Lisa Mackay - HRtoolkit - Page 16 of 17

Is mental health affecting your workplace?

Posted on 26 July 2023 - 10:50 am by Lisa Mackay

Mental health is a hugely varied and difficult thing to deal with, and everyone’s journey is different. But the impact on, not only the individual, but also the team around them is huge.

Key learnings in this article

PCBU needs to look after everyone’s health and safety
The individual has responsibility for their own health and wellbeing not just the employer.
The best intentions can backfire

Mental health is a growing problem

I personally suffer from mental health issues and have had several episodes of clinical depression and anxiety throughout my life. Through a lot of hard work (and some awesome counsellors, friends, and family) I have worked on ways in which I can recognise my own symptoms, and deal with them before they escalate. I’m also in the very fortunate position that, as a business owner, if I need to slow down a little, take a day off etc then I can (provided clients are looked after).

The huge increase in mental health issues the world over is well documented, and we can all surmise why that is, but the reality is that there are a whole host of contributing factors, both real and perceived. Kiri Allen’s battles with mental health have been well documented in the press, and I have a huge deal of sympathy for someone who has had to struggle with those demons, and then have the ultimate fall from grace plastered across the headlines certainly cannot have helped. I wish her all the best for working past those demons.

But as recently as 30^th June the Prime Minister was answering questions about allegations that Kiri Allen “yelled and screamed” at staff in the workplace. Though not much detail is in the press (correctly for her privacy) the reality is that, at some level, Kiri’s mental health was impacting on others in the workplace. We are all human, and, if we are under stress (whether from home or work) that will manifest in our interactions with others, and usually negatively.

Providing a safe working environment

As an employer, you have a legal obligation to provide a safe working environment. This is not only for the individual concerned but also for those people around that person.

So, how do you deal with mental health in the workplace:

Find out the FACTS about what the issue is and how it is being managed:
1. This should generally come from health practitioners (see consent for release of medical information at the end of this article), not just what the individual tells you. Personally, the first time I went through such an episode I wasn’t aware at the time how much my personality changed, and it did, I became very withdrawn.
1. Are they on medication? Many medications take some time (usually a number of weeks) to really kick in, so you won’t usually see an overnight change. However, some medications may have side effects such as drowsiness and, if they are operating heavy machinery, they may not be safe to be in the workplace.
1. What are they doing to help themselves? Counselling, diet change, alcohol reduction, more exercise etc. Mental health is multi-faceted, and the individual will need to work to help themselves if there are to work past those demons.
What can you do to help them, and also at the same time protect others from the impact?
1. Maybe then could take a leave of absence for a period?
1. Can they move to part-time for a period?
1. If they are in a staff management role, can you move their staff to report to A N Other for a period?
1. If alcohol is a problem is having alcohol-centric team building events really the best way to help them feel included in the team?
What is the impact on others?
1. Extra workload pressures – can you spread the workload better and/or get in a temp
1. Aggressive behaviour – though mental health may be what is causing the aggression, it is not acceptable or excusable and that definitely needs to be addressed quickly
1. High error rate in work – though they may be at work, it may be that the quality and accuracy have dropped away creating extra pressure on others to fix mistakes.
1. Highly emotional – though we can all have sympathy for people in this situation, the reality is that sympathy only goes so far and the risk is that the individual starts to become isolated from the team and/or others resent their presence.

The individual has responsibility for their own health and wellbeing

With the right management and self-care people can overcome mental health challenges or, at least, find ways to live with them. As a business owner or manager, you can provide a level of support, but they also have to do their bit and can’t just sit back and use it as an excuse forever and a day. It is OK to say “enough is enough, you are now no longer up upholding your end of the employment relationship”. You may need to consider medical retirement in this situation.

Best intentions can backfire

It is important that you work with the individual and their medical practitioners to come up with an action plan that works for that situation. For example:

Giving an open-ended “come back whenever you are ready” may seem fantastic, but, this can create anxiety if the individual is feeling they are letting the team down
Giving time off may be the best thing for their health, but it may also create financial challenges. A compromise may be to make a part-time arrangement and/or give them some budgeting support.
Taking work off them or changing their allocated tasks. This may be necessary if the medication is affecting their ability to safely do certain tasks. But you need a plan in place around the timeframe as to when they will be taking back full duties. You don’t want to end up inadvertently creating a new (lightweight) role that is actually not of value to the business in the long term.

