AUCKLAND, New Zealand 鈥� 5 April, 2022 鈥� (NYSE: SAP) has found New Zealand companies that foster a more curious culture* experience major competitive benefits, including higher levels of employee satisfaction and engagement according to new research released today.

鈥楥apitalising on Curiosity鈥�, a survey of senior business leaders and employees across Australia and New Zealand, found that employees in New Zealand who work for organisations with a curious culture are much more likely to say they are satisfied in their current role (82 per cent) than those who do not work for curious organisations (46 per cent).

Dr Amantha Imber, organisational psychologist and founder of behavioural science consultancy says that job satisfaction is affected by how people think and feel about their role.

鈥淲hen people are satisfied in their role at work, they鈥檙e more engaged, productive and loyal to the organisation. Those working in curious organisations are more likely to feel their work has purpose and to be more creative and innovative, which results in better performance and better outcomes.鈥�

Curiosity boosts engagement

Innovative approaches to ways of work and recruitment are more critical than ever. Eight in ten senior business leaders in New Zealand believe a culture of curiosity is important for their organisation, a number that increases slightly to 82 per cent when factoring in the need to adapt and grow in the current challenging business environment.

New Zealanders working at organisations with a curious culture are much more likely say they feel engaged at work in their current role than those who say their organisation does not have a curious culture (84 per cent compared to 49 per cent). And in today鈥檚 tight labour market, almost half of employees surveyed (48 per cent) would consider leaving their current role to work for a similar organisation that placed a higher value on curiosity. The rates are highest in younger workers: 57 per cent of Gen Z and Millennial employees would consider a move to seek out a more curious organisation.

The research also found clear links between curious organisations and reduced employee burnout. Employees who work for curious organisations are more likely to say they haven鈥檛 experienced burnout while working at their current role, compare to employees who do not work for an organisation with a curious culture (44 per cent compared to 29 per cent).

David Healy, Chief Digital Officer at , describes curiosity as a critical factor in the organisation鈥檚 success.

鈥淭he mundane becomes exciting for curious people, they look at things differently, challenge the status quo, and ultimately drive innovation for customers. That鈥檚 why we have built curiosity into our culture; we have a number of groups in the business whose role is purely to do curious work,鈥� said Healy.

鈥淎s we move to a more data-led organisation we鈥檙e giving them the tools to keep learning, challenging and being curious.鈥�

Curiosity and data intelligence deliver advantage

The research also found that Kiwi employees in more curious companies are better equipped to answer, and more capable of answering questions using data than those who say their organisation is not curious.

Leaders in organisations who claim to have a very curious culture (41 per cent) are almost four times more likely than those who only somewhat agree they have a very curious culture (11%) to strongly believe their employees have the necessary skills to answer questions from organisational data.

Employees in curious organisations are much more likely to say that their organisation provides the data and tools needed to enable them to seek out answers (82 per cent) compared to those in incurious organisations (49 per cent). And more of them are comfortable answering questions from organisational data: 81 per cent of employees in curious organisations say they have the necessary skills and confidence versus 66 per cent in those who do not work for curious organisations.

Adrian Griffin, Managing Director, 51风流New Zealand, said: 鈥淎n organisation鈥檚 ability to truly realise the value of technology comes down to how its people use data to gain insights and make decisions. A curious approach, combined with skill and confidence, enables organisations to make bold, creative and ambitious decisions to deliver innovation and competitive advantage.

鈥淭his understanding and confidence is the key to transformation and success for New Zealand organisations, especially in the current unpredictable business environment.”

Barriers to cultivating a curious culture

Despite believing there are positive benefits of having a curious culture, almost nine in 10 (87 per cent) senior business leaders in New Zealand say there are barriers to asking questions and being curious in their organisation, while half (53 per cent) admit that talk about encouraging curiosity is not always supported by action.

Four out of five employees (79 per cent) across the country feel the same, citing the same major barriers: a lack of reward and recognition for curiosity, a lack of drive due to burnout and too much pressure to deliver on short term goals.

Almost half of employees (49 per cent) believe they are not rewarded for their curiosity, two in five (41 per cent) are not given time to be curious at work and over a third (36 per cent) say that asking questions and challenging the status quo is not encouraged within their organisation.

