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Covid-19 Resurgence - Looking after your business and your employees

There is so much information out there at the moment for employers managing their employees during the resurgence of Covid-19 in New Zealand, to make things easier for you, here is a summary of the key points, focusing on: Looking after your employees during Covid-19 Vaccinations Summary of Support Available for Businesses Looking after your employees during Covid-19 The best things you can do as an employer: Encourage and support workers to stay home if they are sick.  The ‘she’ll be ...

Newsletter January 2021

To view the FULL January 2021 Newsletter click  HERE...

All "Onboard"!

Onboarding (noun) "The process of  ensuring a new employee or customer becomes familiar with an organisation or its products and services."Oxford Dictionary....

Working From Home

Working From Home – is it as simple as taking your laptop home? As a result of the COVID-19 lockdown periods in New Zealand, many employers are now considering the benefits of employees working from home, either on set days, for a fixed term or permanently. Working from home can be a positive experience for employers and employees.  Benefits can include: A better work life balance for the workerImproved productivity as there can be less distractionsIncreased job satisfaction However worki...

Newsletter June 2020

To view the FULL June 2020 Newsletter click HERE...

Coming and Goings

(L to R: Hayley, Larissa & Claire) Welcome Hayley ArnoldWe are very excited to welcome Hayley Arnold to the HR Connect team. Hayley has over 15 years experience working in Human Resources and Organisational Development, both in New Zealand and overseas.Hayley has experience in the agriculture, health, education and mining sectors and has recently worked for the Waikato Regional Council.  She is passionate about building relationships, putting strategy into action and enjoys w...

Outplacement & Career Transition Support

Redundancy is an emotional experience for employees and employers alike. It can have a tremendous impact on an organisation, depending on how the process is handled. Outplacement may be perceived as a luxury for larger businesses but for SMEs that have unavoidable peaks and troughs, outplacement can be an essential brand protection tool. It can keep your existing staff happier and more settled and help affected staff find new opportunities. HR Connect’s Career Transition Services are...

Preparing for Change

It's clear that many small to medium NZ businesses will, despite best efforts, struggle to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic, and the subsequent restrictions on operating in Level 4, 3 and beyond.  Many are already thinking about needing to change the shape of their workforce, to aid their recovery, and perhaps ultimately survive.  Here's some key principles to consider when making workplace change or restructuring: 1. It's important to invest time developing a business case, and ensu...

Newsletter May 2020

To view the full April 2020 Newsletter click:HERE...

Health & Safety at Alert Level 3

Yesterday the Government provided us with more detail about what Alert Level 3 will look like for businesses and advised businesses to start to think about how they could work safely at Alert Level 3. (Keeping in mind that a date for Level 3 has not been announced). The COVID-19 website was updated and Level 3 details provided here: https://covid19.govt.nz/alert-system/alert-level-3/ The Government stated that a Self-Accreditation Scheme will be available for businesses and that this will help b...

Newsletter Help is At Hand

View the Help is At Hand Newsletter in full: HERE...

Newsletter March 2020

Here we are in March already and what a year it has been so far. In December last year, Anne Aitken, a well known and respected practitioner in the HR community, retired and we warmly welcome her clients to HR Connect.  Over the next few months I look forward to meeting you all. This week the World Health Organisation has declared the coronavirus a 'pandemic', with the implications of the virus becoming more and more widespread and affecting most of us in one way or anot...

HR Connect October 2019 Update

As the year moves along we are finally seeing signs of Spring and with it a bit more of a spring in our steps to boot.We've had some people changes here at HR Connect, and whilst we welcome new faces we also say good bye to an old one.After eight years with us, Denise Thomas accepted a permanent position as Head of People and Capability with our client, Waikato Milking Systems (WMS).  Denise has been instrumental in the growth of HR Connect making it the company it is to...

Employment Law Changes

The Labour Government has made legislative changes to employment law (The Employment Relations Amendment Act 2018), some of which have already taken effect, with the minimum wage changing on 1 April 2019, and other changes taking effect from 6 May 2019. If you employ staff, you may need to know about these changes and ensure you're ready for them. CHANGES ALREADY IN FORCE (EFFECTIVE 12 DECEMBER 2018) Changes affecting all employers: • If requested by the employee, reinstatement will be the fir...

Health & Safety Hot Topic

Two companies in the last year received sentencing related to inadequate machinery guarding. Both sentences were related to Section 36 (1)(a), 48 (1) and 2 (c) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 2105: In one case the worker had his hand drawn into the gap between a roller and a metal plate on a wood processing machine - two fingers were damaged and required surgical amputation. In the other case, a worker was using a press style machine and attempted to free some stuck material - the worker re...

Newsletter December 2017

A very happy end of year to you all.  I don't know about you but the year has just flown!It's been a busy and productive year for us and we look forward to a break over summer while also planning for 2018. We had our Christmas party last week where we puzzled our way (some more than others) through the escape rooms at Perplexity and then sat down to a gorgeous lunch at Zealong Tea Estate.  I reflected that we really don't do enough team things as it's often hard to get everyone to...

Choosing a competent Health & Safety Consultant

As a business, it's important to ensure that you are getting your Health & Safety (H&S) advice from someone who is deemed to be competent. A competent person is defined as someone who has the right skills, knowledge and experience to carry out a task. Up until recently, anyone could call themselves an H&S Professional but now the Health and Safety Association of New Zealand (HASANZ) has developed a HASANZ Register so that businesses can easily find reliable and competent advice and services. To ...

700 words

There’s no getting away from it – it’s a big number, half a century, a test cap in certain ‘codes’; at the very least worthy of a party with some awkward retro photos and a ‘big night up’ that you practice staying up late for, but some of us would much sooner let that large number slide by; cleverly disguised by a ‘weekend away’ or a quiet few drinks with friends and family. By 50 you’ve got ‘history’ – not so much ‘mail’, a story, had a life…with all its com...