Consent for release of medical information

In any medical situation, it is better to get an understanding from professionals about what should or should not be done. To achieve that you ask the employee for consent for release of medical information (Template letters on the website). The doctor will only provide you with information that is relevant to the job they are performing and will usually discuss the report with the individual before providing it. However, the employee does have the right to refuse consent for release of medical information. In which can you have the right to proceed based on the information you have available to you.

What is a fair and reasonable decision?

Posted on 4 September 2023 - 11:05 am by Lisa Mackay

Employment law is littered with the requirement to make “fair and reasonable” decisions, but what does that mean? In this month’s webinar I will be talking in more detail about how to reach a decision that would be considered “fair and reasonable”.

Legislation doesn’t define “fair and reasonable”, the closest we get is the “duty of good faith” (ERA Section 4) and the test of “test of justification” (ERA Section 103 A) which states ”The test is whether the employer’s actions, and how the employer acted, were what a fair and reasonable employer could have done in all the circumstances at the time the dismissal or action occurred”

This goes on to define that the employer must:

Investigate the allegations.
Raise the concerns with the employee
Give the employee opportunity to respond
Genuinely consider the employees explanation

Investigation of allegations

Criminal law requires that you “prove beyond reasonable doubt”, employment law does not require such a high level of proof, you need to make decisions based on fair and reasonable assumptions. So, in practical terms, you don’t have to have a video of A N Other taking $100 out of the till, but if (for example) A N Other had access to the till, had been complaining about lack of money, and was acting oddly/defensively when asked about the missing $100, it is potentially fair and reasonable to conclude that, on the balance of probabilities A N Other did take the $100.

However, the requirement to investigation means that, even though A N Other had been asking for an advance on their wages, you still need investigate whether the other 5 people who had access to the till make have taken the money. Don’t just presume A N Other is guilty without considering alternative explanations.

Raising the concerns

Another way of looking at this was “did the employee know the consequences of their actions?”. Throwing a punch, coming to work drunk etc are all pretty obvious things that an employee would know where wrong. However, if an employee has been (for example) turning up to work whenever they felt like for years, you can’t suddenly go into disciplinary action against them if you have now decided you need them to turn up on time. In this situation, you need to reset the expectations, give them a level of opportunity to comply, and then take action if they are still ignoring the instructions.

Opportunity to respond

This is the disciplinary meeting.

Genuinely consider the explanation

30 years in HR has taught me that you need to keep an open mind, even the most apparently cut and dried situations can have a reasonable explanation…. For example, the punch that was thrown towards the person who was having an affair with their husband. Does the employee who threw the punch deserve to be fired?

When does a contractor become an employee?

Posted on 24 October 2023 - 4:00 pm by Lisa Mackay

In this month’s free webinar we will be exploring in more detail the difference between a contractor and employee…. And how getting that wrong can be exceedingly expensive! (click here to register)

The good news…
There is no point at which a contractor automatically becomes an employee. Someone working full-time in your office for 10 years could be a genuine contractor. Ultimately, what the courts are looking at is what was the genuine understanding of both parties about the arrangement. And the courts don’t like people trying to take advantage of the system when it suits them i.e. taking the benefits of being a contractor when it suits them (flexibility, tax deductibility etc), and the benefits of being an employee when it suits them (right to raise a Personal Grievance, paid leave etc).

When does it come into dispute?
The 2 main triggers for the contractor v’s employee argument to come up are:

When the individual gets their tax bill at the end of the year, hasn’t saved that money, so tries to deflect it onto the company by saying “ I thought you were paying my tax Mr/Mrs Employer”
When there is a dispute and the individual tries to raise a Personal Grievance against the company. NB they can raise claims through small claims court, but not a personal grievance

The onus then sits with the individual to prove that they genuinely believed themselves to be an employee. However, if they successfully make that argument then the employer could become liable for the tax grossed up on what they have already paid them (so about 50%), plus back annual leave, sick pay, etc (about 21.5%). Add this to the fact that, particularly if the argument has come about because they got their tax bill, because of the way provisional tax etc works they could have been working with you for close to 2 years before they get a tax bill…. So that could be a very expensive claim to lose.

