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So, you want to hire someone in the New Year?

6 days ago

3 min read

Take a beat and consider the type of employee who will meet your needs.

While many employers are aware of their current recruitment needs, many are not actively planning for future requirements, or considering the benefits and limitations with the different employment types to allow the business to ebb and flow through busy periods and quieter times.


What do I need to consider?

It is important to consider both current and future staffing needs and consider these against your business strategy and your current workforce capabilities. What do you need, and where are the gaps?


As an employer, you may feel you are treading the tight rope of offering permanent employment to attract strong candidates but are concerned that you may not have the ongoing work to keep them gainfully employed. If you search for casuals, will the quality of applicants drop?


The fact of the matter is, once an employee has signed an employment contract, any change you want to make to how the employee is engaged, or their hours of work must be mutually agreed.


Types of employment

There are two main employment types in Australia and New Zealand - Permanent and Casual.


Permanent Employees – are either employed Full Time (a maximum of 38 hours in Australia, or 40 hours in New Zealand per week) or Part Time (working less than full time hours). Permanent employees are guaranteed their weekly hours of work, and these hours (and sometimes days or shifts) are detailed within their employment contracts.


The benefits of having a predominantly permanent workforce include:

  • Skills and experience retention (it pays to have workers who are familiar with your company and its processes)

  • Return on training investment during onboarding

  • Employee loyalty

  • Improved brand reputation

  • Established company culture


Should you want to change the way your permanent workforce is engaged, by changing hours or rosters, oftentimes there is a requirement to consult employees about the proposed changes, to vote on proposed changes, and in some situations, you are not able to force a change to working hours without mutual agreement. 

 

When a permanent employee wants to take time away from work, permission needs to be sought, and agreement made between the employer and employee. As the employer this does provide a level of control to ensure you have a stable and consistent workforce.

 

That said, engaging a permanent employee may not provide the level of flexibility the business needs.

 

Casual Employees – have no guarantee of working hours; they are called to work as the need arises. Casual employees do not have an expectation of ongoing work, there is no guarantee of weekly working hours detailed in their employment contract. Yes, that means there is no such thing as a full time, part time or permanent casual employee!


The benefits of having a casual workforce:

  • Provide support when the workload is high or during seasonal periods

  • Provide support when permanent employees are away on leave

  • Opportunity to see how the employee performs to consider offering permanent employment in the future (casuals may also ask to move to permanent employment in some instances)

 

It is important to note that a casual employee will work when it's convenient to both the employee and the employer.  A casual employee has a legal right to reject shifts and doesn’t need to seek employer permission to ‘take leave’. 


Casual employees may be eligible for some paid leave benefits, and this varies depending on the country of employment, so please check your relevant jurisdictions, or ask Streamline HR for support.


Most employers hire a combination of both permanent and casual employees to ensure there is both consistency and flexibility in keeping the business running smoothly.


Other ways to engage people to support your business

There are alternatives to hiring a permanent or casual employee into your business. Below is a list of options you may wish to consider:

  • Fixed Term Contracts (set time period, there are rules.)

  • Secondments (utilising the current internal workforce to try out new positions)

  • Trainee / Apprentice Agreements

  • Consultancy Agreements

  • Contracting Agreements


How can Streamline HR help?

If you don’t have a current workforce plan or would like to discuss the benefits and limitations of the different ways to engage employees, consultants or contractors – please contact Streamline HR.


Tania Thompson

Consultant, Streamline HR

 

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