BusinessNZ has welcomed news that the Holidays Act will finally be overhauled.
The review of the Holidays Act that proposed the overhaul was initiated by BusinessNZ and the CTU in 2018.
Problems with the Act have caused businesses, councils and government departments to have paid employees wrong amounts, requiring multi-million arrears payments.
BusinessNZ chief executive Kirk Hope said the current Act was based on the view that work happens in traditional Monday-to-Friday nine-to-five work weeks.
“But a great many workplaces now have variable hours of work, and the current Act makes it impossible for payroll managers to work out what a week is, in situations where employees work variable hours.”
Meanwhile, the EMA says its business members will welcome the overhaul of the Holidays Act, although it will potentially be challenging for them to implement.
“We’re looking forward to working further with the Government on the new Act, which is expected to be passed in early 2022, as it has caused issues for businesses big and small,” says EMA chief executive Brett O’Riley.
Although there will be costs for business in implementing new systems and training their people up, this short-term burden will be outweighed by the long-term benefits of being able to easily get it right, he says.
“We know that businesses are unintentionally getting this wrong and are now in a position of owing employees leave, affecting their bottom line,” he says.
The EMA’s partnership with the New Zealand Payroll Practitioners Association ( [www.nzppa.co.nz]NZPPA) will ensure its business members are well prepared.
Payroll is a core business function but often does not sit within Finance, and the partnership signed late last year aims to help upskill payrollers and give them a career pathway.
“A survey at one of our payroll conferences revealed that a quarter of payroll staff did not have any formal training, and the new Act provides the perfect opportunity to change that,” says O’Riley.
The partnership means EMA members throughout its region from Taupo to Northland have access to targeted training courses, audits and consultancy offered to members of NZPPA.
“Particularly now the new Act is coming, we are delighted our business members have access to proficiency in payroll through NZPPA, the experts in this field,” says O’Riley.
The new Act is expected to be passed in early 2022.