How do you protect against the risk?
The court has what it calls the “tests of justification”, and these are so broad that I could just about justify I was an employee of your company simply by having a conversation with you (I’m being slightly cheeky here, but they are very broad!). So, how do you minimise your risk:

Make sure you have a written agreement in place – HRtoolkit Independent Contractor agreement
Make sure you issue it with a clear cover letter laying out that they are a contractor and what this means – HRtoolkit cover letter Contractor
Make sure they provide you with invoices and are GST registered if earning over GST threshold (currently $60K per annum). NB one mistake I have seen from companies being “helpful” is that they provide the invoice to the individual. This is definitely not good practice.
If they are starting to look like an employee rather than contractor, have the discussions up front and early and then confirm those discussions in writing i.e. “following on from our discussion, you are happy to remain as a contractor, and fully understand that this means you are not entitled to employee benefits such as paid leave, right to raise a PG etc, and you are responsible for paying your own taxes”
Minimise the tax liability risk by deducting withholding tax/Scheduler payments. The IRD does appear to be adjusting the rules around when you should/should not/have to deduct withholding tax/Schedular payments so I would recommend that you speak with your accountant about whether this is a requirement in your situation.

Free webinar
Click here to register for this month’s free webinar on Contractor V Employee on Friday 27^th October at 10am.

HR is easy
We are here to help with any staff queries, so feel free to call me on 021 741 544 or 0800 HRtoolkit (0800 47 8665). Or sign up for our DIY document library for only $399 + GST per annum, or our DIY expert package which gives you access to the document library and unlimited phone and e-mail support for only $129 + GST per month (minimum 12-month term)
Cheers

Lisa Mackay
Founder of HRtoolkit
021 741 544

Keeping up Morale

Posted on 23 November 2023 - 11:32 am by Lisa Mackay

Looking back at my end-of-year newsletters for the last few years it seems I have been wishing for a better “next year” every year… let’s hope 2024 will deliver!

Increased mental health issues
This year I have seen a marked increase in discussion about mental health issues. I suspect there is an element of increased awareness so people are more willing to talk about it, and sadly there are some who are definitely using it as an “excuse”. However, it is also a very real issue, and not really surprising with all the stressors that keep being put on all of us over the last few years. But there are also positives we can all find, and keeping up morale is all about focusing on the positives and dealing with those things that we can influence.

Keeping up your team Morale
Whether December marks a shutdown for your business or the busiest time of year it is important that you keep up the team morale, and here are some quick and easy suggestions about how to do that:

Celebrate the wins – however big or small, share them with your team, and encourage them to also share their wins
Engage your team about how they want to celebrate – this doesn’t necessarily need to be the big expensive party, it can be as simple as a “decorate your desk” competition. Some things to consider when deciding how to celebrate the end of the year:
1. Do something that engages everyone (or as many as possible) – you won’t be able to please everyone, but try to please the majority. For example, a big boozy party may suit some, but probably not so appealing for those who have to get home for childcare commitments.
2. Only spend what you can afford – the big expensive party may sound great, but definitely not so great if you end up having to make people redundant in January because your cash flow is stuffed up
3. How do you engage a virtual team? – During lockdown, I saw many creative “virtual parties”, online Pictionary on the Zoom whiteboard was very entertaining!
4. Make it voluntary not compulsory – people have many reasons to not want to attend Christmas parties. As an HR person, I avoid ever drinking in front of staff or being seen being too “pally” with anyone as you never know when you may have to have a “formal” meeting with them. So, I personally avoided staff Christmas parties! (and anyone who knows me, knows I am definitely not one to avoid a party )
Give a “gift” – obviously you can give Bottles of wine, gift vouchers etc but you could also think a little outside the box, for example, giving everyone an extra day of leave to use to do their Christmas shopping, or attend their kid’s prize giving, or simply go to the beach to recharge. Often those with busy out-of-work lives will ask for (and often be given) more flexibility at this time of year. But sometimes those who aren’t asking get overlooked, and, even worse, made to do extra to cover for those who “need” more flexibility. So, be equitable
Watch out for burnout, and proactively manage it – If this is a busy time of year for you many staff will be willing to do extra hours (to earn the extra pay), but there are only so many hours that you can work before you start to burn out. So:
1. monitor the demands on team members – make sure they have at least 1 day a week off (NB this is also a H&S issue)
2. Share the workload evenly
3. Think about staggering shifts – don’t have everyone starting at 9am and then working until close (which could be 9pm/10 pm), have some starting later and others finishing earlier
4. And if you aren’t staffed up for the Christmas rush already, get onto it yesterday!

