Hiring an employee
If you’re a sole trader, contractor, in a partnership or own a
small business — or you advise any of these people — here’s
where you’ll find tips, tools and visual guides to help with
hiring, for example:
- who to hire and when
- how to interview
- what it really costs to take people on.
Use our tools to build legally safe employment agreements
and workplace policies.
Deciding to hire
Tips and tools for when you're thinking about taking on staff
When to hire staff
Taking on staff is a big decision. Here’s some advice and a great tool to help you decide when to do it.
Take advice
Three out of four small businesses use outside experts to help make key decisions. These include advisors — like accountants or lawyers — business colleagues, industry groups and banks.
How to become an employer
If you want to hire permanent, fixed-term or casual staff, you’ll first need to register as an employer with Inland Revenue.
Employee Cost Calculator
Add up the true costs of hiring staff — salary, recruitment and training — before you take the next step.
Test yourself on staff types
Know the difference between a casual worker and a part-timer? Test yourself on all staff types with our quiz.
When you're done, follow links from the answers to pick up tips and find out more.
Forecast your cash flow
Cash flow is an indicator of your business’s financial health. Forecasting your cash flow helps you have better conversations with your bank or advisor.
Hiring people
Tips and tools to help you hire with confidence
How to do a job interview
Hiring the right person will help your business grow. Get tips on what to ask and how to ask it.
Minimum wage and fair pay
As an employer, you’ll need to keep up to date with the latest minimum pay rates and follow any Fair Pay Agreement that applies to your industry.
Common things for new employees
Download this list of what to get ready before your new employee's first day on the job — you can customise it to suit your business.
Setting up a new employee
You’ve hired someone — now follow these steps to set them up in your systems and settled in their new role.
Case study
Nipping problems in the bud
Jon, a science teacher, is offered a permanent job at an area school near Cromwell. He tells the acting principal he’d like to look over the collective agreement before signing his letter of offer. The principal agrees.
Jon asks his union, the Post Primary Teachers’ Association, to go through the collective agreement and letter of offer with him. They immediately notice it’s out of date — a new collective agreement is in place. Jon tells the principal why he won’t sign the letter of offer and points out the salary increments have gone up.
The principal apologises and gives Jon the correct agreement. Jon signs the letter of offer and both Jon and the principal are happy that the union helped spot the mistake and avoid future problems.
Managing people day-to-day
Guides and tools to make sure you get employment right
How to pay employees for leave
Whether you’re paying staff for holiday, parental or sick leave, our introduction to holidays and leave helps you get it right.
It's not all about paperwork
It's about creating a work environment where everyone behaves in a safe and healthy way. Here's how to get everyone involved in H&S.
What records you need to keep
Employers must keep specific information on file about each employee. Download this list to make sure you're getting all the required information in your personnel files.
Case study
Weighing options
For five years, Ben’s Gardening Service has mown and weeded suburban gardens. Ben, the owner and only gardener, has found it easy to keep on top of the work and the invoicing. His accountant handles his GST and tax responsibilities.
Having won a contract to maintain the grounds of two retirement villages, Ben considers hiring another gardener. After discussing it with his accountant — and using the Employee Cost Calculator(external link) to check if he can afford help — Ben decides on a permanent employee working three days a week.
Ben’s plan is for his new employee to take over the existing clients, while he concentrates on the retirement grounds, the paperwork, and winning new work. Ben’s happy his business is growing and that he took the time to figure out what kind of employee he needs.