Are You a Good Leader?

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If you are a business owner or manager you are responsible for leading others in pursuit of the organisation’s success. Whether it’s a small business with a few employees or a large entity with multiple divisions, if you are the leader of a team you are having an impact on a daily basis by what you do, or don’t do. I rather like this quote; “All leaders lead by example…. whether they intend to or not.” (Source Unknown)

It’s important for leaders to take time out occasionally to reflect on how well they are doing at being the boss. In a large organisation there is generally data and processes available to help with this. There are likely to be higher levels of management or a board of directors that will go through a structured performance review process with you that also requires some personal reflection.

This may also include some 360 degree feedback from peers and staff that provide you with insights about your leadership. There may be periodic staff engagement surveys that provide feedback about aspects of leadership. You may have access to turnover data, exit interviews and other useful indicators of the effectiveness of your people management and it is paramount that you use these information sources to mould your leadership approach.

Contrastingly, in a small business you probably won’t have the types of processes in place that a large entity typically would and it’s likely you will have less opportunity for reflection as small business owners are often busy with operations, marketing, finance, HR and all the things small business owners need to do. So how can you get some insights to develop your leadership skills?

  • If you have performance reviews for your staff use the opportunity for 2-way feedback and ask about what you can do more of or less of to help them in their work.
  • Consider using a business mentor as a sounding board about your leadership style and to provide suggestions for

    improvement and contribute ideas to help you through challenging situations. Just having these conversations makes you reflect on how you are doing.

  • Try to fit in some learning opportunities for yourself to get inspired, be exposed to new ideas, keep up to date with emerging trends, or learn from the experience of others. Training and ongoing development is just as important for leaders as for your staff. This could be a seminar, conference, academic course, on-line learning, or speakers at local business events.
  • Endeavour to set aside time for personal reflection. What is it that your staff have been telling you? What tasks do you need to follow up on in order to provide your team with sound leadership and ensure they feel valued and listened to?

When you are able to set aside some time for personal reflection regarding your leadership and the productivity of your team try some of the tips above of some of the things a good leader provides, adapted from an article by Jeff Haden, entrepreneur and author. Consider how you are performing in these areas – there may be one or more aspects that you could consciously plan to do more of, changes you could easily implement, or even ‘big picture’ elements you may want to think further on to have a positive impact on the people working for you.

Android or Apple?

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For the un-initiated Android and Apple are both operating systems that are leaders in mobile phone, tablet and PC operating Systems.

Android is now owned by Google and has been the market leader in the mobile phone space for a long time and continues to rise. Its market leadership is larger due to range and price of devices rather than being better or worse than Apple.

Apple is well known and its founder Steve Jobs has been called revolutionary. He has brought to market some outstanding innovations, none more revolutionary than the Ipod. But Apple has struggled to push the envelope since his death and some have seen this as the end of Apple… I’m not so sure.

From an individual user’s perspective does it really matter what OS you use?

I must confess at this point I am un-ashamedly an Android user with Apple always following behind the flagship Samsung models. But things have changed, the phones really can’t do much more than they do now. The iPhone 8 does look like its caught up to the Samsung 8 (excluding face recognition) in feature and design.

Looking at the best option, Apple has always touted its security and application development as a serious point of difference. Android has always had the freedom to push the envelope in phone features and design particularly with its open source environment. I think we are at the point, certainly in mobile phone features, of being at the peak and only incremental changes are likely going forward.

What is really the best OS?

For me this means considering true mobility. Mobility is ultimately the freedom to do what we want to do anywhere we want without the constraints of traditional desktop.

If we take a step back, Android was created to be open source and that meant it grew faster than any other OS, it meant it could be rolled out and deployed on multiple device manufacturers free of charge. This is where Android for some was a free spirit and a symbol of all that was right and true about the internet. Many manufacturers jumped on board and offered options across all mobility devices.

Apple on the other hand was slow to keep pace and that was due to the control Apple put in place to be part of the Apple eco-system. But this meant that as a rule, things sort of worked first time with Apple as opposed to Android. One example might be Apple TV.

I have Chromecast on a couple of devices and if used frequently it works really well. It is wireless, discreet (hide in a USB port behind the TV) and I see this as a big advantage over Apple. But I have found that the less it is used the more I have to reset and reconfigure. My experience with Apple TV though has been seamless. Plug it in and away you go, also it works really well when doing presentations. Android does run on a number of plug and play devices but you need to know what your doing. Don’t get me wrong, Android can do what Apple can do except it just isn’t as easy for your average user.