End-of-year webinar
Sign up for this month’s webinar, “Keeping up Morale” on Friday 24^th November at 10am by clicking here.

Here to help
We are here to help with any staff queries, so feel free to call me on 021 741 544 or 0800 HRtoolkit (0800 47 8665). Or sign up for our DIY document library for only $399 + GST per annum, or our DIY expert package which gives you access to the document library and unlimited phone and e-mail support for only $129 + GST per month (minimum 12 month term)

Cheers, and all the best for a FABULOUS 2024!

Lisa Mackay
Founder
HRtoolkit

Trial Periods for everyone, and Fair Pay agreements repealed

Posted on 9 February 2024 - 4:51 pm by Lisa Mackay

Well, the government didn’t waste time enacting their 100-day plan and Fair Pay agreements were repealed on 20^th December, and the Trial Periods were extended back out to include all employers (not just those with under 20 staff) with effect from 23^rd December. And minimum wage will increase by 45cents, or 2% to $23.15 per hour with effect from 1 April 2024

Employment agreement templates updated.
I have now updated all of the employment agreement templates on the HRtoolkit website to reflect the new rules in respect of trial periods, and also, they have been updated to reflect that Personal Grievance claims in respect of Sexual Harassment now have an extended period of 12 months in which they can be raised. It is still 90 days for all other Personal Grievance claims.

The templates can be found at:
https://www.hrtoolkit.co.nz/hr-document-library/toolkits/employment-contracts-toolkit/

NB I have updated the Personal Grievance section to reflect that the timeframe is “as dictated by Legislation” to future-proof agreements as much as possible in case other claim timeframes are also adjusted to 12 months, or the Sexual Harassment change is repealed.

More changes are likely, so stick to the templates

There will likely be more changes to employment legislation over the next few years, and we are constantly monitoring these changes and updating our agreements to reflect this. As such, to minimise hassle for you, it is recommended that you utilise the HRtoolkit template documents as they are, and, if you do need additional clauses specific to your company, then have them as an appendix attached to the HRtoolkit template. This way, you can download the latest HRtoolkit template each time you need a new agreement, safe in the knowledge that the latest legislation changes have already been incorporated, and add the appendix document as required.

What are Trial Periods and Probation Periods?

Trial Periods and Probation Periods are different and defined in Legislation, and can now be used by any company, irrespective of the number of employees. In summary:

A Trial Period is a maximum of 90 days duration, and, in theory, you can terminate someone within the 90-day trial period without the need for process, or without giving any specific reason. However, the courts do not uphold this approach as it flies in the face of good faith. Therefore, if you are considering termination under the 90-day trial period then we recommend that you meet with the employee, giving them the right to representation, laying out your concerns, and allowing them to respond before making a final decision. Trial periods cannot be used for employees who have previously worked for you in any role.
A Probation Period can be for a longer period (usually 6 months, or maybe 12 months for more senior positions), but you do have to go through a formal performance management process to terminate under this. Probation periods can also be extended and can be used for employees who have worked for you previously.
Both need to be written into the employment agreement if you want to use them.
The longer probation period can be a useful tool if you have someone who is ‘not quite there’ by the end of 90 days, so you want to give them some extra time to get up to speed, rather than being forced to make a decision at the 90-day mark.
A longer “testing period” can be unsettling for employees when they first start a job, as such, my general recommendation is to include both a trial period and probation period for employees in more senior, or more technical roles, but only to include the Trial period for more junior roles.

