Resources
4
min read

The 90-Day Trial Is Back For All Employers

Melanie Marx
|
28 Jan
2025
URL copied
to clipboard
Resources
4
min read

The 90-Day Trial Is Back For All Employers

What we do

We can easily adapt to your environment and coach you every step of the way, either on your site, off-site, on the phone or online. You will get a dedicated Consultant to support you with all your people and culture requirements.

Processes & Guidelines

We will tailor your HR processes and policies to perfectly fit your company's unique needs and goals. We conduct a thorough evaluation of your current HR documents, policies & frameworks to identify gaps & improvement areas.

We will then work with you to create bespoke documentation, templates, guides, policies and toolkits that suit your internal culture. We also work with our employment lawyer to ensure your documents comply with current legislation so that your HR department has the fundamentals in place to operate smoothly (without going overboard with paperwork)!

People & Culture Strategy

In the initial phase of our collaboration, we engage with clients through either an employee engagement survey or a client discovery session. This step allows us to gather essential insights into the current HR dynamics and employee perspectives. The outcomes from these discovery phases allows us to craft a bespoke HR strategy that aligns with business goals and prioritise key focus areas.

Our partnership approach ensures the HR strategy we develop addresses both the immediate and long-term needs of the organisation.

Remuneration & benefits

We collaborate with you to refine your remuneration and benefits approach, ensuring they're competitive and reflect your company's mission. By leveraging market insights, we craft strategies that attract and retain talent while maintaining financial viability.

Our role extends to effectively communicating these benefits to your employees, emphasising their value in supporting both professional and personal growth. This approach boosts employee satisfaction and positions your company as a preferred employer.

Talent management and planning

We help you align your talent strategy with your business goals, identifying skill needs and talent gaps to ensure your workforce is future-ready. Our services include succession planning and talent development, aimed at creating a flexible and growth-oriented organisation.

Our proactive talent management approach focuses on nurturing high-potential employees and fostering a culture of continuous improvement. This keeps your team competitive and engaged, preparing your company for both current and future success with enhanced employee retention.

Organisational design

We partner with our clients to identify key talent needs and develop strategies to attract, retain, and develop the right people. Our approach includes performance management, leadership development, and succession planning, all tailored to enhance your team's capabilities and readiness for future challenges.

Our support extends beyond strategy development; we also provide practical tools and guidance for implementing effective talent management practices. This includes creating engaging employee development programs and establishing clear career paths that motivate and retain high performers.

Diversity and Inclusion

We collaborate with you to develop strategies that foster an inclusive workplace, where diversity is not just recognised but celebrated. Through targeted training programs, policy development, and awareness campaigns, we help create an environment that encourages open dialogue, mutual respect, and equal opportunities for all employees.

Our goal is to ensure that every team member feels valued and empowered to contribute their best, driving innovation and enhancing company performance.

Wellbeing initiatives

We assist our clients in crafting and implementing comprehensive wellbeing initiatives that address the physical, mental, and emotional health of their workforce. By conducting thorough needs assessments, we identify specific areas where support is most needed, creating tailored programs that promote a healthy work-life balance, stress management, and overall employee wellness.

Our services range from developing wellness workshops and fitness challenges to offering resources for mental health support. We aim to foster a supportive environment where employees feel valued and have access to the tools they need to maintain their wellbeing.

Recruitment support

Our recruitment support services are designed to streamline the hiring process for our clients, ensuring they attract and retain the best talent for their needs. We offer a comprehensive suite of services, including job description development, writing & placing job adverts, screening candidates, conducting initial interviews, and facilitating the final hiring steps and onboarding.

Second to last example

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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.

Last example

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.

What we do

We can easily adapt to your environment and coach you every step of the way, either on your site, off-site, on the phone or online. You will get a dedicated Consultant to support you with all your people and culture requirements.

Processes & Guidelines

We will tailor your HR processes and policies to perfectly fit your company's unique needs and goals. We conduct a thorough evaluation of your current HR documents, policies & frameworks to identify gaps & improvement areas.

We will then work with you to create bespoke documentation, templates, guides, policies and toolkits that suit your internal culture. We also work with our employment lawyer to ensure your documents comply with current legislation so that your HR department has the fundamentals in place to operate smoothly (without going overboard with paperwork)!

People & Culture Strategy

In the initial phase of our collaboration, we engage with clients through either an employee engagement survey or a client discovery session. This step allows us to gather essential insights into the current HR dynamics and employee perspectives. The outcomes from these discovery phases allows us to craft a bespoke HR strategy that aligns with business goals and prioritise key focus areas.

Our partnership approach ensures the HR strategy we develop addresses both the immediate and long-term needs of the organisation.

Remuneration & benefits

We collaborate with you to refine your remuneration and benefits approach, ensuring they're competitive and reflect your company's mission. By leveraging market insights, we craft strategies that attract and retain talent while maintaining financial viability.

