Tricky to preserve secrecy

How can you keep your pitch for an internal job secret? Dr MARIE WILSON, head of management and employment relations at the University of Auckland Business School and a veteran of 20 years in corporate management and small business, offers some helpful ideas.

I've often wondered how you apply for an internal job confidentially. In my business it seems to be impossible. Word usually leaks when the prospects are interviewed in the building and the rest of the staff watch them going in. Should you insist on being interviewed off-site?

The situation is difficult not so much because the interviews are held on-site, but because there has already been a leak about who will be interviewed.

The current practice of involving several people in shortlisting and interviewing candidates makes it unlikely that any workplace will be leak-free.

The best workplaces are open about appointment and promotion procedures and decisions, making it even more difficult to maintain confidentiality around an internal application.

You might want to discuss your desire for confidentiality with whoever is in charge of the recruitment and selection. But it might be difficult to move interviews off-site, as this adds both time and expense to the process.

You may be able to gain the same effect, without the expense, by requesting an early-morning or after-hours interview time.

I work 32 hours a week but am called a part-timer by my employer, a school. My work is in the office and so I don't work school holidays.

Should I be called a full-time employee? If so, would my rights and benefits change from being a part-timer?

Also, at the moment I get no holiday pay, just a 6 per cent "bonus" at the end of the year. Is this legal?

Most full-time employees work from 37.5 to 42 hours a week, and the average number of hours worked is edging up each year.

At 32 hours a week, few workplaces would consider you full-time.

There are generally no disadvantages to your rights and benefits in being less than full-time, unless a distinction is made in your employment contract.

If the employment contract states extra benefits for full-time workers, it should also state how many hours you have to work to be considered full-time.

As for your holidays, you may want to review your contract and consult the Employment Relations Service, which has a very helpful booklet about your rights and responsibilities, or perhaps an employment law specialist.

In very general terms, if your employer is having you take your annual leave over the summer break, and paying you your holiday pay (about 6 per cent of your wages) at the beginning of your leave period, then that would be reasonable.

You would not be getting a bonus. You would be receiving your holiday pay as you begin your annual leave period. Your annual leave period can be set by your employer, and at least two weeks of it should be taken together.