curiosity Archives - �鶹ԭ�� Australia & New Zealand News Center

�鶹ԭ�� research finds cultivating curiosity helps Kiwi businesses retain talent

�鶹ԭ�� News — Wed, 06 Apr 2022 05:41:45 +0000

A curious workplace culture contributes to attracting and retaining talent, by increasing engagement and reducing burnout among Kiwi employees

AUCKLAND, New Zealand — 5 April, 2022 — (NYSE: �鶹ԭ��) 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.

‘Capitalising on Curiosity’, 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.

“When people are satisfied in their role at work, they’re 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.”

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’s 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’t 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’s success.

“The mundane becomes exciting for curious people, they look at things differently, challenge the status quo, and ultimately drive innovation for customers. That’s 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,” said Healy.

“As we move to a more data-led organisation we’re giving them the tools to keep learning, challenging and being curious.”

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, �鶹ԭ�� New Zealand, said: “An organisation’s 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.

“This 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.

“But being curious and asking questions, instead of jumping straight to conclusions, takes time. �鶹ԭ��’s research suggests many New Zealand businesses are not giving employees the time or the space to be curious.

“Business 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.”

To view or download a copy of the full ‘Capitalising on Curiosity’ 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 �鶹ԭ�� 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.

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�鶹ԭ�� ANZ finds a curious culture boosts business growth and employee engagement

�鶹ԭ�� News — Mon, 04 Apr 2022 23:27:28 +0000

Most business leaders agree a culture of curiosity will help them better tackle challenges, adapt and grow post-COVID

SYDNEY, Australia — 5 April, 2022 — (NYSE: �鶹ԭ��) 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.

‘Capitalising on Curiosity’, 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: “Creating 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’s essential to build resilience and drive growth.”

Karen Twitchett, Director of Workforce and Technology at Northern Beaches Council said: “Building 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’s service offering to the community during extreme weather events in the future.”

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’t.

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, �鶹ԭ�� Australia and New Zealand, said: “An organisation’s 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.

“This 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: “Being 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. �鶹ԭ��’s research suggests many Australian businesses are not giving employees the time or the space to be curious.”

To view or download a copy of the full ‘Capitalising on Curiosity’ 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 �鶹ԭ�� 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).

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:

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
A large organisation is an organisation with 200+ employees
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.
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
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.

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