Christmas Hiring and “Trial” Shifts

As we all juggle our business commitments with the pre-Christmas rush and the summer holiday period that follows, taking on new employees can be daunting at a time when you are already busy – what if they do not have the skills they say they have? What if they struggle to cope under pressure? How do you know that they will be a good fit? How can you shorten the process?

In positions where practical skills are required, employers are often keen to give candidates a “trial” as part of the interview process before offering them a job. It seems like a simple proposition – however, it is one that needs to be carefully navigated to prevent any future headaches. 

For a simple test of a candidate’s skill, the ideal situation is to complete a task as part of their interview (e.g. make a coffee) which you do not then go on to sell or gain from. When conducted in this manner, there really is extraordinarily negligible risk!

However, if we take that example of interviewing a barista, yes, they can make one wonderful coffee, but can they maintain that quality in a busy shift? If you want to trial them for a shift or part of one, you must tread carefully.

Firstly, if you are going to make a commercial gain from their work then you MUST pay them! Employers cannot use Trials as a source of free labour; you could easily be found in breach of the Employment Relations Act for that! 

But this is where the law gets a little fluffy with a Member of the Employment Relations Authority being the first person who can decide what you definitely can and cannot do under Employment Law. That Authority Member is a personal grievance claim, approximately 12 months, and unnecessary stress and legal fees away. You do not want to go there!

You can offer casual work to a candidate which does not guarantee hours or days of work however, neither are they obliged to accept any hours you offer. Therefore, you may want to offer them a permanent or fixed term position with a 90-day trial however, you may need to think again. You now have prior knowledge of them in the workplace prior to hiring them so, this could invalidate your ability to implement a full 90-day trial. 

Therefore, you may wish to forego the trial period but, if you wish to incorporate a trial period into your agreement, the employee must implicitly know about the 90-day trial, with reasonable time to consider the implications, in advance of agreeing to it, for it to be legally relied on.

The starting date for a permanent or fixed term contract would be the date of the paid trial, even if this is two weeks prior. The updated terms of employment will be effective from first shift of the permanent or fixed term position. 

To support your new hires in the workplace and ensure that you are providing a pathway to success with your organisation, we highly recommend developing and monitoring an internal induction program to provide clarity around your expectations and to quickly identify training needs.

At EASI NZ we specialise in supporting small to medium businesses to successfully navigate their employer obligations line with organisational strategy and values.