News Roundup

The Role of HR - HRNZ Member Survey

HRNZ’s recent Member survey aimed to understand why Members entered the HR profession, what they spend most of their time on and what tasks and policies they would like to see removed.

As expected, most respondents got into HR due to their love of working with people and making a difference to those in organisations. As a profession, it is clear we have a passion for uplifting capability, wellness and overall employee experiences.

The tasks performed by HR professionals were not surprising, although they did highlight the broad range of demands and expectations on the profession and the pressure faced by many to cover so many bases.

Performance management, leave policies and, more generally, the Holidays Act 2003 led the way in terms of what policies or processes could be deleted (or recycled). The dream state of some HR practitioners is a utopic world where policies are a thing of the past and processes hum along neatly with little or no intervention from us; but, for many, we’re not quite there yet.

While many respondents said their policies could do with some tidying up or reviewing, most of our surveyed professionals wouldn’t actually throw any out. Instead, there seems to be a good level of appetite to make them succinct, more logical and cohesive.

For more detail on the results of the survey, read full report.

For more insights on policies, see our PD Spotlight column on page 46, by Debbie Dawson.

New 2021 resident visa

On 30 September 2021, the government announced a new one-off residence visa pathway for some temporary work visa holders currently in New Zealand.

This opens eligibility for around 165,000 migrants currently in New Zealand. Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi said, “This is something employers have asked for and we are delivering. Employers will now have the opportunity to retain their settled and migrant workers, reflecting the critical part they play in our economy, essential workforce and communities.”

From 1 November, New Zealand employers will only be able to support migrant workers on one type of visa, the Essential Skills Work Visa (ESWV).

The ESWV is a temporary work visa that individuals can apply for only after they have a job offer from a New Zealand employer and have the necessary experience and qualifications to fill that job.

Unlike the Work to Residence visas, where visa applicants had to be paid a minimum annual salary, under the ESWV, a worker can qualify for a work visa at any salary level.

It still remains of utmost importance that employees hold valid and appropriate temporary visas at all times, be it a Talent Visa (submitted while the category is open) or an ESWV. While holding a resident visa puts a migrant worker on equal footing with New Zealanders and their work rights, the employer must ensure the correct work visa is maintained until the worker’s residence is granted.

For more information, see our article from Rachael Mason, Lane Neave Partner, on page 34.

Pay equity in New Zealand

New Zealand’s gender pay gap remained relatively unchanged, at 18.5 per cent, according to an analysis by Strategic Pay.

More than ever before, this analysis shows that organisations must examine the gender pay gap of their organisations. These findings, published in the 2021 Pay Equity Booklet, allow organisations to examine how they stack up within their sector or industry. This can then help inform decisions and encourage organisations to take a more active role in reducing their gender pay gap.

Currently, just 19 per cent of large organisations (annual revenue above $300 million) have a female CEO. According to the analysis, the main increase in the pay gap is within the top roles, indicating that fewer women are progressing into senior roles.

These findings are based on a sample of over 187,000 employees. They show that, on average, bonuses received by women were almost 50 per cent smaller than men’s and that women also received nearly 20 per cent less KiwiSaver, 32.2 per cent less in car allowance, and the value of their car was almost 20 per cent lower.

Unfortunately, the analysis also indicates that, for females, a ‘$100,000 job’ was noticeably larger than for males (ie, females are still paid less than males for the same size job). Unless we address both pay equity and employment equity, the gap will not go away.

For more insights into the gender pay gap, go to page 36, to read Jess Stuart’s tips to address the gender confidence gap.

'Great Resignation' or Vacation

A for New Zealand organisations to plan not only for the ‘Great Resignation’ but the ‘Great Vacation’ this summer, because a poll reveals one-in-four workers intends to use more annual leave than they did 12 months ago.

Despite the imminent arrival of the government’s new ‘traffic light’ system, a recent poll by Frog Recruitment reveals that 39 per cent of Kiwi workers are planning to log off for three-to-four weeks over summer. If regional restrictions are relaxed to orange or green, even more Kiwis – 57 per cent – will take ‘a few extra days’ away from work.

Frog Recruitment Managing Director Shannon Barlow said the expectation of a lockdown-free summer, or at least enjoying part of the summer out of lockdown, is tantalising for workers.

“Kiwi employees are embracing the prospect of enjoying a longer-thanusual summer holiday.

“Employers will need to plan ahead and deploy more resources to cover longer gaps in their work rosters and annual leave calendars over the summer months.” Barlow said she is not surprised people will be redeeming annual leave, because the poll revealed

66 per cent of respondents used less holiday leave in 2021, with 56 per cent of workers taking less than a week off work this year.

“With rising rates of pandemicinduced burnout, and an alarmingly high rate of mental health issues in the workplace, the festive season will be a much-needed circuit breaker for over-worked New Zealanders to enjoy more freedom than they have had for months. We urge employers to encourage their people to use up their accrued leave and take a wellearned break.”