the single biggest national driver of burnout, and public service workers are disproportionately exposed.
Over half of PSA members surveyed in 2024 said they had too much work to do everything well. More than 40% regularly worked longer hours without pay. The arithmetic is straightforward: roles are cut, work isn't, and the residual workload lands on a smaller, more anxious group.
Hybrid working, digital availability and the pace of decisional churn have eroded the boundary between work and life. 70% of PSA members in 2024 reported responding to work calls or messages outside hours. Te Taunaki 2025 shows work-life balance satisfaction sits at 55% for the public service, well below the 69% of the wider NZ workforce.
How we help
3 Big Things works with central government agencies, Crown entities and local government in Aotearoa. We hold contracts with ACC, Kāinga Ora, NZ Police and the Judiciary, and we understand the operating realities of the public service: Te Tiriti obligations, machinery-of-government change, collective agreement settings, and the difference between what an annual engagement survey shows and what's actually happening on the team floor.
Identify the structural drivers in your agency Psychosocial hazard assessment aligned to ISO 45003 and WorkSafe NZ guidance, designed for the realities of a post-restructure public service workforce. Te Tiriti-honouring, te ao Māori-informed, and built to surface what engagement surveys typically miss.
Equip your leaders for the conditions they are actually leading in Executive coaching and tier 2 to 4 leadership development that takes change fatigue, survivor guilt and political accountability seriously. Designed for public service leaders, not adapted from corporate templates.
Provide registered-psychologist support for those carrying the load Confidential, professional support delivered by clinicians who understand the public service context, complementary to existing EAP arrangements. Real recovery, not a self-help app.
We're an All-of-Government EAP panel provider, and we work alongside your existing arrangements rather than displacing them.
Talk to us