Lisa Mackay - HRtoolkit

Standing up to a bully

Posted on 29 July 2016 - 12:28 pm by Lisa Mackay

At HRtoolkit, we met a client with an employee who shouted and intimidated another team member. It was an obvious situation of bullying, but the stories about this guy were legend. Evidently, a colleague was so scared after one encounter, that he hid in the local police station to get away!

The problem our client faced, was that the intimidation had gone on for some time unreported, so the bully in question could have perceived that there was a level of acceptance of their behaviour. However, no-one is entitled to act this way in the workplace, and the principals of trust and good faith in an employment relationship apply to both employers and employees. Further to this, under our Health and Safety laws, everyone has a duty of care, to ensure that no action or inaction is harmful to another worker.

Using the HRtoolkit document library, our client invited their employee to a disciplinary meeting. As a result, he was given a written warning and put on a performance improvement plan. A condition of the warning was that the employee attended an employee assistance programme which involved personal coaching.

The employee was a big guy and had always used his size to bully and intimidate people. After coaching, there was such a huge turnaround in the his behaviour that within six months the employee was promoted.

HRtoolkit gave our client the confidence to stand up to a bully, helping them explain the impact of this behaviour on their team and business. It also gave them the courage to find a way to deal with the issue in a fair and reasonable manner. Our client lost at least four staff because they didn’t deal with this bully earlier, but with the help of HRtoolkit document library, they gained an effective and loyal employee.

At HRtoolkit we have everything you need to help manage those tough decisions. Let us show you how, click here.

Advice on how to use trial period legislation

Posted on 30 August 2016 - 12:02 pm by Lisa Mackay

This week, we have some advice on what to do if you find yourself in the unfortunate position of needing to end an employment relationship under the trial period legislation.

Many employment issues that have developed into serious employment problems, could have been avoided by taking a ‘no surprises’ approach to communicating with your team regularly. If things aren’t working out with a new employee, on a 90 day trial, you first need to speak to them about your concerns, confirm your expectations for the role and provide support.

If there is a performance “gap” you should meet regularly (fortnightly). However if the employee is not grasping the role, It’s important that you have a courageous conversation long before you get to the point of ending the employment relationship. If you wait until day 89 of a 90 day trial period, your employee will be understandably upset and the risk of them raising a personal grievance will be significantly increased.

If do find yourself in the unfortunately position of needing to end an employment relationship under the trial period legislation, you need to:

Ensure the relevant clause is in writing in their employment agreement
Ensure the employment agreement is signed before the employee starts work

We have everything you need to help manage those tough decisions. Don’t be nervous about discipline and grievance issues. Just be fair, consistent and ensure you have legally compliant tools in place. Let HRtookit show you how.

Recruitment, the $100k decision

Posted on 8 September 2016 - 10:05 am by Lisa Mackay

Would you usually make a $100k expenditure decision without getting professional advice?

For most of us the answer is a firm no. But $100k is the absolute minimum any recruitment decision will cost you. Attracting and retaining the right people is crucial to any successful business. Let HRtoolkit show you how.

Healthy workplaces improve productivity

Posted on 8 September 2016 - 10:10 am by Lisa Mackay

Productive and engaged employees drive competitive advantage in all organisations, but having a healthy team is especially important in small businesses.

Research suggests that a healthy workforce improves company productivity by:

Attracting superior quality staff
Reducing the rate of absenteeism and time lost
Enhancing on-the-job time utilization, and decision making
Improving moral which in turn lowers staff-turnover

The establishment, and continuous improvement, of a health and wellbeing policy is integral to business success. And with a few extra steps, you can secure the well-being of your entire organization. Let HRtoolkit show you how.

How to get the best out of your team

Posted on 8 September 2016 - 10:15 am by Lisa Mackay

Our acid-test on the state of the economy is the balance between how much recruitment and redundancy we are involved with. The great news is that the scales currently seem pretty balanced and there’s lots of discussion in the middle ground.

