Employment – issues for small business

The National Government has introduced the controversial 90 day trial provisions for new employees. What does this mean for small businesses? I believe that this will only be good for them and will encourage employers by lessening the risk to them. Whatever the do-gooders suggest, the reality is that the existing laws clearly and definite favour the employee – in my opinion, fat too much. It is time that the pendulum swings back a little (or a lot) the other way.

Surely the reality of the situation is that from a genuine employee’s perspective he/she would want to get stuck in and prove themselves so that their position is made permanent and they secure their position. From a genuine employer’s perspective, all they want is a worthwhile employee who can deliver the goods rather than some free-loader or opportunist who simply wishes to coast along at the employer’s expense. If this new approach lessens the risk from the employer’s perspective then I am all for it. As for the suggestion that employers would somehow seek to take advantage by means of engineering a steady turnover of willing employees every three months – what rubbish!! Employers have businesses to run and there is a huge hidden (and sometimes not so hidden) cost to constant staff turnover.

I think that it is about time that employers were given a bit of credit where it has been long overdue. Sure there are bad employers but so are there bad employees. It seems to me that what has to be achieved is some sort of fair balance and I view this change as a step in the right direction.