NSW Performance and Reward network forum - 9 November 2011

Topic: Salary Packaging and Employment Taxes - are you maximising opportunities and minimising risks?

The salary packaging and employment tax landscape is changing rapidly. New salary packaging opportunities are emerging. Risks from ineffective employment tax processes are also increasing as revenue authorities around the country increase their level of security.

Kylie Rusten, an Executive Director in Ernst & Young's Employment Tax practice will bring you up to date with all the latest developments that have the potential to impact your businesses' employment tax and salary packaging systems and processes.

Business owners and Managers, remuneration and benefits managers, human resources managers

Presenters: Kylie Rusten, Executive Director, Ernst & Young's Employment Tax
Date: Wednesday 9 November 2011
Time: Registration: 5.15pm Networking: 5.30pm Forum commences:6.00pm Foruconclude:7.00pm

This is an AHRI member only forumThis forum is open to AHRI members and AHRI student members and is free of charge to attend. Register below by following the links. Non-members: to attend forums, you must become an AHRI member

Registrations close: Tuesday 8 November 2011

Enquiries: email the AHRI events team or phone 03 9918 9200.

Date / Time: Wednesday 9th November 2011 17:15 to Wednesday 9th November 2011 19:00
Duration: 90 Minutes
State: NSW
Venue / Location: Mallesons Stephen Jaques Lawyers
Address: Governor Phillip Tower , 1 Farrer Place, Sydney NSW 2000

Tips on Recruiting Talent

Recruiting the right talent is a challenging task, but can be made easier by establishing a valuable HR recruitment model. Effective recruitment will weed out the unqualified candidates, guaranteeing the best chance of finding the talent.

Below are the top 5 tips on finding talented employee

1) Know who you are looking for. You need more than a job description to be clear about who you want, you also need to pinpoint the individual qualities you want in an employee. It is a good idea to use your current top performers as a model. Look at what makes them excel in their position, identify what distinguishable qualities they posses. Usually it will be these attributes which signal out the talen

2) Do a full job analysis to identify and define the critical success factors (CSF’s) required for the position. This might take some time but it will give you more clarity on the position you want to fill and is needed if you want to find the best candidate. Break down the job into logical tasks, then analyse each task according to the knowledge, skills, abilities and attitudes required to perform each task successfully. Once you have the position broken down, it will be easier to match the candidate to the role

3) Don't just follow gut instinct, ask the right questions. Spend time developing a qualitative and quantitative approach and rely less on the ‘gut feel’

4) Take the time to find the right person. We are all time-poor, but the last thing you want to save time on is hiring. Hiring too quickly without taking the time to sift through all applications risks missing out on the right fit, which may even cost you money in the long term.

5) Be clear about the company’s future direction and hire talent with this strategic direction in mind. Hiring people who can provide you with the necessary skills, not just for the job today, but for the position in the future makes economic sense. You want people who will develop and grow alongside the company.

On the whole, bad hiring can have a negative impact on your business, not just to the cost of re-hiring and frequent staff turnover but also to employee morale and productivity.

Finding the right person takes time, but spending the resources when recruiting will have a profitable and beneficial impact on your business in the long term. Call Annette Dixon on 02 8977 4002, or visit our website at www.end2endbusinesssolutions.com.au to find out how we can help your business recruit the right people.

Redundancy and Employer Obligations

Employees who are considering redundancy must ensure they are up to date with the Fair Work Act introduced in 2009. The Work Act is considerably different to the previous Work Choices legislation which made it easier for companies to make redundancies.

It’s worth engaging with external HR consultants who’ll be able to look at your HR policies and procedures with fresh eyes to ensure your redundancy processes are fully up to date.

According to the Fair Work Act, the employer must prove that the redundancy is genuine by establishing that the employer:

• No longer requires the person’s job to be performed by anyone because of changes to the operational requirements of the employer’s enterprise.

• Must abide by any obligation in a Modern Award or Enterprise Agreement to consult about redundancy; and

• Must show that it would not have been reasonable to reassign the employee a different position but within the same company or associated company.

A redundancy can also be offered where an employee’s duties have been reallocated to other departments or existing employees. This option is fairly common during uncertain economic times.

Consider if redeployment is an option, and if so, take into account the employee’s experience and qualifications in relation to other positions available within the company. Studies have shown that often employees welcome this option even if a reduction in hours and wages is necessary.

The Fair Work Act has also placed an emphasis on the consultation obligations with the affected employee by aiming to minimize the impact of the redundancy and ensuring employees are giving adequate support.

End2End Business Solutions can assist with the redundancy process by working with your business on a career transition program and employee consultations. We can provide hr strategies such as resume workshop and one to one career management sessions to ensure those employees affected by redundancy have the beset chance of moving forward with their careers. Contact End2End Business Solutions a call today to find out more or visit our website www.end2endbusinesssolutions.com.au

Create an Inspiring and Engaging Workplace

The cost of staff turnover can average up to 100% of a person’s annual salary. This figure alone makes staff development and retention critical to the long-term success of any business.

