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Kia Kaha Auckland

Early on Saturday morning No8HR’s Lee Astridge quietly emailed some mates and asked the question:  How can we let Auckland know that we care? And less than 26 hours after the first conference call on Monday morning https://www.facebook.com/KiaKahaAuckland/ was live….a place where rural New Zealand can say ‘thank you’ to Auckland for the work they are doing to keep us all safe. So come on, speak from the heart, get creative, involve the whanau…sho...

A Truly Kiwi Experience

Just over a week ago I went to Westport.  Not an easy place to get to from the Waikato with the flight to Wellington, and six hour wait in the airport before getting on the Sounds Air flight.  Needless to say, I wasn’t looking forward to it.  But my experience during that journey was so quintessentially Kiwi and such a reminder of what it really means to be Kiwi.  Here’s a few examples… Sitting in Wellington airport in the middle of a winters th...

Update for Farmers

This is an update from Beef & Lamb and the Meat Industry Association; we thought it was worth sharing far and wide..... The Government has announced that as of midday 12 August, the Greater Auckland region would move back to Alert Level 3 and the rest of the country would move to Alert Level 2.  The following is a summary of what that means for farmers now, but we also strongly encourage you to review your systems and ensure you are prepared in case the alert levels are increased in the nea...

You Look Great in that Mask!

Following the announcement by the Prime Minister that there is a case of community transmission in South Auckland, and that the greater Auckland area will re-enter Alert Level 3 from midday today and the rest of the country into Level 2 we’re confident that ‘we’ve got this’ and NZ’s team of 5 million will again triumph. Key implementation steps across NZ are: 2m physical distancing in public1m physical distancing in work places, cafés and restaurantsGet those masks and put t...

If you're under pressure...

The first case of unfair dismissal following a failure to follow a fair process in a redundancy consultation have made it through the Employment Relations Authority.  Having a good reason to make changes in your business is not enough, you also need to follow a good process as these employers found out.  Speak to us if you need help. https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/300064548/tasman-firm-sollys-freight-ordered-to-pay-58000-in-first-covid-redundancy-case...

Crime Up?

We found this article talking about the future of crime in NZ in the near future as a result of COVID and the challenges an economic recession….not great reading but we think it’s worth you knowing about…what’s your community going to do about this? https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/122223019/coronavirus-police-predict-the-emergence-of-a-new-group-of-criminals-post-covid19?cid=app-iPhone...

Unemployment Rate Commentary

The drop in the unemployment rate announced earlier this month (to 4%) was unexpected and a closer look at the figures shows areas of concern that will impact the job market into the near and medium future:There is in fact a large increase in the number of people who are ‘under-employed’ – that is working less than they’d like to be.  Read hospitality and retail jobs under pressure and employers cutting hours rather than jobs, at least in the short term.  There’s no...

More Complex Restructuring Decisions

Getting your selection criteria right when the restructure in your business means that your selection pool for redundancies is wider than just one person is one of the more complex parts of a redundancy process.  As more and more business’ come to grips with making some tough decisions, don’t let a process mistake mean you’re at risk from an employee claim. Much is being said about an increase in employee claims in this post COVID environment, but it kind of follows that this wil...

58% of farmers attribute stress and stress related symptoms to their most recent injury!

Often Research serves to re-enforce what we intuitively already know, and so it was with the research findings from Farmstrong into the causes of injuries.  As we head into the busy season on farm, if you haven’t already seen this Farmers Weekly article, make sure you take a break, get some sleep, connect with others and have a read….we’re all in this together!  https://farmersweekly.co.nz/se......

Regional Apprenticeship Initiative Scheme

The Regional Apprenticeship Initiative Scheme could help you... A $40m Regional Apprenticeship Initiative funded by the Provincial Growth Fund is designed to support up to 1000 new apprentices and their employers in regional New Zealand.  This is a great opportunity for our sector with up to $40k per apprentice on offer!  Whether you are a large or small employer, take a look and see what you can do to help yourself and help others join the rural revolution! https://www.growr...

Changes to Paid Parental Leave

Paid Parental Leave extended to 26 weeks from 1 July... From 1 July if an employee meets the ‘six month test,’ that is they’ve been employed by you for at least an average of 10 hours per week for six months or more) then they are now eligible for 26 weeks parental leave.  For employees who meet the 12 month test you are required to provide 52 weeks.  The ‘keep in touch’ allowance has also changed.  Find out more at:  https://www.business.govt.nz/news...

Great Business, Great People, Great Results...

Once again, No8HR is enormously proud to be associated with the Dairy Business of the Year Awards.   This year’s Supreme winners were Richard and Nadine McCullough from McCullough farm Partnership in the Waikato.  As well as the Supreme Award, Richard and Nadine scooped the Lowest Environmental Impact Award and Best Waikato Farm Performance Awards.   With a 6.2% return on assets and a 44% profit margin, the McCulloughs indeed proved that that excellent business re...