So I think Apple win, this in part because they do everything for you. It is easier for them because they don’t have the multiple devices and systems that Android have so they can deploy so much easier than Android. They have a good robust Device Management System for deploying devices throughout a workforce and updates can be pushed out across the workforce.

They also invest significantly in partner programs upskilling their partners on the key benefits of Apple. This isn’t something Android hasn’t done and probably never will due to its open source architecture.

So the advantage is a much better informed partner channel and support networks. This is very important to business as it directly reduces downtime and associated costs. It also means the applications recommended do tend to work well and are relevant to your industry.

A final point to consider is Google and Android probably know more about you than anyone through the data they collect. They use this to further enhance customer experience and while I don’t get concerned with this for some it really is an issue. Apple on the other hand don’t share your information and they don’t capture the same amount of data like Google because they use their own browser and maps.

The main advantage though for Android is its cost to deploy because you have a huge range of devices to choose from at all price points and this can be hard to beat. If you have a larger workforce it becomes difficult to argue for Apple particularly if your deployment is in a harsh working environment (due to the frequent replacement of devices).

So my call at the moment as I sit here with an iPad and Samsung S8 is that Apple appears better.

Of course, this is only my view and yours may differ but I’m going to try and go completely mobile with Apple over the next little while to test this hypothesis, see if I can really drive my business from the Apple ecosystem through mobility devices and applications.

I will keep you posted.

Working together is a better solution

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Water Conservation Orders (WCO’s) are mechanisms under the Resource Management Act designed to recognise and protect outstanding values of particular bodies of water. Commonly associated with movements in the 1980’s to protect the country’s most wild and scenic rivers from hydroelectric dam initiatives, they are legal instruments that can be used to set rules that Councils must abide by.

A WCO is the highest level of protection that can be afforded to any water body, and are focused purely around preserving outstanding natural values for all freshwater fish, wildlife and outdoor recreation. There are a number of WCO’s around the country applying to different water bodies in different ways.

With such a pure focus a WCO can have significant influence on the content of Regional Policy Statements and Regional and District Plans, as well as resource consent processes. Criticised in some circles for being too narrowly focused and lacking the ability to weigh and balance competing interests, this is essentially their purpose as a tool to identify the water bodies or stretches of water bodies that warrant the highest level of protection without compromise.

The WCO for the Ngaruroro and Clive rivers lodged by the New Zealand Fish and Game Council, Ngāti Hori ki Kohupatiki, Whitewater New Zealand, Jet Boating New Zealand and the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand, seeks the protection of the entire length of the Ngaruroro River and its tributaries, together with groundwater that is hydraulically connected to the lower Ngaruroro River. A total of 7km of the Clive River is also included.

The application states that the water bodies have certain outstanding values including:

  • Significance in accordance with tikanga Maori;
  • Cultural and spiritual purposes;
  • Habitat for rainbow trout;
  • Angling, amenity and recreation;
  • Habitat for avifauna;
  • Habitat for native fish;
  • Boating amenity and recreation;
  • Wild, scenic and natural characteristics; and
  • Scientific and ecological values.

Protection of these values is sought through a number of conditions applying to different stretches of the water bodies, including minimum flows and allocation limits for existing and new water takes.

In principal, the WCO does not seek to change the existing 2,400l/s minimum flow at Fernhill as it applies to existing resource consents to take water, but does seek to introduce a new minimum flow of 4,200l/s for any new takes.

Potential implications of the various conditions are complex to understand though, and there is concern among some parties that many groundwater takes in the region will have restrictions placed upon them in a similar manner as direct river takes, and that this may really affect the water security and resilience of many operations.

Consideration of the WCO is very different territory to the type of processes we have become familiar with over the last few years. Essentially all the same parties are involved, but in this case the parties who are often the submitters are the proponents.

The manner in which the proposal is to be considered is also different. While collaborative policy development initiates such as TANK, plan change processes and resource consent application processes entertain the weighing of competing environmental, cultural, economic and social interests, WCO’s are much more focused around environmental outcomes.

There is certainly a place for this, but one can’t help being a little concerned about how far reaching potential outcomes maybe from both a geographic and regional productivity perspective.

If one was to strategically limit the potential of the region, for whatever bizarre reason, we would unreasonably limit access to water, set overly conservative instream water quality standards, force unsustainable change at an unreasonable rate, introduce poorly conceived land use controls, fuel the urban and rural divide and assume prescriptive regulation rather than partnerships will better achieve environmental performance.

