Category: Business

Source: Radio New Zealand

How your boss decides how much to pay you

Have you ever wondered how your boss decides what you will be paid?

Sometimes, salary-setting can seem like a bit of a mysterious dark art.

New research from recruitment firm Robert Half has found that, for familiar roles, New Zealand employers lean heavily on online salary guides.

More than 40 percent of employers said they would use them to help determine what staff would be paid. Next were industry benchmarking tools and recommendations from direct managers.

For unfamiliar roles, such as new positions, they were less reliant on external sources. Four in 10 would turn to fixed-salary scales for these, just ahead of recommendations from direct managers, or guidance from HR and internal salary benchmarks.

Robert Half managing director Megan Alexander said recruitment firms that frequently placed people in roles could provide information that allowed companies to benchmark their salaries in the market.

“Where the challenge also lies, though, is there’s always that internal business knowledge that an employee has and how much value that becomes.” she said. “That’s where sometimes you see salaries become a little bit subjective.”

What can you do if you’re not happy with what you’re offered?

Alexander said much would depend on the economic climate.

About 37 percent of employers cited company performance or profitability as a driver of salaries.

“We’re in a climate where there’s a lot of restructuring and unemployment around, so there’s been less room to negotiate in the last couple of years than previously.

“We’re seeing less ability, because companies are under great cost control and it’s a real balancing act. They don’t want to lose good people, but at the moment, the same people aren’t able to go out and just command a big pay increase across the market, because it doesn’t exist.”

She said employees could use many of the same tools to get a sense of where their salary would sit.

“Where the disconnect can often lie is the conversations around someone’s soft skills – you know, their initiative, their drive – versus the actual skills that they’re using on a day-to-day basis. If you look at a job spec, yes, this is my job and this is my job title etc, but how well on the spectrum is that person able to execute?

“There may be differences in perception between the hiring manager and the employee.”

Alexander said employers must look at salaries carefully and not opt for an across-the-board increase.

“That’s what happened last year in a lot of places.”

She said an employer could get out of step with the market quickly.

BNZ chief economist Mike Jones said conditions in the labour market were still weak.

“I think we’ll see overall wage growth remain pretty low and slow in a 2-3 percent area this year. That’s potentially problematic for inflation-adjusted incomes, given headline inflation is still around 3 percent.

“Real growth in labour incomes will be modest at best. As we move through the year, though, some improvement in real wage growth is anticipated, as the spike up in inflation starts to unwind.”

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

The number of jobs ads stalled in December, ending six months of consecutive increases.

The latest SEEK NZ employment report shows job ads fell 0.3 percent in December, compared with November, but still ended the year 6.7 percent higher than a year earlier.

SEEK NZ country manager Rob Clark said he was not reading too much into a single month’s data.

“This first decline in ad volumes in more than a year was only slight, but it has halted the stable-to-positive trend we were enjoying throughout 2025,” he said.

“Despite the pause, some sectors are demonstrating positive longer-term momentum.”

Meanwhile, applications per job declined by just 0.1 percent, indicating that competition for jobs remained strong.

Construction job ads recorded the strongest monthly growth, rising 3.4 percent, followed by engineering, and trades and services.

On an annual basis, demand for construction workers rose 42.9 percent, which Clark attributed to major infrastructure projects getting under way.

“Ongoing and new investment in major infrastructure projects continues to drive employment growth in the construction and affiliated industries, with most regions recording rising demand for workers in those roles,” he said.

Growth in job ads was strongest in the South Island and in the provincial regions of the North Island.

Job ads remained weak in Auckland, falling 1.1 percent in December and 0.7 percent over the year.

Wellington was unchanged in December, but total job ads were up 9.4 percent year‑on‑year, albeit from a low base.

Clark attributed the challenges in Auckland and Wellington to the types of jobs their economies supported.

“Not all sectors are growing, with softer activity in the professional and consumer services, and public sectors stagnating monthly growth in Wellington and leading to a decline in Auckland,” he said.

Despite the December result, Clark was upbeat about the outlook for jobs in the year ahead, pointing to improving signals in recent data releases.

