KEY POINTS:
Landing a new job is all well and good. But getting your ducks in a row so you are not left high and dry is all-important.
Steve Punter, managing director of Staff Training Associates on Auckland's North Shore, says the first 90 days in a new job are critical.
"You need a few things upfront," he says.
"And that includes having the employment contract signed before you start - not at some time down the track. Quite often people start work and then the manager gets around to saying that they need to get the contract organised."
Punter, an associate of the NZ Institute of Management and a fellow of the Human Resources Institute of New Zealand, says people should get their employment contract before they accept a new job and have the option to get the contract checked by a lawyer or someone else they trust.
"The law was changed so that anyone employed after October 2003 must have a written employment agreement," says Punter.
"And they must have been given the opportunity to get advice [before signing it]."
Punter says some companies put new staff on probationary periods lasting up to three months.
"What the new employee needs to know is that, if there is a probationary period, then it must be written in the contract of employment - it cannot be done verbally. Also in the agreement - or in some other document linked to it - has to be what the employer will do if the new person doesn't work out in the new job."
He says the whole process has to be transparent, upfront and documented so the employee knows exactly where they stand.
Punter says new starters need to demonstrate they can do the job they have been hired for. Or there could be grounds for dismissal.
"If someone is having trouble in their new job then they have to tell their employer or manager as soon as possible," he says. "People should not be frightened of revealing that they are having difficulty.
"And the reason for this is that the employer has a legal obligation to do their best for their employee."
He recommends employers meet their new employee at the end of the first week in the new job and, if there are any issues, then they should be raised as soon as possible - not on the day the employer decides they want to dismiss them.
"Issues have to be addressed as they become apparent," says Punter. "All staff are entitled to warnings, performance counselling and to have access to advice."
He also says staff should be satisfied that the job they are doing is what they expected and that any other parts of the job offer, such as training or a company car, are in place.
"It is almost like the Fair Trading Act," says Punter. "You have to look at what was offered and what has been given. So if you were offered a company car and the firm hasn't provided it, then you have grounds to insist it is supplied or negotiate an alternative arrangement."
Apart from the legal side of starting a new job, Punter says the soft side - the job of fitting in and getting along with people - also needs to be taken into account by new employees.
"Even if the person is doing the same type of job as they did in their last firm, they may find the new company's culture quite different to what they have been used to," he says. "And it is the new person's job to fit in."
He says being able to work within a team is all part of the job performance section of the employment contract.
"It used to be a case of, 'What do you do if someone is doing their job well but just doesn't fit in with the team?' Today that 'don't fit' thing can be put in performance terms so employers can act on it. Whereas you can't work on the word 'attitude' because it is not a behaviour."
Punter says within a probationary period, the new employee has got to decide if the job is for them and then decide how they are going to adjust to fit in with the new culture. Otherwise, they risk being ostracised as the new guy who doesn't want to fit in.
"Building relationships can come under job performance, it is a requirement - it is a reasonable expectation for an employee to get along with other employees."
Punter also says the probationary period is a two-way street.
At the end of the term, the employee can walk away without any guilt or bad feeling saying they have tried, but it's just not for them.
"It would be helpful if the employee flagged that they were not intending to stay a few weeks before their probationary time is up - but legally they don't have to," says Punter.
* Contact Steve Hart at www.stevehart.co.nz
