Latest / Best of Business / Jenee Tibshraeny: NZ Herald Wellington business editor on the concerns raised over NZ employment contracts

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Jenee Tibshraeny: NZ Herald Wellington business editor on the concerns raised over NZ employment contracts · Best of Business

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  Speaker 2: Consumer has been raised about restraints of trade clauses in
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  Speaker 2: New Zealand employment contracts. The OECD has taken a look
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  Speaker 2: at it, reckons the restrictive agreements mean people are not
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  Speaker 2: moving between jobs as seamlessly as they could do and
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  Speaker 2: should do in a productive economy. The Herald's Wellington Business
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  Speaker 2: editor Genatibstraaney's been looking into this for US hygiene. Hi
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  Speaker 2: hever sounds like we're using it at kind of twice
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  Speaker 2: the rate of everybody else. Is that about right?
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  Speaker 3: Not twice the rate, but sort of on par with
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  Speaker 3: some other countries. And the OECD, the OCD is on
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  Speaker 3: this really interesting study and it's the first study I've
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  Speaker 3: seen of the sort that involves New Zealand. And basically
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  Speaker 3: they look at all the different types of clauses and
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  Speaker 3: employment contracts, like non disclosure clauses or restraints of trade,
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  Speaker 3: or clauses that say, you know, if you leave, you
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  Speaker 3: can't take colleagues with you, or you can't take clients
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  Speaker 3: with you, or if you leave you have to repay
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  Speaker 3: the company if it's paid for your training, we have
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  Speaker 3: to repay bonuses, and I mean effectively. It's saying that
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  Speaker 3: over time, companies including a lot more of these clauses
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  Speaker 3: in contracts, and if that's the case, it's harder for
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  Speaker 3: you to move jobs. And if there's less mobility, then
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  Speaker 3: that really impedes wage growth and also productivity. And I
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  Speaker 3: think that's a fair, fair argument, because you know, the
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  Speaker 3: thing that creates productivity is if resources are allocated to
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  Speaker 3: where they can be used most efficiently. But if you're
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  Speaker 3: stuck in a job because of some of these clauses,
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  Speaker 3: then that really does impede productivity and efficiency. That's the
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  Speaker 3: argument at least.
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  Speaker 2: I heard Jennifer Mills on with Mike Cosking this morning,
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  Speaker 2: obviously one of our most high profile employment lawyers, and
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  Speaker 2: the point that she made, I think, is that it
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  Speaker 2: is okay for very senior staff to be on these
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  Speaker 2: kinds of contracts, and I don't think any of us
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  Speaker 2: would disagree with that. The problem is that we're putting
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  Speaker 2: junior staff on these contracts now, and I know junior
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  Speaker 2: staff who want it, and that's silly, isn't it.
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  Speaker 3: Totally? And that's the point that the OECD raises it
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  Speaker 3: says that yes, it's sure, it's sure thing. You know,
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  Speaker 3: you don't want to have your top staff who have
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  Speaker 3: you know, trade secrets, moving and sharing your company's secrets
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  Speaker 3: with competitors or people in the know. But US saying
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  Speaker 3: that these clauses are increasingly being used for low level
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  Speaker 3: employees or companies are just having sort of blanket clauses
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  Speaker 3: regardless of what your role is in the company.
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  Speaker 2: You have to negotiate it out yourself.
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  Speaker 3: Exactly, and you know, if you are a more junior staff,
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  Speaker 3: but then that's tough to go in there. You're just
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  Speaker 3: grateful to have a job. Another thing that they pointed
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  Speaker 3: out was that they think there could be some sort
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  Speaker 3: of collusion happening between companies where they companies in the
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  Speaker 3: same sector get together and they sort of wage fix
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  Speaker 3: or they agree with each other that they won't poach
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  Speaker 3: staff of each other. And you know, because if you
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  Speaker 3: if you're poaching staff, then that's how how wages go up.
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  Speaker 3: So of course you know that's that's not okay. So
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  Speaker 3: it's pretty hard to prove, but they've said that about
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  Speaker 3: fifty three percent of firms surveyed in New Zealand reported
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  Speaker 3: knowledge of this type of thing happening of non poaching
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  Speaker 3: or wage fixing occurring in the industries. So another bad sign.
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  Speaker 2: Now, doesn't Helen White have a bill to affix all
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  Speaker 2: of this?
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  Speaker 3: I have heard she does, but I'm not I'm not
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  Speaker 3: across it. I'm not across it.
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  Speaker 2: There is a bill, isn't there? Because it making the
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  Speaker 2: supper mind? Did I have a dream about Helen White
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  Speaker 2: having a bill about restrange restrain of trade clauses?
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  Speaker 3: I don't know if that's something we should get into either.
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  Speaker 3: I'm not too sure. Yeah, yeah, but I will say
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  Speaker 3: that that the OECD does say it's looked at different
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  Speaker 3: like regulatory frameworks around these clauses and different countries, and
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  Speaker 3: it says that the regulatory framework around New Zealand in
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  Speaker 3: this area is the most employer friendly of all the
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  Speaker 3: countries that's looked at. Yeah, so so that that does
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  Speaker 3: suggest if you if you do find yourself in a
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  Speaker 3: sticky situation in this regard, you know you might face
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  Speaker 3: face an uphill battle if you are an employee.
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  Speaker 2: All right, thank you very much, Janey. I really really
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  Speaker 2: enjoyed out chat tonight Gnative Training. The Herald's Wellington Business editor.
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  Speaker 2: I furiously googled, so I was like, surely, to God,
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  Speaker 2: I don't want to leave you with the impression I've
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  Speaker 2: been having weird dreams about Helen White and pieces of legislation,
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  Speaker 2: though she does. In fact, I wasn't making it up.
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