“Overall, the long‑term data points to a recovering labour market, with pockets of expanding opportunity – albeit at a measured pace – as we head into 2026.”

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

A Wellington man says his businesses lost up to $2000 a day after their Instagram and Facebook accounts were banned mistakenly.

Alex Hoang is the general manager for two businesses in the capital, Pho Viet Street Food and Velvet Nail Room.

On 14 January he was notified that the Instagram and Facebook accounts were locked due to sexual content on his page which he completely rejected.

Hoang immediately appealed which resulted in Meta services saying he was permanently banned.

He told RNZ after he was not getting anywhere with the normal process of escalating these issues, he contacted an email address that was not public after seeing an influencer use it who had similar problems.

Following that the ban was reversed on Saturday.

Hoang said his businesses relied social media a lot.

“Social media is really important for those businesses as it is a channel for us to communicate with customers.”

He estimated the two businesses were losing between $1000-$2000 per day.

“A lot of customers very luckily they contacted me, they thought something was wrong with me [or] something was wrong with the business, which is really, really frustrating.”

Hoang was concerned he’d have to wait months for the issue to be resolved and noted he also contacted a Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment mailbox that was set up for people in similar situations.

Small Business and Manufacturing Minister Chris Penk told RNZ around 100 requests had been received through the dedicated inbox since the beginning of October.

“The consistent concern raised by these businesses is the disruption caused by losing access to their accounts. For many small businesses, social media platforms are a primary channel for communicating with customers and promoting their products and services.”

Penk said MBIE continued to engage constructively with Meta and was passing on emails received directly for the company to review in cases where small businesses alleged their accounts may have been incorrectly suspended.

A Meta spokesperson told RNZ it took action on accounts that violated their policies, and people could appeal to the social media company if they thought it made a mistake.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Mercury Energy has powered up its new geothermal generator near Taupō, which is now delivering electricity generation to the national grid.

Built at a cost of $220 million, the new unit is expected to be fully operational by March.

Mercury said the unit will add a further 46 megawatts of renewable energy – enough to power about 55,000 homes – ahead of winter, lifting the station’s installed capacity from 86 MW to 132 MW.

At full capacity, Mercury said the Ngā Tamariki power station would generate around 1120 gigawatt hours of electricity a year, enough to supply about 158,000 average homes – more than all residential homes in Christchurch.

The station is powered by nine geothermal wells drilled more than 3000 metres below the surface, where temperatures reach up to 290 degrees Celsius.

Mercury chief executive Stew Hamilton said the expansion is part of a $1 billion investment in three renewable generation developments planned by the company.

“These include the Ngā Tamariki expansion, stage two of the Kaiwera Downs wind farm in Southland, and the Kaiwaikawe wind farm in Northland.”

The Ngā Tamariki geothermal station is owned by Mercury. However, the resource has been developed in partnership with Tauhara North 2 Trust and with mana whenua Ngāti Tahu Ngāti Whaoa.

The trust jointly owns the resource consents, receives a revenue stream from the station, and holds options to take an equity stake.

Investigations into geothermal development at Ngā Tamariki date back to 1986, with the power station first commissioned in 2013.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

More than half a million people visited Auckland’s Ikea in its first month of business.

Ikea said the Sylvia Park shop was the top-performing in the Ingka Group anywhere in the world for food sales.

The busiest day was Sunday, 7 December, when almost 30,000 people visited.

There were also 1.9 million website users in the first month.

Ikea sold almost 50,000 of its Frakta blue bag, 40,000 white Oftast plates and 29,480 white Oftast bowls.

New Zealand shoppers also bought more than 54,000 hot dogs and more than 21,000 cinnamon buns as well as 28,000 servings of meatballs and mashed potatoes.

University of Auckland marketing expert Shahper Richter said some of the activity was due to the novelty of a new shopping option.

“Ikea isn’t a normal retailer, it’s destination shopping. The showroom acts like a decision-aid, the food makes it feel like a cheap outing, and Smaaland [a supervised play area] is a quiet superpower.