Clearly no one who is passionate about our region would set out to achieve this, but in determining what we want, perhaps we should be very aware of what we don’t want.

 

Hawke’s Bay Deer Velvet Goes International

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It’s only been two years since Josh Buckman took the reins of the well- known Hawke’s Bay deer velvet company Gevir but already he is charging ahead, exporting the product to new markets with a unique proposition for natural health seekers.

Gevir is now exporting to China and the United States with plans to be in six other countries by the end of the year.

“We have a loyal following in New Zealand but the growth potential is in exporting our story and quality products. There is a much bigger customer base abroad and a huge opportunity to tell a unique story.

“It takes a lot of work and money to get into these markets but our long-term goal is a bigger business that adds value to deer farmers and the velvet industry.

“Deer velvet is one of the only renewable sources of all nine essential amino acids the body needs to grow and repair; it is made up of glucosamine, collagen, Omega 3 and Omega 6, minerals, nutrients and lipids, to name a few. It’s an adaptogen, increasing the body’s ability to withstand stress and ward off exhaustion. The more we can educate our customers about the benefits of our diverse and natural supplement, the better.”

Josh and the Gevir team have started exporting their premium supplements to retail markets in China and the United States and plan to be in Canada, Japan and South Korea by the end of the year.

Gevir has been making the deer velvet supplements for nearly 30 years, with premium deer antler velvet being the only ingredient.

Josh bought the business two years ago from Shelley and Clint Thomson, who founded the business and had owned Gevir for 26 years.

Since then, not only has he entered the export market but he has also diversified the product range, with a soon-to-be launched natural skincare range, and he has also introduced a pet range.

“I have been overwhelmed by the number of Kiwi farmers who have purchased the pet product for their working dogs. We knew the Gevir pet product would be an attractive option for pet dogs, especially older dogs, but we didn’t expect the product to be so popular for working dogs.”

Hawke’s Bay farmer Mike Ritsson-Thomas has a 13-year-old heading dog called Thai who tore her Achilles. After the vet tried

several different treatments, none of which worked, Mike decided to start feeding her his Gevir deer velvet tablets.

“It was like a miracle, suddenly Thai just came right and she no longer had a busted Achilles. She was back out on the farm with me mustering and easily jumping on and off the bike. It was unbelievable how the deer velvet gave her a new lease of life.”

And Thai wasn’t the only ‘miracle’ deer velvet case for the Tikokino sheep and beef farmer. His wife Caroline has a 12-year-old Aussie Terrier called Fergie who started going bald.

“She was so bald that her tail poked out like a finger. So, I fed her Gevir deer velvet tablets every day and within a few months she had a thick coat again, she was much more sprightly and back running around the farm.”

Mike is a firm believer in the natural product and has been taking the Gevir deer velvet tablets for over 10 years.

“As a farmer you get a lot of bashes and bruises. I find the deer velvet helps me heal quickly and I don’t have the aches I had before.”

His wife Caroline used to have arthritis in her knee but after taking Gevir for three months, the pain has stopped.

“If I stop taking the deer velvet tablets I get aches and pains, so there is a noticeable difference.”

Josh first came across deer velvet following multiple shoulder injuries and three reconstruction surgeries, which left him in constant discomfort with numbness and pins and needles.

“I first discovered deer velvet following several dislocations and surgery from playing rugby. I had seen Gevir for years at rural retailers and remember the old tv ads and gave it a go after my third shoulder reconstruction. When using Gevir following surgery I made an exceptionally speedy recovery, particularly with the reduction in pain and numbness, and was back to work in four weeks. So I am very passionate about the product and believe there is huge potential to educate people on the long-term benefits and improved quality of life with Gevir.”

Josh was working in a diverse sales and project role with FMG and was also managing his finishing farm near Havelock North when he heard the Thomsons were looking to pass the reins of Gevir on.

“My wife and I jumped at the opportunity with Gevir, we were attracted to the natural health and renewable element but also to the health benefits. It is sustainable, it grows every year and the deer don’t have to be killed to produce it. Deer velvet is the fastest growing mammal tissue with more than 300 active components. It is hard not to be excited about the diverse and unique supplement we produce with some of New Zealand’s best deer farmers.”

“We are really excited about sharing Gevir with the world and providing our passionate farmers with the added value they deserve.”

