As we all juggle our business commitments with the pre-Christmas rush and the summer holiday period that follows, the hiring process can be daunting at a time when you are already busy – what if they do not have the skills they say they have? What if they struggle to cope under pressure? How do you know that they will be a good fit? How can you shorten the process?

What is a "trial" shift?

In positions where practical skills are required, employers are often keen to give candidates a “trial” as part of the interview process before offering them a job. It seems like a simple proposition – however, it is one that needs to be carefully navigated to prevent any future headaches.

For a simple test of a candidate’s skill, the ideal situation is to complete a task as part of their interview process (e.g. make a coffee) which you do not then go on to sell or gain from. When conducted in this manner, the risks are negligible.

However, if we take that example of interviewing a barista, yes, they can make one wonderful coffee, but can they maintain that quality in a busy shift? If you want to trial them for a shift or part of one, you must tread carefully.

What should you know about trial shifts?

Firstly, if you are going to make a commercial gain from their work then you MUST pay them! Employers cannot use trials as a source of free labour; you could easily be found in breach of the Employment Relations Act for that!

For short seasonal fluctuations, you could offer casual work to fix your immediate problem however, casual employees aren’t obliged to accept any hours you offer, which may not provide the reliability you require. An alternative would be to offer a permanent or fixed-term position with a 90-day trial however, if they have done a trial shift, you may need to think again. Having prior knowledge of them in the workplace could invalidate your ability to implement a full 90-day trial.

How the law would treat paid trial shifts is a little unclear. A definitive answer on whether you acted within your Employment Law obligations requires any personal grievance to be heard by the Employment Relations Authority. This could mean a process of approximately 12 months, unnecessary stress, and costly legal fees.

So, what’s the solution?

The easy option is to forgo the trial shift and rely on your 90-day trial. However, if you wish to include a trial shift as part of your selection process and have a 90-day trial included in your job offer, the potential employees must explicitly know about the 90-day trial before the trial shift, with reasonable time to consider the implications in advance of agreeing to it, for it to be legally relied on. This agreement should be in writing.

The starting date for the 90 day trial period would be the date of the paid trial shift, even if this is two weeks prior to their actual start date. The updated terms of employment will be effective from the first shift of the permanent or fixed-term job offer.

To support your new hires in the workplace and ensure a pathway to success with your organisation, you can minimise the need to invoke the 90-day trial period by developing and monitoring an internal induction programme to provide clarity around your expectations, and to quickly identify training needs for your new staff.

Need help navigating employment law?

At EASI NZ we specialise in supporting small to medium businesses to successfully navigate their employer obligations in line with organisational strategy and values.