“Free childcare reduces the friction for families, which drives longer stays and repeat visits. Crowds will settle from opening-month levels, but I’d expect it to remain a major drawcard because it creates habits, not just hype.”

Retail consultant Chris Wilkinson, from First Retail Group, said it had been the country’s most anticipated retail opening.

“They hit the market at a key time for spending, pre-Christmas, and it benefited from owning every media channel for weeks leading up to and following the opening.

“Now the store has got through the fascination and novelty factor, we’re likely to see the serious shoppers venture in – those who will be looking for inspiration and want the space to enjoy the experience of those curated room spaces and unique products, that the initial frenzy would not have enabled.

“These are the people who tend to spend more, so I would anticipate this will propel the second wave of concentrated activity. This should carry on this year as locals and visitors make a visit part of their leisure itinerary. I say that because a visit there is a purposeful move – it’s not a place you simply pop into – due to its scale, and the intentional need for shoppers to navigate the large store and room settings and likely distractions of the food offer.

“So, I think that the novelty will be sustained for quite some time as they strategically launch new products and consumer chatter through socials continue to keep the brand top of mind.”

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

The big interest rate question this year will likely be when interest rates start to rise materially again – but borrowers might want to fix their home loans soon, forecasters warn.

Rates have generally been falling since 2024. Reserve Bank data shows the average two-year special rate has dropped from about 7 percent at the peak to just over 4.5 percent at the end of last year.

The main banks are now advertising two-year specials of 4.69 percent or 4.75 percent.

When the Reserve Bank indicated in its latest official cash rate update that it did not necessarily expect to cut rates further, it prompted wholesale markets to lift and some fixed rates to shift higher.

Reserve Bank governor Anna Breman indicated that the market may have moved too far.

BNZ chief economist Mike Jones said interest rates would likely be on hold for now.

“There seems to be a growing risk that interest-rate hikes, although they are a way off, might come a little bit earlier than our expectations,” he said.

“Formally, that’s still the first lift in the OCR coming in February of 2027, but from what we’ve seen from the data recently, there’s a risk it could be late 2026. That’s something the markets are now already pricing.”

He said wholesale markets had now priced in a full 25-basis-point hike by the end of the year, so retail rates may not move a lot, even if that proved true.

“I think we’re in a position we can probably draw a line under the downtrend in mortgage rates, but we can’t see mortgage rates jumping a whole lot any time soon either.

“It does seem to us like we’re in for a period of consolidation, I think, in mortgage rates… but it’s also watching and waiting nervously for what we see offshore in particular, because it is quite a heightened environment for geopolitical risk and risks generally.”

ASB economists said the OCR and mortgage rates were now lower than they had expected in forecasts made early last year. They expected short-term rates to stay at their current levels this year, before rising as the economy improved.

Longer-term fixed rates of more than two years could increase more over 2026.

“Major global central banks have also been cutting policy rates over 2025, at different paces,” they said. “That has impacted global interest rate markets, including markets where New Zealand banks compete for funding.

“Longer-term NZ mortgage rates eased over 2024 to reflect the combination of the global and local outlook. Our view now is that longer-term rates are under upward pressure, reflecting longer-term inflation expectations and global central bank actions.

“In addition, it is very significant that wholesale interest rates rose in immediate response to the RBNZ’s November OCR cut, after the RBNZ in effect downplayed the prospects of any further OCR cuts.

“In early 2026, the wholesale interest rates that influence term mortgage rates for one-year terms and onwards are past their lows for the easing cycle, and that’s put upward pressure on both longer-term mortgage rates and term deposit rates.”

Infometrics chief forecaster Gareth Kiernan said he expected the OCR to stay at 2.25 percent until November, but inflation was still likely to come in higher than the bank anticipated this week.

“There are questions about how quickly that headline inflation rate might moderate and, if that’s the case, well, maybe the Reserve Bank does need to raise a little bit sooner rather than later, but at this stage, we’re still sticking to the end of the year.”

