[Zeeta]

Hi all, need a bit of advice here.
I have a job offer (yippie!! :D) with a great-looking company for a 3-month contract. However, the Service Agreement they propose says that I need to provide an invoice for every calendar month and I get paid on the 20th of the following month.

Since this is my first contracting job here in NZ I have no idea whether this is normal. Why the 20th, why do I need to wait so long for my hard-earned money?
Should I accept this offer or do you reckon I should insist on a sooner payday?
What's your experience with paydays?

What I'd really prefer is fortnightly payment but maybe that's not something they give to contractors. Or is it?

[JandM]

I can't help you about NZ practices.

However, I've done various work on an hourly paid basis for various education authorities here in the UK, and for this there is a similar system of invoicing for what you've done at the end of the month - only they don't pay till the LAST day of the month following. Yes, it's tough on the workers, having to put in all the effort and spend out for your travel before you see a penny, but that's just the way their financial system is set up, and they're big enough that they don't actually have to care.

[Parsley]

Again, can't specifically comment on NZ, but yep, I've dealt with this before doing bank work - submit monthly timesheet before 30th of each month, get paid on 15th of following month. And yep, it's a bit crap. Having said that, if you don't ask, you don't get, so you've got nothing to lose by asking if there's any way they can pay you sooner.

P

[Zeeta]

Thanks, it's good to know that this practice exists in the UK - may be the reason some companies adopt it in NZ.

Really puts me in an awkward situation though, as starting on 1 December my first payday will be 20 January! :uhoh

but that's just the way their financial system is set up, and they're big enough that they don't actually have to care.

Yeah, I guess they don't.
And if I start mentioning this I might look like some cheapo trying to bargain. Eh.

[Zeeta]

if you don't ask, you don't get

I'll definitely ask but there's not much I can do if they just say 'that's the way it is', is there?
Maybe not accept the job offer ;) But no, totally can't afford to turn them down.

[marybelle]

Why the 20th, why do I need to wait so long for my hard-earned money?

from what I have seen most bills are paid in or out on the 20th of the month so seems pretty standard.

[Zeeta]

seems pretty standard.

That's the kind of lesson a new immigrant like myself has to learn.
Where I come from (Hungary, EU) almost all companies pay by the 5th of the month. In the worst case it can be drawn out as far as the 12th, but never farther than that.

[James 1077]

I'm a salaried worker so different from contracting but my pay day is the 20th of the month as that is when the companies pays all of its bills.

[Marti]

Thats really tough :( - working 50 days before you see any dollaroonies. Perhaps you could negotiate a 'pay me half now, half later' kinda thing just to see you through the christmas period. Congrats on the job offer btw. :nice1

[Jon&Candy]

I had the same deal with my contract when I first came here. What was great though was that when I started as a permie after the contract had expired, I got a month of overlap!

[whiskythedog]

This is very much standard practice in NZ - I get paid on the 20th of the month as an employee and we pay our suppliers on the 20th of the month as opposed to the end of the month in the UK.

[miep]

Yep, totally normal practice. There are some agencies that pay their contractors sooner than the 20th but then there are some that don't pay until the client has paid them! Those are the ones to avoid as that almost always crates issues.
Good luck with the new job!

[Nick88]

I've been running businesses here for the last 10 years, and it is standard practice to pay the companies' bills on the 20th following invoice. I'm afraid that until you are a salary or wage earner you will get the same thing wherever you go. Really it's only the first month that feels hard, after that you have money coming in every month.

[Pink Tracy]

Hope this helps, the majority of larger businesses were urged many many years ago to change salary dates to the 20th of the month as this was then the quiter time of the month for banks, it would mean they would not have a cash crisis with salary withdrawals evening it out. Over the years it has become the norm and as eftpos has taken over from queuing in banks to get your hard earned dollar it nolonger matters to the banks,

There you go a little bit of history for you....

[Wooly_Cow]

Two issues here I think.

1) Getting paid on 20th - I get paid on 15th which actually makes sense....half the month in advance, half the month in arrears...a hell of a lot better than the whole month or more in arrears!

2) Not getting paid till the second month of employment - this can happen no matter when you get paid if you miss the cut of day of the first month. It does take a bit of time to set up new employees on payroll systems and get their tax sorted. Nevertheless most employers here would be flexible to give you an advance on the first pay if you ask - nicely :)

[Zeeta]

Thanks for all the replies. I did ask them whether it was possible to get some of my Dec payment before Xmas and they were extremely helpful and flexible, so that problem is now sorted out.

Still, this was useful to get to know how people get paid in NZ - at my previous work here I was paid weeekly and it never occured to me how switching to a monthly salary can actually be a problem in the first 2 months.

[beano_bill]

Glad you got everything sorted out for Christmas. I know that where I work, we pay contractors according to their T&Cs. Some opt for payment on the 20th of the following month, others have 7 day terms.

I was interested to see responses by salaried-employees were they are getting paid monthly. I get mine fortnightly which after nearly 2 years is still hard to get my head around somedays. When I started I asked "Why" alot and received blank faces when I suggested there may be another way..... just my strange Northern Hemisphere ways I suppose :D

Beano

[eternalkiwi]

I have contracted in NZ for 10 years and have been paid anything from weekly to monthly.
When presented with 20th of the following month terms, I have usually been able to negotiate more regular or timely terms. Though I have heard of some agencies being quite tough on this later payment date as this allows them time to collect from the client before paying you.

Shawn

[Jellybean]

We're living in NZ and it seems quite common for a middle of the month payday (ours is the 15th of the month). We have just arranged all of our bills around that date - took a bit of getting used to though!!! Our company also offered to pay us every fortnight instead of monthly, that apparently is common too.

Jenni