2024 Webinar Programme

In this year’s webinar programme, I’m taking a bit of a deeper dive into some of those more difficult issues that employers face such as dealing with conflict in the workplace, and managing stress in the workplace. As well as some of the regular questions such as “Which contract should I use”. All the webinars are free and run for about 30 minutes with subtitles if you require them. I hope that you will join me on them, or, if you can’t make those times, let me know and I will happily send you the recording after the event (click on the hyperlinks below to register for the webinars of your choice:

Here to help
We are here to help with any staff queries, so feel free to call me on 021 741 544 or 0800 HRtoolkit (0800 47 8665). Or sign up for our DIY document library for only $399 + GST per annum, or our DIY expert package which gives you access to the document library and unlimited phone and e-mail support for only $129 + GST per month (minimum 12-month term)

Cheers

Lisa Mackay
Founder of HRtoolkit Ltd

6 Myth Busters about employment agreements

Posted on 1 May 2024 - 5:14 pm by Lisa Mackay

Whether you are employing a new person, or adjusting your employment agreements to build greater flexibility into your workforce, “Which contract should I use?” is probably the most common question I’m asked.

This month’s webinar, on Friday 3^rd May at 10am (click here to register) goes into detail about what are the options, and what are the risks and benefits of each type of contract.

And here are a few Myth busters:

Zero hours contracts are Illegal.

In 2016 there were a lot of headlines about Zero-hours contracts. At the time the Employment Relations Amendment Act 2016 was introduced and this made it a requirement for employers to:

Include an availability provision, i.e. when you need them to be available to you.
Have genuine business reasons for including that availability provision.
Give the ability for the employee to refuse work – i.e. you can’t require the employee to be available 24/7 in case you have a shift for them, so, in return they must have the right to refuse offered work without penalty.
Include details about the compensation for that availability, i.e. how much they will be paid for cancelled shifts, how much notice will be given for cancelled shifts etc.

Provided you have genuine business reasons (seasonal variations, weather impact etc) and you give reasonable notice of cancellation of shifts or pay them a minimum level if you don’t meet those notice requirements, then you can set the guaranteed number of hours as low as you need.

I have a written Independent Contractor agreement, so they can’t claim they are an employee!

When the question of whether someone is an employee or a (Genuine) contractor is reviewed by the courts, the courts look at the tests of justification. This includes what is in writing, however, it is a far broader review than that.

The good news is that the courts don’t like people trying to take a punt each way and get the benefits of being a contractor, when it suits, and an employee when it suits. So the tests of justification are designed to ascertain the genuine understanding of both parties.

There is a set number of hours that defines someone as part-time
Sick leave is pro-rata for Part-timers!

There is no defined cut-off between when someone is part-time or full-time, and all benefits are as specified in legislation. No, sick leave and bereavement leave are a fixed number of days, irrespective of how many days per week someone works. So, if someone works 2 regular days each week then they are entitled to 10 days sick leave (or in effect 5 weeks) sick leave per annum.

People on salary aren’t entitled to paid overtime
Casuals don’t get paid holidays

Generally, people on salaries get paid a set amount each week, and if they do a few more hours one week this will get made up with a bit of flexibility in time later (i.e. an informal time in lieu arrangement). Some contracts may also specify that you can pay for hours over and above “reasonable additional time”. However, salaried staff may become entitled to payment for extra hours of work if the hours they are required to work to get the job done mean that their effective hourly rate is less than minimum wage. I.e. someone on a salary of $52K per annum for a 40-hour week is getting paid $25 per hour. However, if they work more than 43.2 hours in a week then they are slipping below minimum wage ($1,000/ $23.15 = 43.2 hours). So, you would have to top up their pay to meet minimum wage. The Holidays Act states that, if an employee “works for the employer on a basis that is so intermittent or irregular that it is impracticable for the employer to provide the employee with 4 weeks’ annual holidays” then you can pay them the 8% uplift with their pay. However, it then goes on to state that “If an employer has incorrectly paid annual holiday pay with an employee’s pay in circumstances where subsection (1) does not apply and the employee’s employment has continued for 12 months or more, then, despite those payments, the employee becomes entitled to annual holidays ”.

