Hiring an employee
If you’re a sole trader, contractor, in a partnership or own a
small business — or you advise any of these people — here’s
where you’ll find tips, tools and visual guides to help with
hiring, eg:
- who to hire and when
- how to interview
- what it really costs to take people on.
Use our tools to build legally safe employment agreements
and workplace policies, and test your knowledge with our quiz.
Deciding to hire
Tips and tools for when you're thinking about taking on staff
News
Get the latest updates from across government on employment law changes, tools and more.
Hiring people
Tips and tools to help you hire with confidence
Setting up a new employee
You’ve hired someone — now follow these steps to set them up in your systems and settled in their new role.
Hiring the right staff types
Employee, contractor or intern — which is right for your business and the tasks you need doing? Here's an overview of staff types so you can choose the right kind of help.
Employment Agreement Builder
Our DIY tool helps you create contracts tailored to your business and to each person you employ — and it won distinction in the Plain English awards.
Test yourself on staff types
Know the difference between a casual worker and a part-timer? Test yourself on all staff types with our quiz.
When you're done, follow links from the answers to pick up tips and find out more.
How to do a job interview
Hiring the right person will help your business grow. Get tips on what to ask and how to ask it.
Case study
Nipping problems in the bud
Jon, a science teacher, is offered a permanent job at an area school near Cromwell. He tells the acting principal he’d like to look over the collective agreement before signing his letter of offer. The principal agrees.
Jon asks his union, the Post Primary Teachers’ Association, to go through the collective agreement and letter of offer with him. They immediately notice it’s out of date — a new collective agreement is in place. Jon tells the principal why he won’t sign the letter of offer and points out the salary increments have gone up.
The principal apologises and gives Jon the correct agreement. Jon signs the letter of offer and both Jon and the principal are happy that the union helped spot the mistake and avoid future problems.
Managing people day-to-day
Guides and tools to make sure you get employment right
How to pay employees for leave
Whether you’re paying staff for holiday, parental or sick leave, our guide helps you get it right.
It's not all about paperwork
It's about creating a work environment where everyone behaves in a safe and healthy way. Here's how to get everyone involved in H&S.
What records you need to keep
Employers must keep specific information on file about each employee. Download this list to make sure you're getting all the required information in your personnel files.
Workplace policy builder
Use our DIY tool to create policies that best suit your staff and business. It’s full of tips to help you decide what to put in, what you must do and common mistakes to avoid.
Take advice
Three out of four small businesses use outside experts to help make key decisions. These include advisors — like accountants or lawyers — business colleagues, industry groups and banks.
Case study
Weighing options
For five years, Ben’s Gardening Service has mown and weeded suburban gardens. Ben, the owner and only gardener, has found it easy to keep on top of the work and the invoicing. His accountant handles his GST and tax responsibilities.
Having won a contract to maintain the grounds of two retirement villages, Ben considers hiring another gardener. After discussing it with his accountant — and using the Employee Cost Calculator (external link) to check if he can afford help — Ben decides on a permanent employee working three days a week.
Ben’s plan is for his new employee to take over the existing clients, while he concentrates on the retirement grounds, the paperwork, and winning new work. Ben’s happy his business is growing and that he took the time to figure out what kind of employee he needs.