By Vaughan Granier

Welcome to the last article in our series on becoming an Accredited Employer with Immigration New Zealand.

Now that you’ve demonstrated compliance with your employment and health and safety practices, it’s time to turn your eye to the key considerations you’ll need to account for during and after the accreditation process.

Compliance with all relevant employment, immigration and business standards is an absolute must, so in this last instalment, I’ll point out seven key areas you need to look out for. So, let’s get started…

  1. Standdowns: All key stakeholders in the organisation must not be subject to a stand-down period or a permanent ban from hiring migrant workers. These temporary or permanent bans can be imposed if an employer has previously breached minimum employment standards or was convicted under either the Immigrations Act or the Crimes Act. The labour inspectorate will have a list of employers who are subject to stand-down periods for previous breaches.
  2. No to illegal employment: It’s an absolute requirement that no key stakeholders within your business have ever illegally employed someone in the past.
  3. Have you completed online learning? All key stakeholders as well as managers, HR managers, and partners, should complete the online learning modules on the Employment New Zealand website within the accreditation period.
  4. Costs for hiring: The employer must ensure that all costs for recruiting the worker have been accounted for, both in and outside New Zealand. These include costs for advertising, recruitment agency fees, job check fees, and relevant training fees.
  5. Do the right thing: Businesses should ensure that no illegal acts are conducted with regard to job security which includes confiscating passports, under-the-table payments or bonding agreements.
  6. Supporting your new worker: The employer will need to show evidence that the migrant worker will be fully supported throughout their settlement process in New Zealand and be aided with getting work-related information.

This includes help with finding accommodation, transportation options, cost of living, healthcare access, referral to the Citizens Advice Bureau, and access to relevant community groups.

In addition, this also includes help with getting an IRD number, access to relevant industry training and qualification information, and specific industry hazards and workplace health and safety training.

You must also allow migrant workers time during working hours to complete the online learning modules on the Employment New Zealand website.

  1. One last step: job checks: Good news, your application has been processed and you’re now an Accredited Employer – you can now hire migrant workers.

Before you start recruiting, there’s one more thing you’ll need to do – you must ensure that every job that you want to hire a migrant worker for has been through a job check.

The purpose of the job check is to determine if any New Zealand citizens could fill the available role. This supports the initiative to prioritise the employment opportunities of the local community before tapping into the overseas market. Completing this process ensures that Kiwis have the opportunity to secure well-paying jobs and also makes sure that the migrants hired are mostly filling higher-skilled roles.

            Some of the requirements of the job check include:

    • a written employment agreement containing a detailed job description and all required key terms and conditions;
    • be a full-time role, with at least 30 hours per week;
    • be paid at the market rate and not less than the median wage of $27.76 per hour (unless an exemption applies from the median wage threshold); and
    • all advertising requirements have been met.

The team at HR Assured are experts in human resources and workplace compliance practices. If you’re interested in how we can help you become an Accredited Employer, contact us.

Other articles in the series:

Vaughan Granier is the National Workplace Relations Manager for HR Assured NZ. He has over 24 years’ experience in international human resources, health and safety, and workplace relations management. With over 13 years working in New Zealand and Australian companies, he provides in-depth support to leadership teams across all areas of HR, Health and Safety, and employee management.