 

Garth Cowie – Napier Port boss weighs anchor after 18 years

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Back in 1999, Garth Cowie “traded oysters for red wine” when he left the top job at South Port in Bluff and headed north to become chief executive at Napier Port.

“At the time I most probably thought I was getting the raw end of the deal but I’ve certainly found that the lifestyle and the growth prospects here were significant, compared to Bluff, and the port has gone from strength to strength since then.”

Garth retires as CEO in December after overseeing 18 years of growth and significant development at Napier Port.

When he announced his decision to leave in April, port chairman Alasdair MacLeod said Garth should take great pride in a number of achievements under his watch that have positioned Napier Port well for the future.

“He’s developed an outstanding senior management team and a motivated and dedicated staff across the board – across our marine, cargo handling and support functions. They are pushing industry boundaries nationally and internationally in health and safety, technology and logistics,” Alasdair said.

“Napier Port’s relationship with customers and suppliers is strong and the company is forging partnerships for collaboration across the globe. We are heading towards a healthy profit this year and we are currently planning for a wharf development that will see Napier Port significantly increase its capacity.”

When Garth arrived from South Port in 1999 – after five years as the Southland facility’s CEO – Napier Port was handling about 67,000 twenty-foot equivalent (TEU) containers a year. This year it will handle more than 288,000 and volumes are forecast to continue growing over coming years.

Cargo and log volumes have also increased markedly and Garth says significantly, the growth has been achieved on virtually the same physical footprint the port had when he arrived.

A key highlight over his time leading the company has been Napier surpassing Wellington and Port Chalmers to become the country’s fourth largest container terminal.

While the port industry has a history of strong union involvement, Garth says another highlight has been a change of culture to a more constructive, open and transparent relationship across the organisation. This was highlighted after last year’s Kaikoura earthquake which brought significant extra work to Napier, meaning the peak season arrived in December rather than March.

“It meant a huge change and our people had to adapt and be flexible to rise to the challenge. Our staff were working flat tack for six rather than three months of the year. We couldn’t allow people to go on leave so they had to reorganise their holidays and that sort of thing. So it’s the people who have really made all the difference over my time and that will be the thing I miss the most – the day-to-day contact and the relationships with the people here.”

Another highlight has been the port’s consultation over its upcoming $100 million-plus 6 Wharf development, which has involved feedback from more than 2000 people.

Born and bred in Invercargill, Garth studied accounting at university and began his working life as an assistant auditor with the Government Audit Office. In 1979 he became the accountant for what was then the Southland Harbour Board.

He was the harbour board’s secretary when it morphed into South Port in 1988, and took up the deputy chief executive role followed, in 1994, by the CEO role which he held for five years before heading north to Hawke’s Bay.

Garth says there were a number of factors behind his decision to step down after 18 years running Napier Port. One was Prime Minister John Key’s departure last year.

“He picked his own time, and didn’t have to. That started making me reflect that there is a right time for the chief executive to retire.”

Then long-serving port employee Graeme Hart passed away in January, aged 67.

“He didn’t get to enjoy the retirement that was coming. Both of those were triggers for me to think about what my future was going to be.”

Having turned 60 himself, Garth says he was also mindful of the major expansion work being planned at the port.

“With the development that we’ve got coming up, if I was going to stay I would need to stay to see it through, which is probably about another four years. I thought that was going to be too long and I really needed to make a decision to allow the new CEO to come onboard early enough to work through and understand it completely by the time the full business case was developed.”

While he is looking forward to stepping aside from the heavy demands of a CEO role, Garth will continue to chair a committee overseeing Hastings District Council’s water services change programme and will be looking to pick up other governance roles or advisory work.

“And hopefully my golf handicap might start to come down, slowly.”

George Reedy – Te Taiwhenua o Heretaunga chief executive

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George Reedy is the chief executive of Te Taiwhenua o Heretaunga, a charitable trust that provides a wide range of health, social and education services to over 10,000 whanau. The Profit put a series of questions to George.

What’s your background?

I grew up in Tikitiki, up the East Coast, surrounded by uncles, aunts and grandparents. That gave me a solid start in life. I was secure in the knowledge of who I was, and who was there for me.

Who has been the most inspirational person in your life?

One of my earliest memories is of my mother piggybacking me across a floodgate spanning a flooded stream. It was quite a dangerous exercise really, but my mother was determined to get me across because, on the other side, the school bus was waiting for me. That was the value she put on education.