But saving money isn’t the only bonus when it comes to staff retention. A happy work environment, where staff turnover is at its lowest, is a real incentive when recruiting. Attract the talent by managing your existing workforce effectively.

Below are some tips on retaining your current employees and building talent from within;

· Implement a framework where an employee can perceive their success and career development. Employees want to advance their careers yet not all want to move into managerial roles so look at other areas as well, such as training or mentoring, or recognising seniority as in ‘Senior Technician’ for example.

· Employee Satisfaction is key. Ensure the communication ports are open between employees and management and expectations are clear.

· Create an environment where your employees feel able to speak their mind, where they feel comfortable providing feedback, criticism and sharing ideas. Employees want to feel supported and valued, and this includes being heard.

· Ensure the hidden talents, skills and experience of employees are utilised to their maximum potential. There may be areas outside an employee’s specific job description where they could make valuable contributions and could lead to further employee development. So take the time to tap into this invaluable resource, you never know, your star talent may be right under your nose!

· Be fair and equitable! Let’s be honest, staff talk and not much stays secret in the workplace these days. Ensure all promotions and pay rises are well deserved and justified.

· Provide the tools, time and training in order for your employees to do their job well, if not, they’ll find an employer who does.

· Give employees the chance to learn new skills, follow new opportunities and develop. Without the prospect for career growth, the most talented and valued employees will eventually start looking elsewhere.

· Be flexible. Work life balance is becoming more and more important in today’s workplace. Some people want or need to work part-time for various reasons. Be flexible and accommodate where possible.

· Rewards! Obviously monetary rewards are much appreciated, but when that’s not viable, recognising an employee’s achievement, large or small, can go a long way. As an alternative to a monetary pay rise, why not look at other material incentives, such as salary packaging, tax-free fringe benefits and bonuses for achieving KPI’s.

So it’s worth spending resources on staff retention but when employees do leave, exit interviews can provide an honest and valuable insight into areas requiring improvement and focus for your remaining staff.

Make your workplace engaging! Attractive employment is a magnet for high quality talent while it will keep your existing staff challenged, inspired and satisfied.

Paid Parental Leave Changes from 1 July 2011

Understand your obligations

From 1 July 2011, employers now act as “paymasters” whereby the Government provides the employer with funds which are to be distributed to the eligible employee for paid parental leave entitlements.

Employers are required to make paid parental leave payments on each regular payday for that employee if they are paid on a monthly basis. For employees who would not normally receive monthly pay, employers must make fortnightly payments. Employers are required to withhold PAYG tax from each payment.

Note: There is no provision for superannuation in the legislation and employers are not expected to make contributions to their employee’s superannuation fund.

Employees do not accrue annual leave entitlements during this period of leave. However, employers that already have a paid parental leave scheme cannot replace it with the Government’s – an employee already entitled to an employer-funded paid parental leave scheme will also receive their entitlements from the Government.

More information is available at the Family Assistance Office website http://www.familyassist.gov.au/

Know your employee’s eligibility

Employees include casual workers as well as contractors and the self employed. Employees will be eligible to receive paid parental leave entitlements provided they have:

• worked at least one day per week for 10 of the 13 months before the birth or adoption of their child

• Australian residency

• made a claim for paid parental leave (that is, it is not an automatic entitlement)

• given birth or adopted no earlier than 1 January 2011

• the role as primary care giver of the child

• not have worked between the date of birth/adoption and their nominated start date for paid parental leave; and

• earned less than $150,000 adjusted taxable income in the financial year prior to the date of birth/adoption (this includes base rate of pay, bonus, foreign income and income earned from assets like shares or property). This is a flat income test that is not calculated on a pro-rata basis for employees who are not full time

It is probably a good idea to review your existing employer contracts and company policies to determine how the new legislation will be integrated with current schemes.

Provide necessary details to the Family Assistance Officer

Register your organisation (information available at http://www.familyassist.gov.au) and ensure the necessary systems are in place internally to process payments from 1 July.

This will ensure that you (the employer) will receive the required Government funds in advance of making PPL payments to your employee in your usual payroll cycle.

Keep appropriate records

Records must be kept of all funds received from the Commonwealth Government and their subsequent distribution to employees.

Communicate with your employees

Maintain effective communication to minimise confusion about employee entitlements and eligibility.

For more information on managing this process through HR outsourcing and HR consultancy, contact Annette Dixon at End2End Business Solutions www.end2endbusinesssolutions.com.au

Changes to the Superannuation Contribution Caps

The superannuation guarantee requires employers to contribute at least 9% of an employee’s “ordinary time earnings” per quarter to a maximum super contribution base of $42,220 per quarter. This is indexed. For the quarter starting 1 July the maximum super contribution base will be $43,820.
Contributions for the quarter ending 30 June 2011 must be made to the employee’s fund by 28 July to avoid a superannuation guarantee charge.

