Employers often complain that it is “too hard” to get rid of staff, and say it is a procedural nightmare.
We wondered how New Zealand compares to other countries. Luckily for us, the OECD has released its ranking of employment protection (how hard it is to fire someone) across the OECD.
The factors considered were:
1) Procedural inconveniences to employers when starting the dismissal process;
2) Notice periods and severance pay;
3) The difficulty of dismissing someone, i.e. the circumstances in which an employee may be dismissed and the repercussions for an employer for getting it wrong.
On a scale of 0 (least restrictions) to 6 (most restrictions) New Zealand scored 1.4. Only in the United States (0.49), Canada (0.92) and the United Kingdom (1.12) is it easier to dismiss a permanent employee.
Interestingly, New Zealand’s score has dropped since 2008 (when we scored 1.5), which most likely reflects the introduction of 90-day trial periods.
Maybe it is not so hard after all.