He said it would make sense for most people to think about fixing their home loan rates for longer.

“There doesn’t seem to be a lot of evidence that those retail rates will be coming down any further now. Previously, I think I talked about you’ve probably got until the middle of this year before you start to see upward pressure, but obviously, the market has turned a little bit quicker.

“It’s just a question now, for me, whether, if you’re going to go at three or four or five years, whether you’ve maybe missed the boat a little bit on some of those.”

Reserve Bank data shows three-year special rates hit a trough of about 4.8 percent in November, before increasing. The main banks are all now advertising rates more than 5 percent.

At Squirrel, David Cunningham expected little movement. He said banks were competing hard with things like cash back, rather than trying to tempt borrowers with new lower rates.

Jones said BNZ had also reduced its expectations for house-price rises this year.

“They were already pretty modest at 4 percent for the calendar year, but we’ve tapered them back a little to 2 percent. From what we’re seeing, particularly on the supply side, we think some of those risks we’ve been talking about for a while, about kind of sideways for longer, seem to be crystalising.

“It’s a market that looks pretty well balanced at the moment. It has been for most of the last 12 months, where you’ve got a bit of extra demand, you’ve got a faster pace of sales, but that’s been matched off pretty well by the supply side and new listings.

“We basically just think that market – all that sort of balanced type of conditions – will remain in play for longer.”

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

The government is loaning $3.1 million to help build an industrial hub near Gore.

The money, from the Regional Infrastructure Fund, was announced on Wednesday by Associate Minister for Regional Development Mark Patterson.

He said the 43-hectare development would ease a critical shortage of large industrial sites in the Gore District.

“It is expected to create up to 50 jobs during construction and attract industries such as fertiliser distribution, farm equipment services, warehousing, and retail.”

Ngāi Tahu iwi authority Hokonui Rūnanga and Robertson Transport Limited were leading the $13.6m project.

“Importantly, this development will provide Hokonui Rūnanga with a sustainable income stream through long-term leases, enabling it to fund vital health and social services for the community,” Patterson said.

Construction was due to start midway through this year.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Last year was a record-breaking year for the do-it-yourself (DIY) Sharesies investment platform, with investors well-positioned for further investments in 2026.

Investor confidence jumped to a three-year high in the last three months of 2025, with the index peaking at 62 in October, before market volatility dampened enthusiasm to end the quarter at 45.

The index ranked the confidence of more than 930,000 Sharesies customers in New Zealand and Australia from zero to 100.

“Record trading in October was followed by subdued sentiment in November and returning stability in December,” Sharesies head of data and analytics Jordan Cunningham said.

Sharesies savings accounts saw an uptick in deposits in November, compared with the buying of shares in October.

However, the share market picked up again following the Reserve Bank’s interest rate cut in late November.

Still, net deposits for 2025 hit a record $1.7 billion at the end of December, compared with $815 million the year before.

“There were several weeks in December where the total amount of deposits were double that of withdrawals,” Cunningham said.

“We’re still really seeing those positive indications of strong net buying over selling and that strong growth in the net deposits.

“This suggests investors were positioning themselves for the year ahead.”

She said an ongoing trend was a declining investor preference for NZX companies, with Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, Meridian Energy and Infratil down in the ranking.

“That has been driven by the increasing focus on US.markets. We have still seen growth in investing in the NZX, but it really hasn’t kept pace with the growth we’ve seen in US markets.

“Almost 80 percent of our trading volumes now are on US [markets], compared with about 10-15 percent in NZX.

“It’s really hard for even those blue chip NZX companies to keep pace with the growth that we’re seeing [in the US], both in trading volumes and also a price.”

By contrast, she said gold-themed, exchange-traded funds saw strong net buying during the quarter.

“Tough to know what’s going to continue, given the global uncertainty that we face really.”

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

The big interest rate question this year will likely be when interest rates start to rise materially again – but borrowers might want to fix their home loans soon, forecasters warn.

Rates have generally been falling since 2024. Reserve Bank data shows the average two-year special rate has dropped from about 7 percent at the peak to just over 4.5 percent at the end of last year.