Our role extends to effectively communicating these benefits to your employees, emphasising their value in supporting both professional and personal growth. This approach boosts employee satisfaction and positions your company as a preferred employer.

Talent management and planning

We help you align your talent strategy with your business goals, identifying skill needs and talent gaps to ensure your workforce is future-ready. Our services include succession planning and talent development, aimed at creating a flexible and growth-oriented organisation.

Our proactive talent management approach focuses on nurturing high-potential employees and fostering a culture of continuous improvement. This keeps your team competitive and engaged, preparing your company for both current and future success with enhanced employee retention.

Organisational design

We partner with our clients to identify key talent needs and develop strategies to attract, retain, and develop the right people. Our approach includes performance management, leadership development, and succession planning, all tailored to enhance your team's capabilities and readiness for future challenges.

Our support extends beyond strategy development; we also provide practical tools and guidance for implementing effective talent management practices. This includes creating engaging employee development programs and establishing clear career paths that motivate and retain high performers.

Diversity and Inclusion

We collaborate with you to develop strategies that foster an inclusive workplace, where diversity is not just recognised but celebrated. Through targeted training programs, policy development, and awareness campaigns, we help create an environment that encourages open dialogue, mutual respect, and equal opportunities for all employees.

Our goal is to ensure that every team member feels valued and empowered to contribute their best, driving innovation and enhancing company performance.

Wellbeing initiatives

We assist our clients in crafting and implementing comprehensive wellbeing initiatives that address the physical, mental, and emotional health of their workforce. By conducting thorough needs assessments, we identify specific areas where support is most needed, creating tailored programs that promote a healthy work-life balance, stress management, and overall employee wellness.

Our services range from developing wellness workshops and fitness challenges to offering resources for mental health support. We aim to foster a supportive environment where employees feel valued and have access to the tools they need to maintain their wellbeing.

Recruitment support

Our recruitment support services are designed to streamline the hiring process for our clients, ensuring they attract and retain the best talent for their needs. We offer a comprehensive suite of services, including job description development, writing & placing job adverts, screening candidates, conducting initial interviews, and facilitating the final hiring steps and onboarding.

Second to last example

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.

Last example

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.

Melanie Marx
|
28 Jan
2025
URL copied
to clipboard

The government passed legislation at the end of 2023, and brought back the 90 day trial period for all employers.  This change has opened the door for businesses of every size to bring on new employees under 90-day trial periods once again.

Before this amendment came into play, using 90-day trial periods was exclusive to smaller businesses with 19 or fewer employees. Larger businesses had to navigate the hiring waters with probationary periods instead.

How to use the 90 day trial and what does it mean?

If you include a 90-day trial in your employment contract, it means that from the first day the employee starts, they're in a trial period for up to 90 days. During this time, you can dismiss the employee without a reason being given, and without them being able to raise a personal grievance claim against you.

If used correctly, these trial periods are great for checking out new team members. They let you see if someone's right for the job by looking at how they perform, behave, and fit in with the team, all within a specific time.

But remember, the trial needs to be clearly stated in the contract and the new employee must agree to it before commencing working (ie - even before their first shift).

They're applicable to all new employees, except previous employees or those you've previously engaged with in contracting or temping roles. Note that this includes casual, permanent, and fixed-term staff, but not independent contractors. You also cannot use 90-day trial periods for those on certain work visas, like the Accredited Employer Work Visa.

Key points to remember

  • Contract Signing: If an employee starts working for you before the contract containing the 90-day trial period is signed, the 90-day trial period clause will not be valid or enforceable (this includes someone signing their contract on their first day of work).
  • Time Limits: 90-day trial periods cannot be extended past 90 days. The 90-day period includes all days - weekends and public holidays too, not just the days the employee works.
  • Dismissal During Trial: During a 90-day trial, if the employer dismisses the employee, they cannot lodge a personal grievance for unfair dismissal, provided the dismissal process is fair and lawful. Grievances can still be raised on other grounds, such as unjustified disadvantage, discrimination, or harassment.
  • Reasonable Review Time: Employers must give new hires a reasonable amount of time to review the agreement before starting, ideally a minimum of two working days, with the contract signed before the employee's start date.
  • Shorter Notice Periods: You can provide a shorter notice period to be given under the 90-day trial period (ie, one week instead of four). Notice must also be given within the trial period, even if the actual dismissal takes effect after the trial period ends.
  • Termination Requirements: Terminating employment during a trial requires no specific reason, but the principles of good faith and the opportunity for the employee to comment on the dismissal should be provided. Notice as per the employment agreement is still required for termination, with the option for "pay in lieu" depending on what is stated in the employment agreement.
  • Navigating 90-day trial periods with attention to detail, fairness, and open communication can make them a powerful tool for both assessing new talent and protecting your business, as long as you stick to the rules and treat employees with respect.