So you’ve decided to take the plunge and hire your first employee. Ideally, your employees should make your business life easier. Good staff can really help spread the load. You should also know that employing others comes with certain responsibilities. After all, it’s called an employment relationship. You’re making a
Many employers want to reward employees for outstanding achievements. One way to do that is to give your staff a bonus – to provide an incentive for higher levels of performance. Time and again, I see great intentions to begin with. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always play out as intended. Either it
Did you know that the law requires you to do certain things when making an offer of employment? The law recognises there’s an imbalance of bargaining power between employers and employees. Employers hold all the cards, so to speak. So the idea is to make employers give employees a fair
Finally, you’ve found the right person for the job! Their references check out, and they impressed you in their interviews. They will be perfectly suited to work in your business. Now it’s time to make them an offer of employment. How should you do this? Call them up? Send them
It is possible to be employed by more than one person at the same time for the same work. This situation can arise in situations where you are initially employed by one company to work for another closely related company. It might also arise if you are contracted to work
Employment relationships are always changing. Whether it’s due to new laws, new duties, new pay, new direct reports, new hours, a new location… The list goes on. So why have you not updated your employment agreements for your staff? As you might imagine, as a lawyer, I like things to
If you have ever bought or sold a house, you know the importance of vendor warranties. They give comfort to the buyer that the seller has disclosed any important issues related to the house. If it later turns out they have not, the buyer can bring a claim on the
You’ve accepted a new job offer? That’s great. Good for you. But did you know that even though you might not be starting your new role until a few weeks down the track, you’re already an employee of your new employer? You might wonder how that can be, when you
If you employ staff, you need to have employment agreements. It is the law. The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) offers an employment agreement builder. This is a quick way to build an employment agreement online. It is also free. However, there are certain improvements you can make
Sometimes you don’t need an employee forever, but just for a short duration. However, you don’t want a casual employee – you want someone you can rely on to turn up and work a set number of hours every day, even if it is for a limited time. You are
