Businesses will welcome any changes to the Holiday Act that make it easier to administer says the country’s largest payroll provider.

Minister of Workplace Relations Iain Lees-Galloway has announced the establishment of a tripartite taskforce to recommend changes to the Holidays Act, noting the labour market has changed considerably since the legislation’s introduction in 2003.

“Businesses have been tearing their hair out trying to comply with the Holidays Act. Owners will be hoping the taskforce’s proposals take the pain out of administering leave entitlements,” says MYOB General Manager Carolyn Luey.

“There have been several high-profile examples of both big and small employers being caught out by the Act’s complexity. Business owners will be looking for changes that make it easier to determine exactly what an employee is owed.”

MYOB provides payroll services for approximately 1 million New Zealand employees, or one-third of the workforce, and says complying with the Holidays Act is a key pain point for many business owners.

“Reforming the Act to make it easier to administer will be good for everyone. It’ll make payroll time less stressful for business owners and mean employees less likely to miss out on entitlements.”

MYOB’s Business Monitor survey of more than 1,000 local owners of small-to-medium enterprises found 68 percent support reforming the Holidays Act to simplify how leave entitlements are calculated, while almost 1-in-5 (18 percent) say calculating and tracking leave entitlements and balances is a key pain point for their business.

“MYOB looks forward to engaging with the Government on this review given any changes that are proposed by the Taskforce and put into legislation will need to be built into our software packages,” says Ms Luey.

“Technology can take the stress out of administering payroll, if the legislation is easy to interpret and implement. We need a Holidays Act that reflects modern ways of working for New Zealand businesses and employees.”

ENDS

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