Trial periods have been available to employers in New Zealand since 2009. They were originally introduced by the government to reduce the risk to business owners of hiring new staff. The introduction of trial periods coincided with the global financial crisis, and many New Zealand business owners used the trial period to take on new staff, knowing that if it didn’t work out in the first three months the employee could be moved on. Up until 2011, trial periods could only be utilised by employers with 19 or fewer staff. Now, any business can utilise them; and in our view, trial periods should be utilised!