Great Places & Great Citizen Moments…

Some shout outs to people making a difference, big and small Tinopai on the Kaipara Harbour There’s a little place called Tinopai on one of the gentle arms of the Kaipara Harbour in Northland.  At Tinopai at some point in the past the community got together and decided to build a wharf that today is used by local and visiting fishing fans alike.  As I walked this wharf on a recent trip north I was inspired by what this simple act of planning and community spirit had achieve...

Get Inspired

If you’re up for some personal development and are prone to ‘overthinking’ then this is a good one…..be like Houdini! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ICREZm9CtE...

Team Size, Friend Numbers and some simple leadership sense

Reading this article from leadership Guru Charles Handy reiterates some of those intuitive principles we all know as leaders…with numbers comes complexity and the requirement for new thinking…or is it simply a case of ‘breaking down the numbers in the group?’  We think this is worth a read…  https://www.strategy-business.com/article/The-wisdom-of-Charles-Handy?gko=6b365&utm_source=itw&utm_medium=itw202004604&utm_campaign=resp...

8 Steps Programmes Coming Up –Virtual and Face-to-Face!!!

Following our success with facilitation in the enforced ‘on-line’ culture of lockdown, we’re instigating a virtual 8 Steps Programme.  And because it’s the first time this full programme will be presented on-line in this way we’re applying a special discounted rate…and we’ve programmed it in the evenings so that it will work for those of you with busy lives.   Monday          6 July Monday          13 July M...

Under Pressure

Getting It Right Before You and Your Business Are Under Too Much Pressure We all know that calving is tough.  There’s the long hours, increased complexity and the knowledge that what you do now significantly impacts your business’ performance next year. You can’t afford to go in to calving with things at anything less than 100%.  So if you’re struggling with any team member issues, work productivity or just feel like the farm is  ‘not where you want it to ...

Great Jobs....

Great jobs available now and year around… More and more we’re seeing a shift in recruitment in the dairy sector away from its traditional focus on 1 June.  We support this for a number of reasons: It makes us really think about what jobs we need doing on farm when, and maybe having three full time team members all year around isn’t the right answer – there are lots of great ideas on alternatives out there and there are lots of people looking for ‘non-traditional’ farmi...

Leadership & Resilience

COVID has tested our leadership strength, but it is an immutable truth of life and leadership that every person’s strength can also be a weakness.  This article from Adam Bryant published in PwC insights is particularly good in helping us understand the downsides or resilience and ‘going it alone.’ https://www.strategy-business.com/blog/The-downside-of-resilient-leadership?gko=4823b&utm_source=itw&utm_medium=itw202004521&utm_campaign=resp...

Unconscious Bias

I, along with most of the world, remain aghast that racial violence and bias remains so prevalent in the world today.  The killing of George Floyd in the US is yet another reminder that as human beings we need to continue to strive to simply be better people.   Conscious bias is simply not acceptable but here I want to focus on unconscious bias.  Unconscious bias is a mindset we all suffer from and I want us to challenge ourselves to bring our unconscious bias into the l...

Kick or Pick the Lockdown Habit

I wish we could say we came up with this expression, but we didn’t, it’s from the Government's Get Sorted programme but we liked it, and the sentiment behind it, so we want to share it with you. Like lots of families over lockdown we created some new habits and at our extended family zoom meeting last Sunday we talked about the things that we wanted to ‘stay changed’ even though we were out of lockdown.  The range of responses was interesting: Eat less takeaways Travel less See...

Alert Level 1

Focus on recovery...but don't forget to celebrate! Kiwi culture is notorious for its understatement.  And whilst we are often quietly proud of our successes we seldom shout them from the rooftops.  Our success with COVID-19 is another example of this.  We are letting the world ‘find out’ about our success story by ‘looking at the numbers’ and monitoring our media; we don’t want to appear smug when so many others are still suffering; we know we are privileg...

Bursting (Out of) Your Bubble

Is it just me or did everyone look a little bit different…better? After nearly eight weeks of only seeing people outside my bubble over ZOOM, facetime or some other pixelated medium we, I suspect like most of the country, had an extended family dinner last night (following all the rules of course and I’m happy to report only eight as Mum and Dad decided to keep to their bubble for another few days).   And as I looked around the table and we shared our highlights and lowlights ...

We Like Data...

And we thought this analysis by Newsroom reporter Farah Handcock published yesterday (Thursday 14 May) was a great summary of how NZ has navigated the COVID19 crisis as told ‘by the numbers.’  As we said in our last newsletter – something for us all to be proud of… https://www.newsroom.co.nz/covid-19/2020/05/13/1101216/covid-19-in-nz-the-numbers ...

Budget 2020

Today we, like most businesses, are analysing what the budget means for us.  There’s lots in it and there is a focus on business and, not surprisingly, the health sector.   Below are a couple of links to help you negotiate what this budget could mean for you and your business.   https://treasury.govt.nz/sites/default/files/2020-05/b20-wellbeing-budget.pdf https://treasury.govt.nz/publications/budgets/budget-2020...