Staff in the aged care sector in New Zealand are stressed, struggling with work hours and aren't feeling financially rewarded for their efforts, according to survey data from the New Zealand Aged Care Workforce Survey by the Auckland University of Technology.

The survey polled respondents over pay, work conditions, job satisfaction, capability and workplace safety of healthcare assistants, nurses and managers working in residential aged care and community aged care in New Zealand.

Katherine Ravenswood, research leader at AUT's New Zealand Work Research Institute, said that healthcare assistants in 2016 experienced more uncertainty in their jobs than those surveyed in 2014, particularly those employed in home and community care.

Meanwhile, the report shows that up to two thirds of home and community healthcare assistants said that they don't have guaranteed minimum work hours each week.

"It's concerning that those on the lowest wages have the least certainty around their hours of work,” Ravenswood said. “This must create considerable pressure for them and their families in planning and trying to make ends meet. This indicates how necessary it was to regulate and improve conditions in the sector, and that a lot still needs to be done."

When asked if their rate of pay fairly reflects the skills, responsibilities and experience needed to do their job, 85% of healthcare assistants working in residential aged care disagreed, and the majority of healthcare assistants in both residential and home and community care were dissatisfied with their wages.

Meanwhile, 70% of nurses felt they weren't being remunerated for the skills, responsibilities and experience needed to do their job - indicating that fairness of wages is an issue for all those involved in direct care in the survey.

Furthermore, stress or burnout were the main reasons nurses and managers gave for considering leaving their job in the next 12 months.

"Clearly, wages are an issue for all healthcare assistants," Ravenswood says "We anticipate with the Government's pay and funding increase, announced recently, satisfaction with wages and perceptions of job appreciation and recognition might improve by the time we run the survey again in 2019."