If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys, yet motivation cannot be primarily financial, says Neville Aitchison. Organisations must tap into the deeper roots of human motivation and make “the Good” more visible to employees and the world.

When it comes to remuneration and reward, one person’s meat is another’s poison, says Terry Williams. And chocolate fish are another level entirely.

A Gisborne Māori health provider is helping farm labourers, field workers, and factory staff stay healthy with a unique home-grown approach to preventative health care. Hayley Redpath reports.

Young people out of employment or education are likely to have a lifetime of poorer outcomes in terms of unemployment, wages and even happiness and health. Associate Professor Gail Pacheco checks out the situation in New Zealand.

Organisations which nurture a creative and diverse workforce will be the ones best placed to succeed into tomorrow and beyond, says Bev Cassidy-Mackenzie. She calls on Kiwi businesses to demonstate that they value diversity.

Getting remuneration wrong can lead to dissatisfaction, but can you buy employee engagement with pay? The short answer is no, says Emma Le Grice. She explains how to get more out of your spend on pay.

Pay rates for women continue to lag behind those of men. To fix the problem women need more than “good karma”, says Susan Doughty. She provides some pointers for women on how they should go about asking for a pay rise.

With ever-widening pay gaps increasingly in the headlines, John McGill takes a look at pay differentials in New Zealand and expains what’s really happening.

Dismissing an employee shouldn’t be feared as a difficult process, but it must be fair, says Bridget Smith. She outlines a case that illustrates how procedural flaws meant an employee was unjustifiably dismissed despite a positive drug test.

Finding “the guilty one” rarely works when dealing with bullying, says Dr Eva Gemzøe Mikkelson. Instead encourage the organisation to change. Peter Bateman reports on the Danish experience.

HR talks about the people managers in a business being its customers. But Angela Atkins says perhaps it’s time to start seeing them as something else entirely. In this column she shares ideas on including managers as part of the HR team.

One of the topics currently doing the rounds in HR circles is performance management—and why it’s time to get rid of performance reviews. But, asks Philippa Youngman, has anyone thought about what this means for determining remuneration levels?

When a language school decided not to employ a teacher following a two-week trial period, he raised a grievance alleging unjustified dismissal. The Employment Relations Authority found the arrangement was not a trial period but a fixed-term contract, says Paul Robertson. Fixed-term agreements cannot be used to establish the suitability of a potential employee.