Redundancy enquiries from employers in decline

A further sign we may be through the worst of the recession, barring another shock from offshore, is employers have been making far fewer calls seeking advice and assistance on redundancies over the past month or so, says David Lowe, Employment Services Manager for the Northern Employers and Manufacturers Association.

“Earlier in the year EMA’s AdviceLine was inundated with enquiries on how to manage restructuring and redundancy,” Mr David Lowe said.

“It appears most employers have cut their cloth for the recession so the worst may be over as far as planning for redundancies are concerned.

“But the number of unemployed is still likely to rise since it can take two to three months from the time a business contemplates redundancy to when a person is out of work and seeking help from Work and Income.

“Work and Income is probably seeing today the results of restructuring decisions taken several months ago.

“Also positive for employment is the new 90 day grievance free law which will give smaller employers the confidence to take on people faster than would have been the case previously.

“The new law will help reduce the lagged effect when growth starts to recover but unemployment remains.

“EMA’s AdviceLine takes over 40,000 calls a year from New Zealand and Australia and receives over 50,000 visits to its advice website.

“EMA AdviceLine was kept busy last month with swine flu. 2,614 employers downloaded EMA’s pandemic and swine flu information.”