My parents, Te Moana and Apikara Rangi, worked hard. To them, education was the ultimate goal, the gateway to everything they didn’t have. That’s why I never got a day off school just because the stream was flooded. It’s an ethos that has always stayed with me. It’s why I’ve spent the past 20 years working in Māori development.

What career path have you followed?

After school, I spent a bit of time fencing, then went into the forestry service before getting a cadetship with Māori Affairs. They introduced me to accountancy and I realised I was really good with numbers. I went on to do a degree in accountancy and become a Chartered Accountant. That was my pathway into senior management.

Since then I’ve had many roles in a range of sectors, including Government and Māori economic and development initiatives. My focus is on growing sustainable businesses using information technology combined with a strong emphasis on quality of service and product.

What is a stand-out feature of your role?

TToH is values-based. That’s a lot more than a mission statement on the wall. We really do underpin everything with cultural values. They shape our world view, our business operations, and the way we function on a daily basis. As Chief Executive, it’s an important part of my role to maintain that. For example, our staff are 80 percent Māori, and one of our key goals is to promote the development of a skilled Māori workforce.

Out in the community, we’re engaged with 10,000 whānau. About 75 percent of them are younger than 25, and many are living in challenging circumstances, focused on day-to-day survival. That’s their reality.

TToH’s reality is the need to connect with whānau, and support them into a space where they can start to take control of their own lives and move forward.

What is Te Taiwhenua o Heretaunga?

Te Taiwhenua o Heretaunga is a Charitable Trust, governed by a board of trustees elected by the 14 marae of Heretaunga.

The organisation started 32 years ago, becoming an Incorporated Society on September 19, 1985. Its base was the tractor shed at Waipatu marae. It had $60 in the bank and one part-time employee. The office was the boot of a Toyota Corolla.

Today, TToH owns a substantial campus in Orchard Rd. It was once the DB Heretaunga. Now it’s home to our medical and dental centre, mental health centre, purpose-built childcare centre, and our central daily operations. This includes the administration of a large portfolio of health, social and education contracts applied across a large geographical area – from Mahia to Wellington and across to Wanganui.

We have 270 employees, which probably makes us one of Hawke’s Bay’s larger employers. It might sound like a platitude, but the staff really are the foundation of TToH. They’re dedicated, selfless, and I think they really don’t realise how good they are at what they do.

What are your plans for the future of Te Taiwhenua o Heretaunga?

The long-term sustainability of this organisation is crucial for the people of Heretaunga. We are here for them in ways that no other organisation is, or can be.

We’ve never received a cent of Treaty Settlement money. We are where we are today, turning over $20 million a year, through sheer hard work. We will continue to do that, but while we remain dependent on government contracts, there’s always uncertainty. I want TToH to become less dependent on contracts, and more financially independent.

I look at the needs of our people out there, and they’re the same as everyone else’s – warm, secure housing, affordable and effective healthcare, social connection, jobs, good incomes, education and hope for the future. There’s too much of that missing from the picture at the moment.

So we’re thinking about wider horizons, and for a start, that’s probably going to mean we step into the social housing space. Every indicator for high-needs and poor social outcomes begins with poor housing.

I also want big changes in the way that successive governments shape their policies and contracts around Māori support.

Mainstream contracts come out of centralised policy, one size fits all. Too many are process-driven box- ticking exercises that are never going to achieve fundamental, long-lasting change for whānau. But trying to change bureaucratic thinking around that is huge. It’s a real mind-shift. To say, fund us for an agreed set of outcomes, and let us do it our way, involves high levels of trust.

What TToH achievement are you most proud of?

Late last year we introduced a new system of workforce organisation, in the form of multi-skilled, integrated teams. Each team has the capacity to create individualised, wraparound packages of care and support for whānau, depending on their circumstances. They can also draw on other teams with relevant skills to help that whānau.

So we’ve gone from mono-skilled teams working within their own contract silos, to teams with the ability to create a holistic, integrated plan that includes tackling the underlying issues affecting whānau.

This system is producing exponentially better outcomes for whānau, and efficiencies for TToH. Why have five cars up the driveway when one, with two people in it, can do the job.

What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?

My heartfelt thanks go to Iron Māori, who taught me how to swim. Now I go swimming and biking and walking all the time. I love it. You might see me walking on Te Mata Peak from time to time.