How to get the best out of your team

To answer this question you need to understand where your business is at, then consider how to improve performance. Companies regularly measure profit, turnover, debtor days and delivery times – this is easily accessible data. But are these really the numbers you should be watching?

If you look at what drives these numbers, you can influence future results. Your staff, and how they behave ultimately drive pretty much every number in your business. You can have the best processes and procedures in place, but if your staff aren’t using the systems, or are focusing on the wrong behaviours, then business growth will be affected.

Understanding the key competencies that drive performance, and giving your staff clear feedback about what this means is critical for performance improvement.

Let HRtoolkit show you how to drive competitive advantage.

How to support your health and wellbeing policy

Posted on 8 September 2016 - 10:43 am by Lisa Mackay

The evidence is overwhelming that engaged employees drive competitive advantage. And that the establishment and continuous improvement of a health and wellness policy is integral to business success.

A healthy work environment

Promoting a healthy work environment means all employees are responsible and accountable for their own health, safety and wellbeing. The company will take responsibility for health and safety procedures, however, employees need to be aware of their responsibilities and comply with the business’s health and wellness policy.

Suggestions for company commitments

When developing a health and wellness policy with your employees, consider what your company may be able to offer. You could consider:

Flexible working arrangements. Legislation allows employees who have caring responsibilities to have the statutory ‘right to request’ flexible working arrangements.

Budget advice. The Citizens Advice Bureau gives free seminars on budget advice.

Employee walking groups during lunch breaks. Walking groups could be extended to having teams compete against each other as to who can walk the furthest during a specific time period.

Funding events, teams and group activities. A walking group competition could be extended to events such as ‘Round the Bays’ or you could help employees put together social sports teams.

Allowing mothers to express breast milk at work. The 2008 Infant Feeding Amendment to the Employment Relations Act 2000 requires employers to provide unpaid breaks and/or facilities for employees who wish to breastfeed their infants or express milk during working hours.

Massage, yoga, pilates or gym membership for employees. These activities don’t need to be funded by the employer, it may be a case of arranging them to occur in-house and at a reduced price.

An employee assistance programme. An employee assistance programme is a service that provides staff with a free, confidential source of advice on issues of concern to them.

Allowing employees to cash up leave. Legislation allows employees to be able to ask their employer to pay out, in cash, up to one week of their minimum entitlement to annual holidays per year.

In New Zealand, you have a legal responsibility to provide a safe working environment for your employees. And with a few extra steps, you can secure the well-being of your entire organization. Let HRtoolkit show you how.

Dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s

Posted on 5 October 2016 - 11:53 am by Lisa Mackay

It is a legal requirement for all employees to have a written employment agreement that clearly outlines the terms and conditions that will govern an employment relationship. An employment agreement must be signed before your employees commencement date.

Types of employment agreements

Employment relationships vary widely from one to another, however there are essentially three main types of agreements.

Casual employment – on an ‘as and when required basis’ only
Fixed term employment – for a clearly specified temporary period only
Permanent employment – could be on a full-time or part-time basis

Flexibility

Although employment law was changed in April 2016, you can still build flexibility into employment arrangements if you have a genuine business reason. But you need to be aware of the following:

You can’t require employees to be available outside normal hours without a genuine business reason
You can’t have unreasonable expectations on the availability of employees compared to the amount of work you are offering
You can’t cancel shifts at the last minute or send employees home without either payment for the hours they would have worked, or mutual agreement to work those hours at another time.

Quick tips

Check to make sure that your team is rostered to be at work when your customers want to use the business
Review your roster regularly and notify your team of when you want them to work on a weekly basis
Use a mixture of employment contracts with your team to allow flexibility

HRtoolkit has legally compliant, plain English documents covering all aspects of your employment relationship, subscribe to our Employment toolkit here.

Some things to consider before employing contractors

Posted on 12 October 2016 - 1:12 pm by Lisa Mackay

There are many great reasons for employing contractors in small businesses. As an employer however, you need to be aware that independent contractors may be considered employees in the eyes of the law.

If one of your team-members is employed as an independent contractor, but fits the description of a permanent employee, they are entitled to extra benefits including holiday pay and Kiwi Saver over and above their hourly or daily rate.

You can protect yourself and your business by answering the following key questions, and addressing any issues that may arise:

Does your team-member work regular hours and are they able to be flexible with their working hours?
Yes. They are likely to be a contractor
No. Your team member may legally be considered an employee

Is your team-member able to work for other people?
Yes. They are likely to be a contractor
No. Your team member may legally be considered an employee

Do they earn less than 80% of their income from working for your organisation?
Yes. They are likely to be a contractor
No. Your team member may legally be considered an employee

If your team-member can’t work, are they able to contract a third-party to work on their behalf?
Yes. They are likely to be a contractor
No. Your team member may legally be considered an employee

Can you discipline or terminate their contract if your team-member’s work isn’t of a high-enough standard?
Terminate. They are likely to be a contractor
Discipine. Your team-member may legally be considered an employee

How long has your team-member been working for you?
As a rule of thumb, if you anticipate that they will be working for you for more than 12 months (particularly if they are working full-time), then it may be worth considering an alternative arrangement.

Is your team-member set up to take advantage of being a contractor? Are they registered for GST, or claiming home-office expenses?
There is a risk that Inland Revenue (IRD) may bring a claim against you if your team-member fails to pay their tax. If your team-member is claiming the advantages of being a contractor, they would be hard-pushed to argue that they did not understand tax law.

Employment law can be complex, but don’t resort to expensive lawyers, at HRtoolkit you can download plain English documents covering every aspect of your employment relationships. Subscribe to our Employment Toolkit here.

HRtoolkit in action

Posted on 18 October 2016 - 11:48 am by Lisa Mackay

At HRtoolkit we work with a wide variety of clients, including several age care institutions. One of these clients identified that the legislative environment in which they were working was altering rapidly, and decided to employ a new CEO to affect change.

The new CEO was a seriously high end practitioner with a great reputation. Unfortunately there was a high level of resistance to change, particularly from long-standing staff members.

To say that there was a clash of personalities would be an understatement. The new CEO tried to implement change and many staff either ignored instructions, or actively undermined them. And when pushed, the staff cried ‘Bully’.

Now, let’s be clear, no-one is entitled to act in an intimidating way in the workplace, but the principals of trust and good-faith apply to both employers and employees. It was obvious that staff weren’t being bullied. If anything, the staff members concerned were guilty of intimidating management, but allegations and counter allegations made it very difficult to identify the truth.

In response to the situation, our client’s CEO gave HRtoolkit a call. Within a couple of hours we had an expert consultant on-site ready to conduct an independent investigation. Our consultant quickly identified the facts, and the management team worked together with HRtoolkit to develop an action plan. This included coaching the CEO and having some straight talks with staff members about what is, and is not, acceptable behaviour.

The immediate issues were dealt with, but we also identified measures to prevent the recurrence of similar issues. Our client’s management team used the HRtoolkit document library to put in place an improved code of conduct and performance review systems which in turn improved patient care and staff satisfaction.

Don’t be nervous about discipline and grievance issues; just be fair, consistent and ensure you have legally compliant tools in place. And if you need expert support, our HR managers are only a phone call away.

Sick leave abuse

Posted on 18 October 2016 - 12:01 pm by Lisa Mackay

With Halloween and the Christmas party season fast upon us, we thought a review of sick leave policy might be in order.

Unfortunately there are a few people who abuse sick leave. From the classic Monday-morning-sickie (which has more to do with partying than illness) to just not being bothered to get out of bed. But let’s be clear, although a hangover may make you feel like you’re dying – it isn’t genuine sick leave.

Sick leave abuse is an important issue in all businesses, and the obvious salary cost should not be your most important concern. Your staff will be very aware that one of their colleagues is chucking a sickie. If your team see someone getting paid days off without consequence, they are more likely to lower their productivity. Your team will stop working hard to cover for their colleague who is abusing the system, and will start taking those extra paid days off themselves.

Download our quick guide to managing sick leave and let HRtoolkit help you effectively manage your team.

Author Archives: Lisa Mackay