I had a little bit of a drama at work this week

So my company has a scheme where you 'save' (have money deducted from your pay, which you have to opt into and get to choose how much gets deducted each pay) for three years and at the end you get to buy reduced-price shares (this year's offer for the shares were like NZD$300 each). Well I signed up for that in 2023, 2024, and 2025, and the 2023 one is about to end. Problem is that they never took any deductions from my pay over that time, so now I owe them NZD$1800. The payroll lady in Australia is arranging for 76 of my 350+ annual leave hours to be cashed out to cover the cost. Which means that soon I will be a shareholder! I have no idea what that entails, and if there is any tax if I set up dividends to be paid out from them - I know if I sell them I will need to pay tax, which I don't mind but is a headache.