What will 2011 mean for your business?
Employment statistics, released during the recent Employers and Manufacturers Association briefings for February, show positive trends in employment figures for the Bay of Plenty.
While the overall national unemployment rate has shown an increase, the Bay of Plenty unemployment rate decreased from 8.6 per cent
to 7.3 per cent in the December quarter.
This is encouraging for businesses in the region that are experiencing growth, albeit slow and steady, for the first quarter so far.
Jobs Online statistics show a 7.1 per cent rise in advertised "skilled" jobs and a 6.9 per cent increase in total advertised jobs during the three-month lead-in to Christmas.
This increase in advertised jobs was experienced across most regions and in all industries spanning the major occupational groups.
Normally we would experience a reduction in advertised jobs directly before Christmas and this is a possible catalyst to a number of businesses experiencing a busy start to the year.
Being an election year, there will be many things to consider that will have an impact on your business.
A number of legislative changes are coming into effect from April 1. The minimum wage will rise from $12.75 to $13 for employees aged 16 years and older.
The 90-day, grievance-free trial period will be available to all businesses irrespective of size - previously it was only available to businesses with less than 20 employees. Therefore, it will be pertinent to ponder the implementation process of this piece of legislation should you wish to incorporate it into your individual employment agreements.
It is also important to note, as of July 1, all employers must retain, and supply on request, a signed copy of the employment agreement.
If the individual employment agreement is not signed or has not been agreed to, a copy of the terms and conditions of employment must be made available.
Payroll staff will have new challenges to conquer as Relevant Daily Pay will be recalculated on an average of 52 weeks, as opposed to the previous four weeks, and the cashing up of statutory entitlement to annual leave, as requested by the employee and agreed to by the employer.
Staff can cash up to one week's leave from April 1.
This also gives food for thought as employers now could be faced with 53 weeks to pay instead of the traditional 52 weeks.
