63% of Workers Are Financially Unwell Across Australia and New Zealand
Synopsis
Financial stress is moving beyond personal finances, with side jobs, presenteeism and burnout creating growing productivity and retention risks for employers.
Financial stress is impacting 63% of workers surveyed in Australia and New Zealand, while one in three employees has two or more jobs, according to Financial Edition of Gallagher’s 2026 Workforce Trends Report: Workplace Wellbeing Index.
The report queried 3,598 respondents across industries, ages, levels, and years of service in Australia and New Zealand, in January 2026. The first edition of the Workplace Wellbeing Index includes New Zealand and reflects aggregated findings across both countries.
Multiple Jobs Reflect Household Financial Pressure
The report found that 33 percent of workers were employed in two or more jobs, and 46 percent of respondents under 34 were. 45 percent of respondents who held more than one job said it was to supplement the income from other work or to cover essential expenditures or pay down debts.
Financial concerns were impacting sleep for over 60 percent of respondents. Over a third of respondents could not afford a 5 percent rise in housing costs, while 32 percent of respondents had to continue working while sick since they could not afford not to.
Meanwhile, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), another measure of double-job hiring, as of March 2026, 978,000 Australians or 6.5 percent of the employed workforce, were working more than one job in the March 2026 quarter.
That was an increase of 0.3 percent compared to the same period in December 2025 and up 2.1 percent compared to March 2025.
According to the ABS, there were 1.09 million secondary jobs in the March quarter, up 3.4 percent from the same period last year. The number of total jobs was 16.5 million and the total hours worked were 6.1 billion in the quarter.
Healthcare Leads Secondary Employment
According to the ABS labour market statistics for the March quarter, healthcare and social assistance had the largest number of secondary jobs followed by administrative and support services and education and training.
The latter recorded 143,800 secondary jobs while healthcare and social assistance had 153,300 followed by community and personal service workers.
Community and personal service workers also had the highest proportion of workers with multiple occupations at 10.7 percent compared to the same occupation category. The proportion was also highest among workers aged 20 to 24 at 10.3 percent of total workers.
Burnout Remains at 26%
In 2026, 23 percent of the employees surveyed in the report said they were experiencing burnout with no change recorded compared to 2025. However, compared to 2024 when the figure was 23 percent of employees surveyed, the level was higher.
Overall workplace wellbeing came to 52 percent for 2026 compared to 51 percent recorded for 2025. In addition, employee engagement came to 55 percent and intention to stay at 66 percent.
Source: Asia Insurancere View
Pooja Malik is a business journalist with over six years of experience covering startups, entrepreneurship, and emerging trends. She has previously worked with leading media platforms such as YourStory Media and BW BusinessWorld, where she reported on business, policy, and market developments. Currently, she serves as Editor at The Inspirepreneur Magazine, where she writes and edits stories across business, lifestyle, and travel, with a focus on clarity, accuracy, and reader relevance.
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