A business confidence survey conducted by lobby group BusinessNZ has been criticised for asking a question which forced chief executives to answer negatively about the Government's employment law reform.

The annual "mood of the boardroom" survey, commissioned by the New Zealand Herald, and conducted by BusinessNZ and the Employers and Manufacturers Association (EMA), is described as a key barometer of business sentiment.

It asks more than 500 business owners how they feel the Government is performing on a range of issues, and has been running since 2005.

This year's survey included a question which asked "Are you concerned by any of the proposed changes to employment law?".

READ MORE:

* Air NZ boss to lead newly launched Prime Minister's Business Advisory Council

* Can Bridges pull off the ultimate confidence trick?

Respondents were asked to tick any of the six concerns listed ranging from "unions may enter workplace without notification", to "businesses with more than 20 employees not allowed 90-day trials".

There was no "none of the above" or "other" options and respondents were not allowed move onto the next question without ticking at least one box.

​BusinessNZ spokeswoman Kathryn Asare said there had been a mistake in the design of the survey meaning some respondents may have answered it incorrectly.

"The answers to this question will therefore be disregarded," Asare said.

A corrected version of the survey from BusinessNZ would be sent to all respondents, she said.

Asare said one respondent had flagged the issue with BusinessNZ since it was sent out last week.

First Union secretary Dennis Maga said the survey lacked validity and should not be taken seriously.

"Their questioning is far from statistically sound, in fact it's completely geared towards the answers they want," Maga said.

The EMA and BusinessNZ were blowing the business community's concerns out of proportion to suit their own agendas, he said.

Falling business confidence has become a hot political topic that critics routinely raise when attacking the coalition Government's performance to date.

Surveys such as "mood of the boardroom" are often held up as key barometers of how business confidence and the economy are tracking.

BusinessNZ and the EMA have both been highly critical of the Government's planned employment law reforms.

On Monday the Employment Relations Amendment Bill was reported back to Parliament, and is likely to be passed with only minor amendments.

BusinessNZ has labelled the bill "harmful and oppressive" and has gone as far as considering taking a claim to the International Labour Organisation or International Court of Justice on parts of the bill.

BusinessNZ chief executive Kirk Hope said businesses had voiced their concerns, but they had not been heard.

He said 55 per cent of submissions were against the bill.

"Given current low levels of business confidence, especially among small business, it is unfortunate that the Government has neither listened nor explained its justification for the bill," Hope said.

Former Labour prime minister Helen Clarke took to Twitter to ridicule BusinessNZ's stance.

Seems like a massive overreaction to the new law - which according to the report you included takes the law largely back to where it was in 2015.... Hello!! — Helen Clark (@HelenClarkNZ) September 11, 2018

The EMA said it was "bitterly disappointed" that businesses' concerns had not been addressed.

"The EMA is deeply worried the changes in the bill combined with the raft of other legislation in the pipeline will unduly burden smaller operators."

It was particularly worried about four aspects of the bill:

* Employers with 20 employees or more will lose the right to include 90-day-trial periods in employment agreements.

* Businesses will be forced to settle collective agreements, even if they don't or can't agree

* Union representatives will be allowed to access workplaces without permission

* Not allowing businesses a choice to opt out of a multi-employer collective agreement