 

Real-time accounting software helps streamline businesses

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Real time accounting software and other business applications can help run your business and make your life a whole lot easier. The overwhelming increase in industry specific add on applications which integrate with accounting software enables business owners to create their own customised accounting platform.

Here are some key apps to consider in order to streamline your entire hospitality operation;

Labour costs

Staff rostering can be a nightmare. Dealing with casual employees and ensuring permanent staff have enough hours can be time consuming. Cloud based payroll software that also deals with staff management allows rosters to be created quickly. Viewing your weekly roster in real time as well as dollars enables you to accurately forecast for the week ahead.

Many apps even allow you to view your labour cost at any point during the day from your smart device via timesheets. Having staff clock in and out ensures that you pay them for the hours they are actually working and allows managers to make judgement calls at any given time on whether there are too many or too little staff on the floor.

FlexiTime does all of the above. The ‘Shift’ functionality allows staff to clock in and out by taking a ‘selfie’ on a tablet. Not only does this create a fun collection of snaps but ensures staff are paid accurately. The timesheets then create the payruns which sync with the likes of Xero and MYOB – reducing time consuming and error- prone data entry. Reports can be viewed to show actual vs rostered labour costs as well as graphs to identify trends.

Reporting

Reporting add-ons can present your KPIs in a visual and easy to understand way.

metrics to help your business thrive. Financial data is automatically pulled into the app from accounting software allowing you to view your business financials in beautiful and easy to understand real time graphs and tables. Furtrli also allows you to create your own KPIs, benchmarks and forecasts. You can break down revenue streams, calculate food and beverage gross profit percentages, wages to sales ratios and average spend per head and more.

This kind of visibility can help you plan for the future and reduce risk in order to grow your business. Giving staff members access to certain reports can incentivise them in setting and achieving their targets both for themselves and the company.

POS

A Reliable point of sale (POS) system is vital for operations in the hospitality industry. You will want an easy to use system that ensures minimal downtime. A good system can do more than just process transactions. Being able to track sales, manage inventory, automate ordering, and get the pricing right are just some of the benefits of a good POS system. Again, integration with your accounting software is key so that you can identify where you are making a profit and where you may need to re-evaluate.

The Vend app provides powerful back-office tools that will provide you with new insights into every aspect of your business, allowing you to streamline your processes and align your staff and product supplies with demand. The front end is easy to use and works on any device and if your business needs to operate off site, you can process sales from a tablet offline which then automatically syncs this data when you are back online.

Data entry

Even though we live in a tech savvy world, there still seems to be an awful lot of paper. Bills can quicklypileup,whiledisgruntledsupplierswaitin the wings. A lot of business owners take care of this themselves, when in actual fact it is far more efficient and cost effective to pay someone else to take care of it. Being the face of your business will pay off far more than sitting in the back office mulling over accounts payable data.

An easy to way to get all your invoices processed quickly is by using the app Receipt Bank. Email, take a photo or scan in an invoice or receipt into the software and Receipt Bank does the rest. Its technology extracts all relevant data from the document and automatically enters the key components into your chosen accounting software along with the source document electronically attached.

All businesses today should be utilising the wide range of information systems business solutions available to them. The age old adage of ‘stick to what you know’ rings true in these situations. Apps such as FlexiTime, Futrli, Vend and Receipt Bank ensure that you work smarter, not harder in your business.

New legislation sets timeline for fixing earthquake prone buildings

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It’s an acknowledged fact that New Zealand is prone to seismic activity and ultimately ensuring the safety of people is our priority and our buildings need to be safe for occupants and users alike.

As from July 1, 2017 the Building (Earthquake-prone Buildings) Amendment Act 2016 came into effect and the legislation affects owners of earthquake-prone buildings, territorial authorities (TAs), engineers, other building professionals and building users.

The legislation comes as a response to the Canterbury Earthquakes Royal Commission and a comprehensive review undertaken by the Government, where problems were identified with the systems for managing earthquake-prone buildings (EPB) under the Building Act 2004, such as too much variability in local practice, poor information about the number and specific location of earthquake-prone buildings across the country, and a lack of central government guidance.

Identification of an EPB and what it means

The system avoids a “one-size-fits-all” approach by clarifying the definition of an earthquake-prone building by prioritising geographical areas, buildings and parts of buildings which have the greatest risk. As a result, New Zealand will be categorised into three areas of low, medium, and high seismic hazard areas – with Hawke’s Bay being categorised as ‘high’. National timeframes for territorial authorities to identify earthquake-prone buildings and deadlines for building owners to remediate earthquake-prone buildings will be set relative to their location and level of seismic risk. The seismic risk for an area will affect the deadline for identifying, reporting progress, and remediating. Of note, the threshold for defining an EPB remains largely unchanged at less than 34% of the new building standard.