I.e. they can double dip, and get 4 weeks paid time off as annual leave irrespective of what you have already paid them (yikes!)

Free Webinar

Don’t forget to register for the free webinar tomorrow (Friday 3^rd May) 10am on Which contract do I need to use. Click here to register.

Getting your staffing mix right

Posted on 28 May 2024 - 11:28 am by Lisa Mackay

Your staffing cost is pretty much the single biggest cost centre in the vast majority of businesses, so getting the mix wrong can have a huge impact on your profitability. What you need will vary according to seasonal variations, age and stage of the company, economic climate etc. Register here for this month’s free webinar this Friday at 10 am to discuss this in more detail

Seasonal variations
Whether you are quiet over summer, and busy in the winter, or vice versa there are very few companies where work demand is consistent throughout the year. To a degree, this variation can be absorbed through annual leave. However, the “Christmas slowdown” seems to have been starting earlier and earlier every year, and finishing later and later.

So, you need to think about having a mix of full-time, part-time, lower guaranteed and casual employees, to manage the ebb and flow.

Economic Climate
COVID, Cyclones, and now recession. All have an impact on business and how busy (or quiet) you are. Sadly, for many downsizing is no longer avoidable (give me a call if this is you, early action can save you significantly in the long run).

Age and Stage of the Company
If you are working hard out to grow the business, often you will need the personnel to deliver to those (potential) new clients before you actually have those clients, so how do you bridge that gap?

If you are making step changes in the business such as bringing Marketing or HR in-house, or getting a General Manager when you have previously outsourced these things or done them yourself, you will often need a high-level professional to do the initial set-up. However, once the systems are in place, the day-to-day can be managed by a lower-level or part-time (and cheaper) person.

So, do you need a contractor or fix-term to do the set-up, and then move to an employee as a lower-level permanent position?

Technology changes
2 years ago ChatGPT hadn’t even been released, yet now there are signs of it everywhere, and yes, it is replacing some jobs that were previously done by Humans. We all need to keep up with technology to ensure that we remain competitive against our competitors, and/or acknowledge that differential and turn that into our Unique Selling Proposition (USP).

What are my options?
I’m running a free webinar on Getting your staffing mix right on Friday 31^st May, 10am… click here to sign up. I’ll be covering the practicalities in more detail then. However, here are some quick pointers:

Create a permanent workforce to cover your minimum work levels
Utilise part-timers, lower guaranteed hours agreements and casuals to “top-up” at busier times
Carefully assess if the need for this skill/person is:
1. A permanent long-term need – if so then appoint permanently
2. A temporary top-up is required to get you over a hump? – consider fixed-term or contractors
3. A specific skill set that you don’t need all the time? – consider contractors.or outsourcing

Contractors are expensive!!
If you pay a (for example) bookkeeper $30 per hour as an employee, then you need to account for another 21.5% on top of that to account for annual leave etc so they cost you $36.45 per hour. With an outsourced bookkeeper you are only paying for the time they are actually doing work for you (usually in 10 to 15 minute increments). Whereas you are paying an employee for all the time that they are in your office. So, if that employee is 75% productive (which is actually a very high productivity percentage) then they are actually costing you $48.60 per hour. If you compare this to $50 per hour for a contract bookkeeper, suddenly you realise the contract bookkeeper is actually not that expensive.

So, if you are considering making the change from outsourcing, to in-house, look at the annualised amount that you are actually paying for that outsourcing, rather than just the hourly rate.

Contractors are usually more efficient because they do this work all the time. For example, it would take me 10 to 15 minutes to write an invite to a disciplinary meeting. Even a skilled manager is liable to take over an hour to do the same job.

When your Hercules plane keeps breaking down…

Posted on 19 June 2024 - 10:26 am by Lisa Mackay

There has been a lot of news about the RNZAF Hercules plane breaking down whilst flying the Prime Minister and his delegation around the world. Resulting in the Christopher Luxton having to go ahead on commercial flights and leaving half his delegation behind.

Yup, this is embarrassing all around, plus it ends up with lots of last-minute logistical nightmares to sort out. So, what lessons can you learn from this for your business?