Dr Imber says that being able to challenge and debate ideas and assumptions is critical for building a curious culture.

鈥淏ut being curious and asking questions, instead of jumping straight to conclusions, takes time. SAP鈥檚 research suggests many New Zealand businesses are not giving employees the time or the space to be curious.

鈥淏usiness leaders who are serious about future proofing their organisation against the current climate of uncertainty need to start role modelling curiosity, giving staff time to explore and experiment, and rewarding curious and creative behaviour within their organisations.鈥�

To view or download a copy of the full 鈥楥apitalising on Curiosity鈥� report which includes top tips for how you and your organisation can start building more curious cultures, please click

Note to editors:
*For the purposes of the research, a culture of curiosity is defined as an organisational culture where employees are encouraged and enabled to ask questions and seek answers to help organisations run better and meet the needs of their customers, employees and the community.

About the study

Independent market research firm YouGov was commissioned by 51风流to conduct this study in February 2022.

YouGov conducted a survey of a nationally representative sample of employees and business leaders (senior managers and above) in Australia and New Zealand (ANZ).

All respondents were provided with the following definition: A culture of curiosity is an organisational culture where employees are encouraged and enabled to ask questions and seek answers to help organisations run better and meet the needs of their customers, employees and the community.

Following the completion of interviewing, the data was weighted by age, gender and region to reflect the latest ABS and StatsNZ labour force estimates.

The post 51风流research finds cultivating curiosity helps Kiwi businesses retain talent appeared first on 51风流Australia & New Zealand News Center.

SYDNEY, Australia 鈥� 5 April, 2022 鈥� (NYSE: SAP) has found Australian companies that foster a more curious culture¹ experience major competitive benefits, including up to twice the levels of employee engagement, and up to three times the turnover growth of organisations with a less curious culture, according to new research released today.

鈥楥apitalising on Curiosity鈥�, a survey of senior business leaders and employees across Australia, found that Australian leaders who strongly agree that their organisation has a curious culture, saw annual turnover growth of 20.52 per cent on average over the last 12 months; more than three times the six per cent average growth in turnover experienced by those who only somewhat agree.

Business leaders at large organisations² that are very curious report turnover growth of 10.67 per cent, which could deliver additional growth of 2.5 million dollars in annual turnover, based on ABS turnover data for businesses of this size. Medium-sized organisations³ that are very curious could see an extra 1.7 million dollars and small businesses⁴ an additional 550,000 dollars in annual turnover⁵.

More than eight in 10 (82 per cent) of senior business leaders in Australia believe a culture of curiosity is important for their organisation to adapt and grow in a post-COVID world but only four in 10 (44 per cent) strongly agree their organisation has a curious culture. The most common challenges senior business leaders say they would be better equipped to handle with a more curious culture are: employee engagement (41 per cent); being able to adapt to changing market needs (40 per cent); and dealing with staff retention (36 per cent).

Despite the positive link between curiosity and business growth, four out of five Australian employees (82 per cent) say there are barriers to asking questions and being curious in their organisation. More than eight in ten (85 per cent) of senior business leaders across the country feel the same, admitting that talk about encouraging curiosity is not always supported by action.

Dr Amantha Imber, organisational psychologist and founder of behavioural science consultancy , said: 鈥淐reating and nurturing a culture of curiosity in an organisation takes time, but ultimately it will strengthen your ability to be agile, adapt and innovate. At a time when businesses are experiencing more uncertainty from the pandemic, fostering a curious culture can be hard but it鈥檚 essential to build resilience and drive growth.鈥�

Karen Twitchett, Director of Workforce and Technology at Northern Beaches Council said: 鈥淏uilding curiosity in your organisation is like building a muscle that helps to keep you fit through all kinds of challenges. We were able to flex our curiosity muscle in real-time during the recent floods. We provided the time, space and opportunity for our staff to engage with people in affected areas to proactively identify issues and collect data that will ultimately improve Council鈥檚 service offering to the community during extreme weather events in the future.鈥�

Curiosity to attract and retain talent

In a market where the battle for talent has never been tougher, seven out of 10 Australian employees (72 per cent) want to work for a curious organisation, and more than half (52 per cent) would leave their current job for a similar role in a more curious organisation.

