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Bring on 2021!

With reminders every day of how lucky we are to be living in NZ - some say Godzone and who are we to argue with New Year’s celebrations just like they were last year, music festivals going ahead and of course all those gatherings where we didn’t have to worry about headcounts! But for many, including most of the rest of the world, 2021 hasn’t started with the burst of optimism most had hoped.  Close to home there has been tragedy with a road toll in double digits and water fatali...

Changes to Temporary Work Visas

From mid-2021 Immigration New Zealand is introducing a new 3-check visa application system and replacing six temporary work visas with one.  Under the new system an employer will have to be accredited to hire any migrant worker.   The changes are intended to improve the temporary work visa system, put emphasis on employing and training more New Zealanders and ensure foreign workers are only recruited for genuine shortages. With the disruptions in 2020 to immigration, we urge ...

Is 2021 the Year to Decide Whether You’re a Manager or a Leader?

Actually, we’re being a bit misleading with that question – the truth is, those who are truly successful don’t choose – they are both.  Yes, there is a time and place for each, the trick is in knowing when to step out of the management role and into the leadership one.   Of course there’s no single ‘right answer’ to when management stops and leadership starts, but we thought this article was a great summary on the differences between the two, and when each is im...

Getting Your Life Back On Course

For many of us, once the madness of Christmas is over, the ‘summer holiday’ period is a time to catch a breath, catch up with friends and family, and reflect on the year that’s been and the year ahead.  And some of us even go so for as to set some goals for the coming year– call them new year’s resolutions if you like.  I don’t know about you, but my resolutions are almost always the same, and are almost always out the door by about 15 January.  I came a...

Mondayisation – What Does it Mean for Your Business?

This year Boxing Day and the 2nd of January both fall on a Saturday and are ‘Mondayised’.  You need to understand what this means for your team members and your business – the answers generally lie in when a team member normally works.  For many of you who have rosters that vary, and therefore ‘normally works’ is a pretty fluid concept, this can be a bit tricky to work out.  Check out this link from Employment New Zealand to help you understand how to...

E + R = O

Viktor Frankl was an Austrian psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor.  His equation E (Event) plus R (Response) = O (Outcome) is an easy way of helping us understand that events in and of themselves don’t dictate the outcome, how we respond to them plays a critical part in determining what happens. Like all good psychoanalytic theories, this one states the obvious and gives us a foundation to ‘hang’ discussions and analysis on.  Our challenge to you as we come to the end o...

Time to Meet Maja!

Maja (said Maya) has joined the No8HR team as our newest Consultant based in Te Awamutu. Maja is originally from Serbia, coming to New Zealand after working in UAE for nine years.  Maja’s background includes international experience in the airline, construction and the finance industry. Her MBA from Anglia Ruskin University, along with this varied experience means our clients and their teams are enjoying the diversity of thinking that Maja brings into their businesses.Sinc...

10 Forgotten Truths to Help You Get Through Hard Times

We came across this simple list, and in this year of all years, thought it more powerful – and more important – than ever.   The article really rings true for us (so much so that we’ll be sharing it with our teenagers) so for more insights and to really ‘get it’, we suggest you click through to the full article, but here are the 10 pearls… Pain is part of life, and it helps us growMindset is half the battleYour biggest fears don’t really existYou are growing thr...

Spring Sheep Milking Company…The Story Continues

We love to see businesses succeed, particularly NZ businesses who we have relationships with.  A business who we think is particularly exciting is Spring Sheep Milk Co – they are an innovative, customer-focused New Zealand business that is growing rapidly through clear execution of strategy.No doubt this contributed to their recent success at the Westpac Auckland Business Awards Central Gala Dinner last week, where they were announced as the winner of the Best Emerging Business Award...

So You Do More Than Recruitment?

Twice in the last 10 days we’ve had clients who have approached us about recruitment express surprise when they found out that we’re ‘more than a recruitment company’.  So we figure we better spread the word!   We work with a number of business in the ‘HR’ space…of course we do all the normal compliance stuff well, but what really makes us successful is how much we care about our clients’ businesses, and how important it is to us to be alongside these bus...

Have You Met Beverly?

Beverly joined our team in February….just weeks before we went into lockdown!  But she didn’t let that stop her – she hit the ground running, supporting clients with a range of Covid-19 related issues right off the batSince then she’s been busy building leadership capability, recruiting for a wide range of roles, and supporting clients as they deal with a range of people challenges.  You can read more about Beverly’s professional qualifications and extensive ex...

Payroll Plus!

Are you looking for a team that advises, provides great management information and doesn’t just ‘data enter?’ One of the reasons clients from the farming and non-farming sectors alike are increasing their use of our payroll services is because we do more than just ‘process the pay.’  Our in-depth knowledge of payroll legislation (as it is now and as it will change), and the nuances of non-standard rosters, changing employment patterns and worked hours, mean that our experts give y...

Are we asking ourselves the right questions?

As the scramble to find short term solutions to the COVID induced migrant workforce issue in New Zealand agribusiness keeps hitting home, the medium term question is how do we bridge the labour shortage gap over the next 10 years?  And after that, the real question is how does agriculture position itself for a new normal with increased technology and reducing operational workforce needs. Check out the article written by our very own Lee Astridge (and she pulls no punches!), recently pu...

Labour Shortage…is it the same in your industry?

Isn’t it ironic that with all the Covid-19 related job losses, we’re still facing a massive labour shortage, with the primary sector in particular facing a critical worker shortage as a result of border closures?  We thought these two articles, both relating specifically to the hort industry and the challenges in getting fruit off trees/vines we were well worth a look at, and raise different issues (and potential solutions) for the fruit picking industry.    https://www.s...

June 2021 Will Be Here Before You Know It

Yes, you read that right…time to start thinking about next season!  Chances are your farming business is in the middle of mating and you’re thinking about spring fert, round lengths and silage, but now is the time to be starting conversations and exploring options for next season.  We’re already in conversations with a number of people on both sides of the business-to-business arrangements, with farm owners starting to ask questions about who’s out there looking,...

Business starts to have their say about the government response to COVID-19

For some insights for some key business leaders on how the government has responded to Covid- 19, Stuff recently published a great article on the issue, clink on the link to read more https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/122945479/covid19-business-leaders-weigh-in-on-governments-coronavirus-response...

What Does the Election Result Mean for Your Business?

Now that the election is over and we have a result, here is a summary of the pre-election promises that the Labour Party made, that may come into effect in the future.Fair Pay Agreements Fair Pay Agreements are between unions and employers and set minimum terms and conditions of employment for all workers in an entire industry or occupation. Labour promised to introduce Fair Pay Agreement legislation for competitive industries, to set the minimum content that must be included in each Fair Pay Ag...

Smoking Hot Topic…Cannabis…

So if you’ve been in a dark cave somewhere you may not be aware of the Cannabis referendum that we vote on next month when we also vote for our favourite MPs and political parties… What we’ve found amusing about the cannabis referendum is the number of people who think that, if it passes, they will now be able to smoke weed at work.  So we though we’d set the record straight and also give you some tips on preparing should the vote be a YES. Firstly, if the referendum says ...

Equal Pay Amendment Bill – comes into force on 7 November

The guts of this one is that it changes how workers can make pay equity claims using NZ’s existing bargaining framework, thus removing some cost and time barriers that currently exist and put people off making claims.   By effectively making court action a last resort, this lowers the bar to employees initiating a pay equity claim So, some insights on what Pay Equity actually means:Gender cannot be a determining factor in the receiving of the same pay for jobs that are different...

Employment Relations (Triangular Employment) Amendment Act – came into force on 28 June

The Employment relations (Triangular Employment) Amendment Act is a more complex piece of legislation which will no doubt be tested by case law, but fundamentally it allows for a third party to be named in a personal grievance.     Whilst who will be considered third parties will need to be established by case law broadly you can think contract milker employees hired to work on a business owners farm as potential groups of employees who may fall into this category.  ...

Privacy Act Changes come into effect 1 December

We all store information in our businesses.  For some this is kept manually (at a basic level think payroll  and employee information), for others it is kept on complicated databases and customer relationship management systems.  Regardless, as soon as we hold private information about people we are responsible, under the Privacy Act to protect and keep this information, well, private. The Privacy Act 2000 brings our current privacy laws into the 21s century and in ...

Businesses and business leaders under pressure…

Did you take our resilience survey from our last newsletter? If you did what did you learn and, more importantly, what have you put into practice? If you didn’t, what’s stopping you gaining these insights and knowledge?  And we saw this article from the business.govt website and it was like they were looking over our shoulder….we all want NZ to go well and this article has some great tips on what to look out for, and how you can work to look after yourself, whether your business ...

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...