Contingency planning

If disaster strikes, do you and your team know what to do? COVID was the most major change anyone has faced, but where you able to pivot? Have you remembered the lessons learnt? For the PM and his delegation, they were able to get some of the team onto commercial flights, but also had to leave some behind, so have to adjust how they approached the situation with a much reduced team on the ground.

From an HR perspective, retaining flexibility in your workforce is still critical in the current economic climate to ensure that you can respond to unexpected challenges. In small businesses, that includes having staff with a wide range of skills so they can adapt and pick up new things. Having flexibility in the fixed payroll cost (i.e. lower guaranteed hours, contractors etc).

Learning from Challenges

For the PM the questions they should be asking are, should we use the Hercules, or commercial flights? Do we need such a big delegation?

From an HR perspective, I am getting a lot of issues with theft in various forms. Falsification of timesheets, misuse of the company fuel card etc. Many of these issues have been going on for some time, but have either not been spotted, or have been let slide because of fear of having to go out and recruit new staff.

The good news for employers is that the recruitment pendulum has swung very much back in favour of employers, rather than a shortage of applicants, those who are recruiting are getting an overabundance of applicants.

But you need measures, rules and controls in place to prevent people from taking advantage of the loopholes in your systems (and they will!). And this months free webinar is about the importance of HR Policies and procedures, and enforcing them.Click here to register.

Review – are you doing the right thing?

It is important that you continually review your business:

If someone resigns, do you need to replace like with like? Can you contract out? Can you use technology to automate some tasks within your business?
Is what you are delivering still meeting the needs of your (prospective) clients?
Is what you are doing returning profitability?

In a tight economic climate, clients are wanting more for less. So:

Do your staff know how to push back on clients asking for extra that is not paid for?
Are your staff burning themselves out by trying to please customers, when in fact they could push back on
Are the clients worth having? (never be afraid to fire a bad client, if they are costing you more than they are paying you, they are not worth it!)

Free webinar
This month’s free webinar is on Friday 21^st at 10 am and I will be covering HR Policies, what you need and why it is important to enforce them. Click here to register.

Identifying stress in the workplace and dealing with it

Posted on 14 August 2024 - 3:18 pm by Lisa Mackay

Every day brings stress, can I pay the mortgage? Can I drive to the shops without crashing the car? Is Russia and Ukraine going to turn into World War 3? This is normal life, and we can’t avoid these things, but when our ability to cope with those stressors diminishes, or there are too many stressors for us to cope with, we become overwhelmed, which can impact work, home, and physical wellbeing.

The inability to cope manifests differently for everyone, and the treatment is also different, depending on your situation. Please seek medical advice if you are suffering unduly from stress/depression/anxiety.

This month’s Free Webinar
This month I am talking about identifying and managing stress in the workplace. The webinar is on Friday 16^th August, and click here to register.

How to spot if someone in your workplace is affected
Having personally lived with clinical depression for most of my adult life I am very aware that, particularly the first time, you don’t recognise yourself that there is a problem. Luckily for me my Boss at the time had suffered from depression, so when I burst into tears over a simple maths mistake, she recognised it and sent me off to the doctors.

Some of the ways that you can spot if someone is potentially struggling are:

Change in personality – becoming more withdrawn, or more snappy
Making more mistakes than normal, especially simple things
Taking things overly to heart, especially criticism
Presentation – taking less care in their appearance than before, looking tired (trouble sleeping is a common symptom of stress/depression) etc.

Is the workplace a contributing factor to the stress?
Stressors come from every part of our lives, but if the workplace is a major contributor to that stress then this is a health and safety issue that needs to be addressed. So, is the workplace contributing to that stress?

Has the workload grown significantly?
Are there members of the team not pulling their weight, and thereby putting extra pressure on others to pick up the slack?
Do you have a toxic work environment? (bitching, undermining, not working collaboratively as a team, cliques etc)
Is there too little work, and staff are worried that the company may be in trouble, but the boss doesn’t appear to be doing anything about it?