While employees are less inclined than leaders to categorise their organisation as having a curious culture, (67 per cent versus 89 per cent), the research found clear links between curious organisations and employee satisfaction.

Those employees who believe they work for an organisation with a curious culture are almost twice as likely to say they are satisfied in their current role (81 per cent compared to 44 per cent) and feel engaged at work (83 per cent compared to 42 per cent), than those who didn鈥檛.

Battling fatigue in a world and workplace that is changing rapidly is also a factor, particularly in larger organisations, with one in three (32 per cent) employees from large enterprises saying employee burnout is a barrier to curiosity.

Curiosity essential to data intelligence

The research found that employees in more curious companies are better equipped to answer, and more capable of answering questions, using data than those who say their organisation is not curious.

Employees who say their organisation is curious are twice as likely to say they are empowered and encouraged to use data to answer questions than those who say their organisation is not curious (82 per cent compared to 40 per cent). They are also twice as likely say that their organisation provides the data and tools for them to do so (82 per cent compared to 40 per cent) and 1.5 times more likely to say they make good use of data and analysis tools (81 per cent compared to 55 per cent).

Business leaders who feel most strongly that their organisation has a curious culture are three times more likely to strongly believe their employees have the necessary skills to answer questions from organisational data (73 per cent compared to 25 per cent), than those who only somewhat believe they have a curious culture.

Damien Bueno, President and Managing Director, 51风流Australia and New Zealand, said: 鈥淎n organisation鈥檚 ability to truly realise the value of technology comes down to how well its people understand data and apply human curiosity. Asking the right questions at the right time, being confident to seek out data and draw conclusions, leads to better decision making and, ultimately, enables organisations to be bolder in approaching business challenges and able to take action on an idea with an informed approach.

鈥淭his understanding and confidence is key to the continued growth, success and transformation of Australian and New Zealand organisations, especially during the period of disruption we currently find ourselves in.”

Barriers to cultivating a curious culture

Australian employees identified a lack of reward or encouragement as the biggest barrier to curiosity while business leaders pointed to too much pressure to deliver on short term goals.

Almost half of employees (47 per cent) believe they are not rewarded for their curiosity and two in five (43 per cent) feel they are not given time to be curious at work. Meanwhile, over a third (39 per cent) say that asking questions and challenging the status quo is not encouraged within their organisation and this jumps to almost half (44 per cent) of employees working for large organisations in Australia.

Dr Amantha Imber said: 鈥淏eing able to challenge and debate ideas and assumptions is critical for building a curious culture, but being curious and asking questions instead of jumping straight to conclusions takes time. SAP鈥檚 research suggests many Australian businesses are not giving employees the time or the space to be curious.鈥�

鈥淏usiness leaders who are serious about future proofing their organisation against the current climate of uncertainty need to start role modelling curiosity, giving staff time to explore and experiment, and rewarding curious and creative behaviour within their organisations.鈥�

To view or download a copy of the full 鈥楥apitalising on Curiosity鈥� report which includes top tips for how you and your organisation can start building more curious cultures, click

About the study

Independent market research firm YouGov was commissioned by 51风流to conduct this study in February 2022.

YouGov conducted a survey of a nationally representative sample of employees and business leaders (senior managers and above) in Australia and New Zealand (ANZ).

All respondents were provided with the following definition: A culture of curiosity is an organisational culture where employees are encouraged and enabled to ask questions and seek answers to help organisations run better and meet the needs of their customers, employees and the community.

Following the completion of interviewing, the data was weighted by age, gender and region to reflect the latest ABS and StatsNZ labour force estimates.