Many structures, such as standard dwellings, farm buildings, wharves and bridges, are excluded because it would be impractical and costly to apply an EPB assessment to all buildings. Furthermore, hostels, boarding houses, specialised accommodation of two storeys or more, and residential buildings of two storeys or more that contain three or more household units, are subject to the EPB legislation. If an owner does not complete the seismic work within the deadline, or is not proceeding with reasonable speed considering the deadline, the territorial authority can apply for a court order to carry out the seismic work on the building. The costs will be recoverable from the owner of the building.

What is a Priority Building?

A specific definition of what a priority building is has been included. These will be buildings in areas of medium or high seismic risk such as hospitals and educational facilities (such as schools occupied by more than 20 people), or buildings where unreinforced masonry could fall on to busy thoroughfares in an earthquake, e.g. parapets. Priority buildings have shorter deadlines for completing seismic work.

For the purposes of identifying priority buildings where masonry may fall on to busy thoroughfares, territorial authorities will be required to consult with their local communities and go through the special consultative procedure.

Owners and TAs – who is responsible for what?

In Summary:

  • The system is consistent across the country and focuses on the most vulnerable buildings in terms of peoples’ safety.
  • It categorises New Zealand into three seismic risk areas and sets timeframes for identifying and acting to strengthen or remove earthquake-prone buildings.
  • It provides more information for people using buildings such as nationally consistent EPB notices with ratings for earthquake- prone buildings and a public earthquake-prone buildings register (the EPB register).Experience has shown that the failure of earthquake-prone buildings, or parts endangers lives. Thirty-nine people lost their lives when unreinforced masonry buildings failed during the Christchurch earthquake in 2011. Earthquake risk reduction is a priority in New Zealand and this legislation reflects the progressive approach to improving standards for new buildings and earthquake-resistant design since design standards for buildings were first introduced into New Zealand in 1935, following the Napier earthquake.

New Bill to manage Meth contamination

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On 23 May 2017, the Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill (No. 2) was introduced to Parliament. This Bill proposes amendments to the Residential Tenancies Act and is significant as it seeks to, as stated by Nick Smith MP who introduced the Bill, to “ensure our tenancy laws better manage methamphetamine contamination, liability for careless damage and the tenancy of unsuitable properties”.

We will have to wait to see if the Bill is passed into law in its current form, with amendments or not at all however despite its early stage the potential changes are worth discussing.

Methamphetamine

The Bill defines “methamphetamine- contamination” as “in relation to premises, means that methamphetamine is present in any part of the premises at a level above any prescribed maximum acceptable level”.

The Bill also allows the government to regulate, among other things, as to what will be the “maximum acceptable level of methamphetamine for premises”. Comments from Nick Smith, MP indicate that the new standard introduced in the past few weeks by Standards New Zealand, “Testing and decontamination of methamphetamine contaminated premises” will be where the prescribed “maximum acceptable level” will be found.

Significantly this Standard determines that a property will be considered contaminated if it has methamphetamine present at levels exceeding 1.5μg/100 cm2 – this is an increase from the previous limit of 0.5μg/100 cm2.

The Bill also provides that a Landlord:

  • must not rent a property if they know that the premises are “methamphetamine- contaminated” or has not been “decontaminated in accordance with the prescribed decontamination process”.
  • has a right to enter the premises to test for methamphetamine at any time between 8am and 7pm after giving the tenant at least 48 hours’ notice (but not more than 14 days’ notice) of the intended entry and the reason for it.
  • must give the tenant notice of the results of the testing for methamphetamine within 7 days of receiving the results.

Where tests for methamphetamine have been carried out and it has been established that the property is “methamphetamine- contaminated” then:

• If the tenant isn’t responsible rent ceases to be payable;

• The landlord can terminate the tenancy on “not less than 7 days” notice;

• The tenant can terminate the tenancy on “not less than 2 days’ notice”.

Tenant’s Liability for Damage

The Court of Appeal held, in Gikker & Rouse v Osaki & Anor {2016] NZCA 130, that a tenant is not financially liable for damage to a rental property caused accidentally or negligently and that a tenant will have the benefit of the Landlord’s insurance.

