Published on the 23/01/2025 | Written by Heather Wright

Kiwi companies snap up Aussie workers – and beyond…

Almost half of all workers employed by New Zealand’s 200 largest tech exporters are now based overseas.

But the move isn’t just about bypassing local talent shortages – though that is no doubt a factor – with local companies looking to place their teams closer to customers and supply chains, competing globally for both customers and talent.

“These companies have a high propensity to hire internationally, reflecting the fact that most are competing globally for both customers and talent early on in their development.”

Data from the 2024 Technology Investment Network TIN200 shows 47 percent of the nearly 60,000 workers in those 200 companies are employed in overseas locations, with healthtech reporting the highest number of international-based employees at 5,065. That’s 47 percent of all healthtech staff employed by Kiwi companies.

But it’s IT services and support which has the greatest percentage based internationally, at 50 percent of its nearly 7,400 staff, with fintech logging 49 percent international staff from an overall staff base of nearly 7,200. Software solutions, which employees just over 7,500 staff in Kiwi companies, also has 49 percent of its employees based outside of New Zealand.

“New Zealand’s tech exporters are increasingly global employers, now hiring and paying almost half their workforce in multiple international locations,” Shannon Karaka, market lead at payroll and HR platform provider Deel, says.

“These companies have a high propensity to hire internationally, reflecting the fact that most are competing globally for both customers and talent early on in their development.”

Building diverse, borderless teams at scale is vital to unlocking new opportunities and positioning their business for growth, Karaka says.

Australia remains the most important talent region for New Zealand tech exporters, with an extra 304 roles added in Australia in 2024 for a total of more than 10,200 – up from 4,753 a decade ago.

Asia and Latin America have also gained prominence in the past decade. Latin America saw 565 new employees of Kiwi companies in 2024. European employee numbers were also up in 2024, while the total number of employees in Southeast Asia and North America reduced.

Alex Dickson, head of research at Technology Investment Network, says over the last two decades, New Zealand has spawned a critical mass of profitable tech firms with global reach.

“A feature of these companies is their use of dynamic hiring strategies that balance onshore and offshore expansion,” he says.

It’s an approach he says has been used with ‘great effect’ to access talent, leverage local knowledge and create proximity, addressing areas where New Zealand faces inherent challenges.

The 2024 TIN report found employment growth among New Zealand’s top 200 tech companies slowed in 2024 to -0.8 percent, ending 10 years of continuous growth.

ICT sector restructuring saw nearly 2,000 staff shed globally from Kiwi firms including Xero, Datacom, Magic Memories and Soul Machines.

Wage spending was also down according to the TIN report.

Kiwi tech exporters in most sub-sectors are facing higher payroll costs, with average salaries across all workers globally up 2.9 percent to the equivalent of NZ$102,720.

The survey found companies in software solutions are spending 47 percent of their total revenue on wages.

Karaka notes that talent is often the largest expense for high-growth firms, who often also incur the compliance costs of paying workers in multiple international jurisdictions.

Australian companies too, are looking beyond Australian shores for talent.

The Australian Information Industry Association’s 2024 Digital State of the Nation survey, highlighted a declining outlook for revenue and jobs, with a significant slowing of the tech sector’s hiring intentions. Despite that slowing, 62 percent of respondents remained actively engaged in or were planning to hire and expand their FTE workforce.

Domestic skills shortages and escalating labour costs have seen a notable shift towards recruiting from overseas, with interest growing from one two percent in 2023 to seven percent in 2024, the AIIA report shows.

Skills shortages which had been a key challenge to business growth for 45 percent of the Australian companies surveyed in 2023 and 44 percent in 2022, remains a significant challenge but dropped back to 21 percent, with government retraction in spend jumping to top concern.