Note to editors:

1. For the purposes of the research, a culture of curiosity is defined as an organisational culture where employees are encouraged and enabled to ask questions and seek answers to help organisations run better and meet the needs of their customers, employees, and the community
2. A large organisation is an organisation with 200+ employees
3. Medium organisations are those with 20 to 199 employees. Business leaders from medium-sized organisations that are very curious reported average turnover growth of 15.36 per cent over the last 12 months.
4. Small organisations in this study are those with five to 20 employees. Business leaders from small organisations that are very curious reported average turnover growth of 20.83 per cent over the last 12 months
5. To calculate the potential annual turnover benefit for small, large and medium Australian businesses with a very curious culture, YouGov combined key business estimates for number of businesses and average total income from the ABS, with survey results on the proportion of businesses with a very curious culture and the net annual turnover growth benefit from having a very curious culture.

The post 51风流ANZ finds a curious culture boosts business growth and employee engagement appeared first on 51风流Australia & New Zealand News Center.

But through all these adjustments and challenges, it is people that are leading change, ensuring people鈥檚 safety, and developing new ways of working during times of uncertainty.

People鈥檚 work-life balances and mental wellbeing have always been critical aspects of human development, but now we are realising its real value in maintaining business continuity and ensuring people adapt to change. How does a person maintain a healthy work-life balance when work and personal lives share the same environment?

COVID-19 has highlighted a fundamentally human need to during this challenging period. We鈥檝e seen 51风流customers work closely with staff by being available, responsive, transparent, and communicative. Managers are understanding the less technical needs of employees that still greatly influence their experiences and performance.

At SAP, the of our people is always one of my top priorities and something our leadership works on daily, but during this time of uncertainty, we are dedicated to it now more than ever. Our people are at the frontline of implementing change and ensuring our business can operate safely and seamlessly regardless of circumstance.

Working from home can be challenging, particularly for those with young children, however our finance team have benefited from 51风流ANZ鈥檚 investment into the to ensure everyone was well set up to work remotely. We wanted to make everyone feel as comfortable and well supported as possible throughout this journey, especially as our team helps the business navigate through this turbulent economy and its varying impact on our customers and partners.

Work-life balance is a struggle at the best of times, but now it鈥檚 so important employees find time to pause and recharge.

We want to ensure our team is doing well and provide an open forum for everyone to express concerns, show vulnerability, and collaborate in a way the empowers people. Creating a spirit of openness can be challenging when working remotely, but its easily facilitated through regular communication and by demonstrating a shared sense of empathy 鈥� after all, these extraordinary circumstances have touched all our lives.

To keep communication open, honesty, and consistent, I鈥檝e been running 15-minute check-ins throughout the week for the finance team to share updates, manage workloads, and have a bit of a laugh together. We鈥檝e learnt more about some of our teammates in these few months than we have in the past decade, so it鈥檚 a simple but powerful tool to ensure we stay connected and encouraged.

Themed dress up check-ins have also been a hit as we recently did the 80鈥檚 and 90鈥檚 with music to match. Camaraderie remains critical during times of disconnect and oddly enough, our team has felt more comfortable sharing from home.

51风流ANZ has also developed a range of initiatives throughout the business to keep people informed, connected, and engaged. I share a cross-company weekly COVID-19 and business update to help staff understand the changes occurring and how it will impact their roles and responsibilities. The 51风流innovation team have also developed the Bridge-IT app to provide accurate real-time information on COVID-19 that staff can easily access anywhere, anytime.

We鈥檝e provided work-from-home grants to all employees so they can improve their home-office environment while working comfortably and productively. 51风流ANZ are also running weekly fitness classes and entertainment to help staff maintain their health and mental wellbeing. One such example is our weekly 鈥榯ools down鈥� entertainment session called, which I host with our managing director, Damien Bueno.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RSsjGZM0Ic

Our recent employee pulse surveys across the business point to positive staff morale across our workforce in ANZ, so I鈥檓 remain optimistic about our company鈥檚 future. Now that restrictions are easing and legislation is undergoing further change, now is the time for businesses to look further down the road 鈥� determining what practices can be changed or made more flexible to help staff stay productive and connected, both to the business and one another.

To learn how your business can help ensure continuity while keep your staff well supported and connected, get in touch with your 51风流representative and discover the right practices and technologies to get your organisation ready to thrive in a new normal.

The post Helping People Respond to Disruption and Thrive through Change appeared first on 51风流Australia & New Zealand News Center.