How-to Guides - Community Resource Kit

part 1: pre-recruitment considerations

introduction

Many organisations start life with an all-volunteer base and then employ paid workers as activities increase, needs grow or resources emerge. Taking on people for the first time or adding paid workers to your volunteer base should be considered carefully.

This section on employment is divided into two parts:

• Part 1 (this part), which covers matters you need to think about before recruiting paid and/or volunteer workers (i.e. pre-recruitment considerations).
• Part 2 (sections A to F), which will deal with a number of things you need to do to be a good "employer" after you've decided to recruit. Topics will include:

  A. recruitment
  B. induction
  C. training and development
  D. performance monitoring
  E. managing disputes
  F. managing volunteers.

words used

Throughout this section the words "recruitment" or "recruiting" or "recruit" are often used. These are loose terms that are meant to describe both the acts of bringing volunteers on board your organisation and hiring paid workers.

The term "employer" is also used in a general way to refer to the person or persons within an organisation responsible for managing workers — paid and unpaid.

budgeting for recruitment

Before an organisation considers recruiting, a preliminary budget should be drawn up, which includes the:

Initial costs of —

• advertising
• labour — the organisation's time plus any paid interviewers etc
• vehicle running — the person's own or the organisation's car
• travel — if the organisation pays applicants to travel
• accommodation — for applicants from out of town
• incidentals e.g. photocopying, postage, toll calls
• major purchases — office furniture, stationery, a vehicle for the worker
• other equipment.

Ongoing costs of —

• salaries (including PAYE, ACC levies, holiday pay, increments, perhaps bonuses)
• relieving staff to cover for illness and leave entitlements of worker
• training and personal development (PD)
• vehicle running
• tea/coffee
• project funding — materials, advertising, postage etc
• phone, power, rent
• repair and maintenance of equipment
• travel — air fares etc
• fees for support networks and/or supervision.

human resource policies and procedures

Another part of preparing for recruitment is making sure that you have your human resource policies and procedures in place (see also Section 5 — Policies). Up-to-date, clear policies and procedures on recruitment and staffing make the hiring process straightforward and less time-consuming. Policies on e.g. probation (trial periods), employee orientation, workplace health and safety, and training and development etc clarify what management and employees expect of each other. Human resource policies are also a great source of information for a new worker.

legal obligations

Acts applying to people in your organisation

Finally, before recruiting, it's advisable to be aware of the legislation applying to people in your organisation and how to comply with it. Consider your legal obligations towards these workers as a good "employer" and your potential liability for their actions.

You will need to consider whether you want employees, volunteers or independent contractors working for your organisation, because the obligations you will owe to each of them are significantly different. You will generally have more legal obligations towards paid employees.

The following table lists and briefly describes the main Acts that are currently relevant to any employer. It pays to be familiar with the full details of these Acts which, as a group, represent employment law in New Zealand. But, remember that the law changes so it's a good idea to visit www.keepingitlegal.net.nz for the latest updates on these Acts.

The Employment Relations Act 2000

Good faith

The Employment Relations Act 2000 (the Act) is one of the main pieces of legislation relating to employment. It replaced the Employment Contracts Act 1991 and requires employees and employers to act in "good faith". That means they must deal with each other honestly and with mutual respect. Good faith and honest communication are particularly important during the hiring phase.

At the most basic level, good faith means employers are not allowed to mislead or deceive their employees or unions, and employees in return must not mislead or deceive employers. Employers also have to respect the authority of their employees' union and cannot discriminate for or against anyone based on their union membership.

Who does the Act cover?

The Act applies to every employee and employer, so a community organisation with any paid staff must conform to it. An employer may be an individual, a company, partnership, trust or incorporated society. An employee is any person employed by an employer to do any work for hire or reward (e.g. wages, salary or commission). Volunteers and independent contractors are not "employees" under the Act.

The Act now requires that all employment agreements must be in writing. For there to be an employment agreement, a position must be offered for hire or reward, and the offer must be accepted. The terms of the agreement should be negotiated before the offer is made.

Legal obligations owed to workers

To follow is a checklist (taken from Keeping it Legal E Ai Ki Te Ture) with questions to test your knowledge of the legal obligations and liabilities in relation to the recruitment of new employees, volunteers and independent contractors. The checklist may also indicate how well an organisation is doing (or not doing) with current workers.

If you answer "no" or "unsure" to any of these questions, you should make it a priority to find out the relevant information which is given in Keeping it Legal E Ai Ki Te Ture (Fact Sheets 9 and 16) available online at www.keepingitlegal.net.nz.

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