What can I do about these things?
Depending on what the issues are, some solutions may include:

Reallocating workload to ensure more even spread of work, and/or work allocated to the people who are best at those tasks.
Recruit more staff
Outsource tasks, especially if you can’t afford to recruit.
Performance manage/discipline those who are not pulling their weight
Facilitated team discussion to agree acceptable standards of behaviour, and remove workplace toxicity
Don’t be afraid to restructure. This doesn’t necessarily mean redundancy, but it may be a reduction in hours across the board to keep everyone in employment but get you through the lean times

How to address an individual who is affected?

Whether the stress is work-related or not, if someone is suffering from stress/Depression/anxiety, this does impact the workplace. So, if comfortable to do so:

Tell them what you have observed and ask them, is everything OK? The answer may well be “it’s all fine”, but it will hopefully be enough to get them thinking about whether there is an issue
Encourage them to seek professional advice and support (counsellor, GP etc)
Offer them Employee Assistance Programme support. This is a counselling service which the company to agree to pay for a set number of sessions (usually up to 3 session). More information can be found at https://www.raisementalhealth.co.nz/

If you are going into this conversation, it may be useful to watch the recorded Courageous Conversation Webinar (click here to view) to give you some pointers on how to deal with that conversation.

Dealing with Stress in the workplace Webinar

Click here to register for this month’s free webinar on identifying signs of stress in the workplace and how to manage it on Friday 16th August at 10am. If you are not able to make this time, then please register and I will send you a copy of the recording afterwards.

Working from home, a right, not a privilege

Posted on 9 October 2024 - 4:01 pm by Lisa Mackay

Recent surveys of staff benefits have seen “working from home” as no longer in the top of the list of what staff perceive as benefits. And this is not because they no longer value being able to work from home, but rather they perceive it as their right!

The reality is that working from home does have some major benefits:

Less commuting = less traffic = less pollution and less time spent sitting in your car
Flexibility to…. Pick up kids; do shopping when it is quieter; go to the gym when it is quieter; etc
Peace and quiet to get on with your job without the distractions of the office
Ability to work at times that you are more productive – early morning, or late evening

Working from home doesn’t work for every person or every job
Some jobs simply have to be done in the workplace (receptionist, barista, etc.), while others can be done remotely (bookkeeper, solo project worker). But even though the job can be done remotely, not everyone is good at working productively from home.

Some key considerations in remote working arrangements?

Do they have a dedicated office at home? Working from the kitchen table with hoards of kids running around will never be fully productive, nor is this likely to be good from a H&S perspective (workstation set-up, and stressors of this working environment)
Remote workers will not sit at their desk from 8.30am to 5pm, so you need to consider what is acceptable e.g. they have to be reasonably available for “core hours’ of (e.g.) 10am to 3pm
What is “reasonably available”?. I define this in the HRtoolkit remote worker employment agreement as “with access to your computer and immediately contactable by phone, or phone calls returned within 60 minutes”
Security of information and equipment:
1. Who is in the household, and are you confident that the wrong people can’t access confidential information?
2. Is equipment stored securely, or is there a risk of theft? And who is responsible for insuring the equipment
3. Could someone accidentally delete all the computer files (e.g. the exuberant toddler, playing on daddy’s keyboard! Fortunately that company had good backup systems, but about half a day’s work for the whole team was lost before the issue was discovered!)
Health and safety – who is responsible?:
1. Ergonomic workstation set up?
2. Workplace environment safety?
Team interaction – though this may be last on the list, it is certainly not least

HRtoolkit resources
In the HRtoolkit we have 2 main resources for use with remote workers:

Free Webinar
This month’s free webinar is on Virtual Working Arrangements, and what you need to consider, and this is on Friday 11^th October at 10am. Click here to register, and, if you can’t make that time, register and the recording will be sent out later.

Here to help
We are here to help with any staff queries, so feel free to call me on 021 741 544 or 0800 HRtoolkit (0800 47 8665). Or sign up for our DIY document library for only $399 + GST per annum, or our DIY expert package which gives you access to the document library and unlimited phone and e-mail support for only $129 + GST per month (minimum 12-month term)

Cheers

Lisa Mackay
Founder HRtoolkit

Author Archives: Lisa Mackay