COMPULSORY LAW CHANGE – Holidays Act and the Employment Relations Act. 

Parliament has passed the changes to the Holidays Act 2003 and the Employment Relations Act 2000.    

Most changes for both Acts will come into effect on 1 April, 2011. The Employment Relations Amendment Act 2010 and Holidays Amendment Act 2010 introduce a wide range of legislative amendments.  

The main changes to the Holidays Act include:

• The ability for employees to cash in a maximum of one week of annual holidays.

• Transferring public holidays to another working day.

• Proof of sickness requirements

The main changes to the Employment Relations Act include:

• Extending trial periods to all employers

• Changes to the personal grievance provisions

• Requiring consent to be given before a union can access a workplace, and confirming communication with employees can occur during collective bargaining.

• Requiring employers to retain employment agreements 

• Extending the role and powers of labour inspectors.

For further information on changes to the Holidays Act 2003 and the Employment Relations Act 2000 visit the website: http://www.ers.dol.govt.nz/updates/index.html

Visit us on / for further updates on changes to the two Acts.

2011 CFO SUMMIT 

Chief Financial Officers are becoming increasingly responsible for the overall formation and execution of business direction and strategy. If your organisation has a CFO, then this is a summit they will want to attend.    

The 2011 New Zealand CFO Summit is taking place on 24 March, 2011 at the SKYCITY Convention Centre, Auckland. This intensive one-day summit will discuss financial performance and innovation, along with the role of the CFO in implementing strategy and delivering business results. Datacom PaySystems is delighted to announce that we will be exhibiting at the summit. 

Gather up your colleagues and CFO; come visit us at Exhibition Booth 9. The exhibition will be open to you from 10:25am, Thursday 24th March.  

World Travellers Christchurch City is jointly owned by Tourism Development Ltd and Guthrey Holdings Ltd, both well established Christchurch-based family companies with a passion for travel and honest trading.   

Travel marketing is not about what they sell, it is about why they sell it. World Travellers thrive on finding solutions to any worldwide travel challenge, be it a complex round-the-world business itinerary, or a unique, experiential getaway to a remote dive site. 

With a wide array of consultants, you will feel the dedication and the drive to make your holiday a dream holiday. World Travellers staff are independent travel professionals who are passionate travellers themselves. No matter what your area of interest may be, World Travellers have the expertise to manage and deliver exceptional itineraries around the world. 

Since 2007, World Travellers have been using NetPay, Datacom’s online payroll solution to manage their payroll whenever and wherever they may be. With time saved using NetPay, the consultants are able to devote more time to their passion, travel.

“I am writing this to express my satisfaction in regards to your site. I have recently taken over the administration at World Travellers Christchurch City. 

One of my tasks is doing the wages for full time employees on a fortnightly basis as well as for our travel brokers on a monthly basis. At the onset I thought it would be a daunting task. After speaking to your efficient payroll consultants in the initial days, I have been able to achieve a better understanding of how the payroll system works. 

I have since found your site easy to use with the right tools in place with minimum, or rather, no margin for any errors.    

I usually speak to Dilan, who I must say is patient with my queries and has always made the tough jobs easy for me to understand. I will recommend Datacom to anyone who would like to use your services in the future.”

Alvin Fernandez, World Travellers - Consultant

“Many thanks Datacom, I am impressed.”

Larry Lumsden, World Travellers
Christchurch City Managing Director

To find out more about World Travellers passion and their adventurous panel of experts visit: http://www.worldtravellerschristchurch.co.nz/Home.aspx

THE SECRET OF A GREAT PLACE TO WORK 

Many people think the idea of a “great place to work” is just another fluffed up concept. But these organisations really do exist and it is only by believing that it’s possible, writes David Creelman.    

There are all kinds of programs you can implement to try to create a great place to work. You can have nice benefits like a gourmet cafeteria, flex-time and child care facilities. You can build good communication through employee surveys, town hall meetings and open book management. You can be flexible in job design so that employees get to use their strengths. But none of these provide the secret of creating a great place to work.

Do you believe?

Imagine a young person joins your organisation. It is their first job but before you know it they are complaining about how slow decision making is, how the meetings seem a waste of time, how there is a lot of politics. This is when you pull them aside and explain that all organisations are like this and they had better get used to it. There is a lot of truth to this. Organisations are never the smoothly running machines we might imagine they should be. Leigh Branham, author of Re-engage, told me the story of the San Francisco newspaper reporter who was first asked to write about great places to work. His question was “Are there any?” 

Most organisations are not great places to work. They may not be bad, but the idea that when people wake up in the morning they are so keen about their job that they just can’t wait to get to work is a bizarre concept for most people. When you hear stories about great places to work it’s natural to think “That’s just a fluffed up news story, it can’t really be like that.”

But Branham says that while great places to work are rare, they really do exist. Branham quotes employees saying things like; “Managers value your input and realise you’re only human…”, “Communications is top-notch. It is never difficult to reach a manager or even the owner…”, and “I could make much more money elsewhere but there isn’t any place else I’d rather work”.The first secret to creating a great place to work is that you have to believe it’s possible. 

You need to want it

Branham says the one thing that great places to work have in common is that the CEO believes it is possible to have a great place to work and wants to create one. And here’s my feeling; creating a great place to work isn’t all that complicated. It’s not a matter of needing to be super creative in designing programs or having a big budget for taking care of employees. Rather it is that every decision is taken in light of whether it contributes to or harms the mission of creating a great place to work. All the programs that make the news, whether it be bringing your dog to work or unlimited sick leave, simply flow naturally from managers caring about making a great place to work.

There is an important point that needs to be emphasised. That point is that every decision is made in light of this goal, rather than there just simply being support for HR’s great place to work program. If you want a great place to work then you won’t sell a shoddy product because you know that will embarrass the people who work there. You won’t scrutinise expense claims as if employees are criminals because that will alienate people. Those choices are marketing and accounting decisions – not part of any HR program. That’s the key to a great place to work. Everyone keeps employee well-being in mind – it’s just a part of how they think about the world.

What HR can do

In an ideal world you would immediately be chosen as the next CEO and from there you could put creating a great place to work high on the agenda. Since that’s a long shot, HR leaders have to use their influencing skills. But remember that you are not influencing the CEO to fund an HR led great place to work program; you are trying to convince the CEO that a great place to work is indeed possible and not some foolish pipe dream.

Once they truly believe it is possible, once they can envision it, can taste it, then it may not be too big a step for them to embrace it as a really good idea. You can show them the evidence that great places to work are more productive and have a stronger bottom line. However, you don’t need extensive statistical arguments, anyone with an imagination can see that if the people love their workplace they’ll get a lot more work done.

So that’s the secret. Make the CEO believe in his or her heart that it really is possible. Help them really see it and then positive change will come.

http://www.humanresourcesmagazine.com.au/articles/AD/0C0690AD.asp?Type=61&Category=872

As of 1st January 2011, DatacomPeople has registered with 500 million other users around the world.    

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