The government announced an increase to all New Zealand minimum wage rates. This includes the adult, training and youth minimum ages. the adult minimum wage will go up by $1.50, taking the hourly rate from $21.20 up to $22.70. The training and starting-out minimum wages will also increase from $16.96 per hour to $18.16 per hour.

So what does this mean for you?

• You need to ensure that all employees receiving the current minimum wages are correctly increased on the 1st April 2023. The increase is from the 1st April 2023, not from the following pay period.
• Check the employment agreements of those staff that have reference to the minimum wage in their agreement, ensuring to increase those as well; i.e 30c above minimum wage.
• Confirm that any employee you currently have on the training or youth minimum wage still meet the criteria, if not ensure you adjust their pay back to the date they no longer met the criteria.
• Consider options and discussions for employees earning above minimum wage. These employees may seek out additional remuneration and/or may be due an annual review. Where a direct remuneration increase is not possible, you may have alternatives that you’d like to consider, or need assistance developing alternatives.

If you would like to discuss alternative options please contact your Director at Tandem Group or our HR specialist Tracey Bryant tracey@tandemgroup.co.nz or phone 06 758 5273.