The main banks are now advertising two-year specials of 4.69 percent or 4.75 percent.

When the Reserve Bank indicated in its latest official cash rate update that it did not necessarily expect to cut rates further, it prompted wholesale markets to lift and some fixed rates to shift higher.

Reserve Bank governor Anna Breman indicated that the market may have moved too far.

BNZ chief economist Mike Jones said interest rates would likely be on hold for now.

“There seems to be a growing risk that interest-rate hikes, although they are a way off, might come a little bit earlier than our expectations,” he said.

“Formally, that’s still the first lift in the OCR coming in February of 2027, but from what we’ve seen from the data recently, there’s a risk it could be late 2026. That’s something the markets are now already pricing.”

He said wholesale markets had now priced in a full 25-basis-point hike by the end of the year, so retail rates may not move a lot, even if that proved true.

“I think we’re in a position we can probably draw a line under the downtrend in mortgage rates, but we can’t see mortgage rates jumping a whole lot any time soon either.

“It does seem to us like we’re in for a period of consolidation, I think, in mortgage rates… but it’s also watching and waiting nervously for what we see offshore in particular, because it is quite a heightened environment for geopolitical risk and risks generally.”

ASB economists said the OCR and mortgage rates were now lower than they had expected in forecasts made early last year. They expected short-term rates to stay at their current levels this year, before rising as the economy improved.

Longer-term fixed rates of more than two years could increase more over 2026.

“Major global central banks have also been cutting policy rates over 2025, at different paces,” they said. “That has impacted global interest rate markets, including markets where New Zealand banks compete for funding.

“Longer-term NZ mortgage rates eased over 2024 to reflect the combination of the global and local outlook. Our view now is that longer-term rates are under upward pressure, reflecting longer-term inflation expectations and global central bank actions.

“In addition, it is very significant that wholesale interest rates rose in immediate response to the RBNZ’s November OCR cut, after the RBNZ in effect downplayed the prospects of any further OCR cuts.

“In early 2026, the wholesale interest rates that influence term mortgage rates for one-year terms and onwards are past their lows for the easing cycle, and that’s put upward pressure on both longer-term mortgage rates and term deposit rates.”

Infometrics chief forecaster Gareth Kiernan said he expected the OCR to stay at 2.25 percent until November, but inflation was still likely to come in higher than the bank anticipated this week.

“There are questions about how quickly that headline inflation rate might moderate and, if that’s the case, well, maybe the Reserve Bank does need to raise a little bit sooner rather than later, but at this stage, we’re still sticking to the end of the year.”

He said it would make sense for most people to think about fixing their home loan rates for longer.

“There doesn’t seem to be a lot of evidence that those retail rates will be coming down any further now. Previously, I think I talked about you’ve probably got until the middle of this year before you start to see upward pressure, but obviously, the market has turned a little bit quicker.

“It’s just a question now, for me, whether, if you’re going to go at three or four or five years, whether you’ve maybe missed the boat a little bit on some of those.”

Reserve Bank data shows three-year special rates hit a trough of about 4.8 percent in November, before increasing. The main banks are all now advertising rates more than 5 percent.

At Squirrel, David Cunningham expected little movement. He said banks were competing hard with things like cash back, rather than trying to tempt borrowers with new lower rates.

Jones said BNZ had also reduced its expectations for house-price rises this year.

“They were already pretty modest at 4 percent for the calendar year, but we’ve tapered them back a little to 2 percent. From what we’re seeing, particularly on the supply side, we think some of those risks we’ve been talking about for a while, about kind of sideways for longer, seem to be crystalising.

“It’s a market that looks pretty well balanced at the moment. It has been for most of the last 12 months, where you’ve got a bit of extra demand, you’ve got a faster pace of sales, but that’s been matched off pretty well by the supply side and new listings.

“We basically just think that market – all that sort of balanced type of conditions – will remain in play for longer.”

Sign up for Money with Susan Edmunds, a weekly newsletter covering all the things that affect how we make, spend and invest money.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand