INTRODUCTION

New Zealand is an island country located in the southwestern Pacific Ocean

comprising two main landmasses (the North Island and the South Island) and
numerous smaller islands. The geography of New Zealand is highly varied, from
snowcapped mountains to lowland plains. The government system is a
parliamentary democracy and a Commonwealth realm; the chief of state is the
queen of the United Kingdom, and the head of government is the prime
minister. New Zealand has a free market economy in which the prices of goods
and services are determined in a free price system. New Zealand is a member
of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and the Trans-Pacific
Partnership (TPP).

Human Resources in New Zealand - A Brief History

The development of HR practice in New Zealand has progressed along similar
lines to other western democracies. New Zealand’s colonial experience in the
19th century naturally led to the adaptation of British practices and
assumptions in managing employment. We inherited the assumption of
inevitable conflict between labour and capital (DJB) and a number of
employment laws were enacted in the 1890’s that would set the scene for the
next hundred years.
A key founding piece of legislation was The Industrial Conciliation and
Arbitration Act, 1894. This Act was designed ...’to encourage and to facilitate
the settlement of industrial disputes by conciliation and arbitration’[4]. It
would be fair to say that major industrial disputes have been comparatively
rare in New Zealand’s history. There have been some notable events such as
the Mining Strikes early last century and the 1951 Waterfront dispute however
conciliation and arbitration have consistently been the means for the
resolution of disputes.

The last forty years have seen a significant shift in the nature of the
employment relationship. The Industrial Relations Act, 1973, The Human Rights
Commission Act, 1977, The Holidays Act, 1981, and The Wages Protection Act,
1983, all sought to regulate the relationship between employers and the
labour market. This legislation legitimised the assumption of conflict and
enshrined in law the requirement to seek legal resolution to disputes. The
Trade Union movement thrived under this legislative regime, however in 1989
The Employment Contracts Act (ECA) was passed into law. This Act was a
radical departure from previous approaches and enabled employees to
negotiate individual contracts with their employers. The result was a sharp
decline in Union membership and a virtual absence of industrial action. The
focus of the Act was on the rights of the Parties involved and challenged the
polarising Marxist/capitalist assumption of inevitable conflict between labour
and capital.
The ECA was repealed by the incoming Labour government in 2000 and the
Employment Relations Act, 2000 was enacted. The Act has reinstituted a focus
on collective contracts, mediation based on the interests of the parties and
bargaining in good faith. It is too early at this point in time to assess the impact
of the legislation on although the behaviour of parties in recent subsequent
industrial action has not appeared to demonstrate an ability to grasp the code
of good faith and has tended to focus on a distributive rather than integrative
lines of mediation.

Economy
New Zealand’s economy has developed through success on three key fronts;
global marketing of primary produce, harnessing natural energy resources and
tourism. We have been quick to adapt and push internationally for free trade
and where we were once essentially a farm for the United Kingdom, we are
now a global player in the export of Dairy, Meat and Fruit produce across both
commodity and niche/gourmet markets.
Recent research on global business literacy[1] identifies New Zealand as having
a high level of global literacy. While large organisations from Europe, Asia and
the United States tend to define globalisation within a context of operating
their businesses offshore, New Zealand like other small economies, define
globalisation in terms of the opportunity to create and market our products
across the diversity that makes up our varied trading partners

New Zealand Economic Overview

Area: 2,68,000 sq.mi

Population: 4,885,300

Currency: Dollar

Capital: Wellington

GDP: US$186.4 billion (2017,PPP)

GDP Per Capital : 42,940.58 USD (2017)

GDP Growth Rate: 3.0% (2017)

Unemployment: 4.5% (2017)

Commercial Service Exports : $15,987,922,779 (2017)

Budget: Revenues (NZ$74.9 billion) expenses: (NZ$74.9 billion) economic aid :

(donor$99.7 million 2015)

Labor Force: 2.6 million (currently )

Different sectors in new Zealand

Manufacturing and industrial sector
Food and beverage

Includes processing of raw materials, e.g. meat processing; milk into milk
powder, cheese and butter; as well as all the ‘food and beverage’ products sold
in the centre aisles of a supermarket (including pet food).

Wood and paper

Wood includes log sawmilling and timber dressing, the manufacture of

engineered wood products such as plywood, laminated veneer lumber (LVL),
medium density fibreboard (MDF), prefabricated wooden buildings, cabinetry
or wood chips. Paper includes pulp, paper and card manufacturing and
products made from these such as boxes, paper bags, toilet tissue and other
packaging.

Machinery and equipment

Includes the production of all kinds of vehicles, from cars to baby strollers;
lenses; medical equipment; scientific and measuring equipment; cables, wires
and fibre optics; computers and communication equipment; and electrical,
domestic, commercial and industrial appliances.

Chemicals and refining

Chemicals products range from cosmetics and pharmaceuticals to household

cleaning and industrial chemicals, fertilisers, pesticides, paints and coatings.
Refining covers the manufacture of petroleum and coal and all related
products.
Plastics and rubber

Plastic products range from containers and cling film, to children’s playgrounds
and many pipes and fittings used in construction. Rubber products range from
hoses, gumboots and agricultural goods to mud-flaps.

Metals and metal products

Includes the smelting of ore and the creation of a wide range of metal
products. These may be small (nuts and bolts) and straightforward (wire for
fencing or reinforcing bar) or large (beams and bridge supports) and complex
(such as a fabricated metal sculpture).

Other manufacturing

(textiles, leather, clothing and footwear, printing, non-metallic mineral

products, furniture and other manufacturing) Effectively, everything else,
including furniture and printed material (such as magazines, labels, signs) to
clothing and footwear, sports goods, jewellery, umbrellas, textiles and many
building products such as windows, bricks, cement, concrete.

Banking Sector
The New Zealand banking system is highly concentrated. While there are
currently 26 registered banks, the four large Australian-owned banks (ANZ, ASB,
BNZ, and Westpac) are responsible for 86 percent of bank lending. The five
New Zealand-owned banks account for 8 percent of bank lending.

For the Australian-owned banks, the New Zealand subsidiaries’ total assets
represent between 9 and 15 percent of their respective Australian parent
group’s total assets. These Australian-owned banks all have high credit ratings
by international standards.

Despite the New Zealand financial system being dominated by banks, the
banking system itself is relatively small by global standards. Total assets of the
system are just under $538 billion NZD in September 2018, which at around 183
percent of GDP (Gross Domestic Product) is at the lower end of the range for
OECD countries (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development)
.

About 61 percent of bank lending is to the household sector. The vast bulk of
which is secured against housing assets (figure 3). Lending to the agriculture
sector accounts for around 14 percent of total lending, of which the dairy
sector accounts about for two-thirds. Lending to the business sector accounts
for 25 percent of total bank lending, around 34 percent of which is property
related.

.
Education sector
New Zealand has a long history of providing high quality education with a wide
range of professional and vocational study opportunities.

New Zealand secondary schools provide a broad spectrum of education to

students aged 13-18 years. While most secondary schools are state funded,
there are also a large number of private schools including those with special
philosophical or religious traditions.

The New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) defines the entry levels and
programmes and standards of all secondary schools[3]

The NZQA co-ordinates national qualifications. Its role is to develop a national

qualifications framework and to approve non-university degrees.

The Authority does not create curriculum but deals with the provision and
quality of qualifications. The Authority is a Crown Entity established under the
Education Act 1989 and is appointed by the Government Minister of Education
and is accountable through the Minister to Parliament. The Authority’s mission
to promote improvement in the quality of education in New Zealand through
the development and maintenance of a comprehensive, accessible and flexible
National Qualifications Framework (NQF). The framework is the means by
which national qualifications may be recognised throughout New Zealand and
overseas and includes processes for recognising prior learning or matching
overseas qualifications with New Zealand equivalents.

New Zealand has eight Universities offering undergraduate and postgraduate

degree programmes in academic and professional studies. All universities offer
a broad curriculum including commerce, science and the arts. Each university
has also developed its own specialist reputation for professional subjects, such
as engineering, computer studies, business studies, mining, medicine,
veterinary science, pharmacy and agriculture.

University of Auckland Auckland

Auckland University of Technology Auckland

Waikato University Hamilton

Massey University Palmerston North, Auckland, Wellington

Victoria University of Wellington Wellington

Canterbury University Christchurch

Lincoln University Christchurch

University of Otago Dunedin

Other tertiary establishments include 25 Polytechnics and four Colleges of

Education (Teacher Training). As well as the Universities, many of the
Polytechnics also offer undergraduate degree programmes.

Common policies and procedures

Your business might benefit from a number of different policies and
procedures. Although not all of them will be relevant to your business, you
could consider what your house rules might be on: code of conduct — this
should also cover privacy and conflicts of interest discipline, misconduct
and employment investigations health and safety holidays and leave

hours of work and overtime, including time in lieu and flexible work

arrangements information security internet, e-mail and social

media use leaving the business performance appraisals

recruitment, including reference checking resolving employment

issues

training and development travel use

of company equipment how to

handle customer complaints.

Workplace policies
Employees find it helpful to understand what the rules are that cover their
workplace. These can be provided in policies, procedures, codes, rules and
guidelines.

Policies

A policy usually has principles to be followed in a particular situation, for

example, a leave policy might explain expectations for staff requesting leave,
like applying at least a week in advance. Policies often have an accompanying
procedure, the policy often contains principles - the ‘what’, the procedure is
the ‘how’.

Procedure

A procedure explains the way something should be done, for example, the
forms that need to be filled out for requesting leave.

There’ll often (but not always) be both a policy and a procedure for a particular
topic. For example, health and safety policy might be linked to an accident
reporting procedure. The policy might cover:

the aims of keeping people safe

taking time off for illness achieving

a good work-life balance.

Code

Code’ can be used as another way of describing a policy, for example, a Code of
Conduct is really a policy on acceptable behaviour, a Dress Code is a policy on
appropriate dress in the workplace.

Guidelines

Guidelines are often used to guide a person’s thinking in a situation where they
have some discretion. Guidelines shouldn’t be prescriptive but provide a
framework of things to consider before a person makes a decision.
Employee performance
Working in a positive way with your employees to grow their performance will
increase employee engagement and help your organisation achieve its goals.

Growing performance
Ways to grow employee performance include setting expectations, rewarding
success, and developing and keeping high performance or potential as well as
dealing with performance issues.

Managing performance issues

If an employee is not doing their job in line with their employer’s expectations
this is a performance issue (sometimes called poor performance).

On-the-job training

Employees can learn on-the-job in many ways, from apprenticeships to

coaching and shadowing. The best approach depends on the person, their job
and their career development.

Health and Safety at Work

The Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 and related regulations apply to
employees and contractors.

The Act and related regulations require that workers and others are given the
highest level of protection from workplace health and safety risks, so far as is
reasonably practicable. This includes risks to both physical and mental health.

The Act introduces a new term, “Person Conducting a Business or Undertaking”

(PCBU), which captures employers, self-employed, principals to contracts,
manufacturers, designers, etc. who have the primary health and safety duties.
Workers also have duties under the Act. Workers include employees and
contractors.

Employee rights and obligations

Under New Zealand employment law, you and your employer both have
certain rights and obligations. For example, your employer is obliged to pay
you an agreed wage, and to make sure wherever you have to work is safe.
Your side of the bargain requires you to perform your job with care and
competence, among other things.

The legal manual produced by Community Law lists your basic rights and
obligations.

One of your obligations as an employee is to stay within the conditions of your

visa. If you have a work visa, it might be tied your employer, industry, or to a
particular city or region. If that’s the case and you want to switch jobs, you’ll
need to apply for a variation of conditions first.

Employment agreements
Even if you’ve already accepted a verbal offer for a job, you must sign a written
agreement before you start work.

Most larger companies offer collective employment agreements that have

been negotiated by a union. Even if you’re not a union member you can still
take advantage of the collective agreement, and use it as a basis for your
employment conditions.

If there’s something in your contract you’re not sure about, it’s quite
acceptable to take the agreement away to think it over, or to ask someone for
advice. If you want to negotiate the terms and conditions of your contract,
make sure you do it before you sign.

Joining a union is one of your rights as a New Zealand worker, and your
employer cannot influence your decision. Our Support in the Workplace page
has more information about unions.

Trial periods
It is not uncommon to be asked to do a 90-day trial in a new job. In fact, about
half of all employers in New Zealand use trial periods. It is not necessary to
accept a trial period, but if you do, it must be agreed to in writing before you
start work. If you want to negotiate, talk to your employer before you sign the
contract.
Leave and holidays
Most New Zealand workers would tell you they get a good amount of leave, at
least by international standards. Which is great given you have a new country
to explore, or if you need to go back home to visit family.

You’ll get a minimum of four weeks annual leave. If you want, you can ask to
exchange one week’s leave for cash. In addition, there are 11 public holiday
days.

If you work on a public holiday, your employer has to pay you extra. You may
also be able to take the holiday on another day - it’s called “taking a day in
lieu”.

Wages and deductions

The minimum wage for adults in 2018 is $16.50 an hour, or $660 for a standard
40-hour work week. There is no minimum wage for children under 16.

Income tax gets taken out of your wage before you get paid - these deductions
are known as PAYE (Pay As You Earn) tax.

Another, much smaller, deduction is for your ACC levy. ACC stands for Accident
Compensation Corporation which runs the insurance system New Zealand has
for covering the costs involved if you’re injured. Along with other benefits, if
you’re off work for an extended period because of an injury, ACC will
reimburse you for a large portion of lost wages.

Wages are usually advertised ‘before tax’. That’s something to keep in mind
when job-hunting, since the pay you actually take home will be lower.

You’ll need a tax number - if you don’t have one, you might be taxed a higher
amount than is necessary. It’s easy to get one right away. We tell you how on
our Tax page.

Aside from PAYE tax and the ACC levy, your employer isn’t allowed to make any
deductions from your pay without your permission.

If you become a New Zealand resident, you’ll have the option of joining
KiwiSaver, a work-based retirement savings initiative.
Discrimination and harassment
Discriminating against someone because of their gender, sexual orientation,
family status, marital status, colour, nationality or country of origin, race,
ethical belief/religion, political opinion, employment status, age or disability is
illegal in New Zealand.

Sexual harassment, including requests for sexual contact and any kind of
offensive or unwelcome sexual behaviour, is also illegal here.

If you think you have been discriminated against or sexually harassed in the
workplace, the Community Law website is a helpful resource.

Ending your employment

If you decide to leave your job, you need to give your employer notice and
continue to work for the notice period agreed to in your signed employment
contract.

If employers choose to make you leave your position through dismissal,

restructure, or redundancy, they need to follow a formal process. If they don’t
follow it properly, you could be entitled to compensation.

Thank you