Osaki highlights the importance of insurance for Landlords and that the insurance cover is sufficient to ensure that it isn’t necessary to claim against a Tenant personally.

The Bill seeks to address the impact of Osaki. A general principle of the Bill is that the tenant is not liable for damage however a tenant will not be “excused from liability” if

• The damage was intentional;

• The damage was the result of an act or omission by the tenant and the act or omission “occurred on or about the premises and constitutes an imprisonable offence”;

• The damage would have been covered by insurance save for an act or omission by the tenant.

Notwithstanding this a tenant will also be liable for damage caused by “a careless act of omission” however any such liability will be limited to either the landlord’s insurance excess or four weeks rent, whichever is the lower.

Unlawful residential premises

The Bill defines “unlawful residential premises” as residential premises that are used for occupation as a residence but it “cannot lawfully be occupied for residential purposes by that person” and where the “landlord’s failure to comply” with its obligations “has caused the occupation by that person to be unlawful or has contributed to that unlawful occupation”.

If passed the Bill will give the Tenancy Tribunal full jurisdiction over “unlawful residential premises” thereby giving the Tenancy Tribunal specific enforcement powers for “unlawful residential premises” such as the power to order that the tenant be refunded for rent paid for the whole period that the property was unlawfully used as a residential premises.

The Bill must pass through a number of stages prior to receiving royal assent and passing into law so we will keep an eye on its progress, as the changes intended are potentially significant.

Don’t downplay the power of the Pen

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We talk about the pen being mightier than the sword. Of course these days it wouldn’t be a pen it would be a keyboard, but it’s the same notion of the power of the written word.

We in HR are sometimes accused of being bureaucratic pen-pushers, smothering people in layers of agreements, letters, forms and file notes. Naturally we have embraced technology and much of this red tape is now on-line; but it’s still there. We can just produce more, faster, with very attractive graphics and whizz-bang hyperlinks and whip it through cyber space to lots of people simultaneously, clogging up in boxes with gay abandon and polluting the clouds with cyber junk. Luckily New Zealand has the long white cloud to store all this stuff.

I accept that we can get overly pedantic about HR record keeping but there is method in this madness. If you are too far along the continuum towards no records, and many small employers are, you leave yourself very exposed to unpleasant consequences such as:

  • Fines for breaches of legislation
  • Wage arrears claims
  • Personal grievances

It is concerning to still hear of employers that don’t have written employment agreements at all, or don’t have them for certain groups of staff such as casual or seasonal workers. This is the most basic legal requirement and the foundation of the employment relationship. Not only does it provide legal compliance but protects both parties by confirming the terms you have agreed to work by. If you have agreements in place it is important to review these regularly to ensure you keep pace with legislative change and minimum entitlements.

The other important area of compliance is ensuring you keep thorough wage and time records which are sufficient to confirm that you are meeting minimum requirements, both in relation to wages and also holiday entitlements.

Government agencies do enforce these requirements and particularly regions like Hawke’s Bay with heavy reliance on seasonal workers can be subject to scrutiny from IRD, MBIE and NZ Immigration.

 If you have a dispute, a claim or an audit you will need to prove your version of the facts with hard evidence – usually documents. This is the moment when you really wish you had done the dreaded paperwork. For small employers this may seem daunting but it doesn’t have to be complicated. Get your basic essentials sorted which are written employment agreements for all employees and adequate payroll records. Then when stuff happens with staff, as it inevitably will, write it down:

  • Record any changes to terms of employment such as hours, pay, duties
  • Keep notes of discussions about performance
  • Document disciplinary action such as warnings
  • Recorddiscussionsaboutrestructuring and changes to roles
  • Plus keep your documentation up to date with changes in legislation

When an issue arises, if you are not able to confirm that things were discussed, or agreed, and that the correct process was followed you are vulnerable and it can be costly.

In small teams there is generally less formality as you would expect, and most issues are dealt with in person. This is ideal for reaching understanding and agreement but not helpful when down the track the details need to be confirmed. Recollections can be inaccurate and things can be re- interpreted through a different lens based on subsequent events. A representative or support person can put a very different spin on discussions and agreements that both parties were quite happy with at the time.

Depending on the situation, your records don’t necessarily have to be formal letters – an email, a diary note, a note in an app or on-line appraisal system for example, are equally valid. These don’t have to be lengthy and they can be written in plain language rather than legal technicalities. However, if you are unsure or there is an element of risk involved take advice about the records you need to have in place.