Concessional superannuation contributions (employer contributions meeting the superannuation guarantee, award or agreement obligations; employee salary sacrifice contributions and government co-contributions for low income employees) are taxed on entry to the fund. Concessional contributions are also capped and contributions in excess of the cap are taxed much more heavily.

In 2009 the government reduced the caps to $25,000 and $50,000 for employees who are 50 and over. The $25,000 cap for employees under 50 is indexed. However, the increase to the indexing factor, which is used, is not great enough to move the cap, which remains at $25,000 for contributions made from 1 July 2011 until 30 June 2012. The $50,000 cap for employees 50 and over is not indexed and remains at $50,000.

Reportable Employer Superannuation Contributions (RESC) comprise employer contributions which can be influenced by the employee (including the employee’s sacrifice contributions), but not employer contributions to meet the superannuation guarantee, or obligations under an award or enterprise agreement. RESCs made for the year ending 30 June 2011 must be included in the employee’s payment summary for 2010-2011.

For further information on human resource consultancy and outsourcing, or to sign up to our bi-monthly newsletter on the latest HR industry updates, visit www.end2endbusinesssolutions.com.au.

Human Resource Issues: The Failure of Corporate Wellness Programs To Increase Productivity

There are a number of human resource issues that most companies’ take for granted and one of it, believe it or not would be the wellness of employees, including weight gain and mental illness.

It might sound odd that issues like this should have a place in a company’ problem solving think tank but it does. Many companies all over Australia have been seeing the increase in the average weight of its workers because of sedentary jobs, bad nutrition, and lack of support for health related matters.

As a result companies have seen a rise in absenteeism, as employees take time off work due to sickness. Of course when talking about productivity, these kind of problems have even greater negative effects resulting in low team morale and poor workforce health. Absenteeism has reached such an alarming level of 7 billion a year in Australia that many companies have started providing wellness programs to all employees to address this problem.

Wellness programs range from offering employees meager discounts in fitness memberships to full 8 week boot camp programs, nutrition advice, meditation guidance and counseling. So which of these initiatives provide a real a solution to these human resource issues?

Well, over the years, many of these solutions have only shown disappointing results. As little as 10% of Australian employees are enrolled as gym members, and more often than not, those who took up the companies’ program are already past members. In total, only a measly 20% of Australians are actually members of gyms.

With regards to programs such as 8 week boot camps, only less than 1% of employees registered. Only 12 people averaged a class out of a possible 3000 targeted employees. The result is only a band aid solution for those people who don’t need it, instead of a major surgery for those people who do.

With these statistics, it doesn’t take a lot of imagination to see that wellness programs in the corporate sector often don’t work. In many case, the blame falls on lack of knowledge, funds and other resources resulting in a highly inefficient solution with poor take up rates and longevity, a big waste of time and money on a seemingly simple problem.

Future health and wellness programs, should cater to the 90% of overweight and unhealthy employees. The program should allow people of all ages an entry to the right weight and fitness levels to participate at their own speed. Competition and education always play a great role in encouraging individuals to enter the program with a non-threatening environment. Employees can then improve their health and fitness through nutrition based programs and simple starters in fitness as basic walking.

But of course, every program needs to be sustainable, cost effective, measurable and within reach to become a success. It should work both ways, an employee will not continue with the program if they cannot see the benefits from it and an employer will not continue with the program either if they get insufficient return on investment.

With this in mind, human resource issues on the wellness of employees and the succeeding programs to address this issue should be carefully thought out.

Corporate wellness programs should identify the needs of the employees through series of questionnaires for a certain period and ongoing mentoring and support for participants. The bottom line, a combination of employer and employee contributions to this program should bring about a successful and long term program for the welfare of the company and its workforce.

To talk to a human resources consultant to help identify which human resources issues your business needs to focus on go to http://www.end2endbusinesssolutions.com.au/

Strategies on Human Resources Planning

Skills development for both employees and managers is an important factor to the growth, stability and success of any business.

Relying on its track record of strategic and operational human resources management, End2End Business Solutions emphasizes the importance of incorporating the human resource planning process right from the start-up phase of a company, through to its growth or retrenchment phases. Some of the aspects include:

• Identifying strengths and weaknesses in the current management and operational teams
• Setting up and recording the skill requirements for positions and recruitment
• Monitoring employee's current levels of knowledge and skills
• Periodic identification of skills/knowledge gaps
• Training needs assessment and training activities to bridge performance gaps

The best human resource planning tools may vary according to the specific needs of a company. However, generally, planning will include both the HR team and the senior management and allow them to have both an overall perspective and a detailed report of the performance of the company as a whole and individuals in particular.

End2End Business Solutions' services to help implement human resource planning include:

• Development of role clarity around critical positions to increase revenue
• Maintaining of staff attrition
• A good percentage returns on people assets over a 6-year period

With over 12 years experience in the field of human resources management, End2End Business Solution is an outsourced HR department that caters to the needs of Australia's SMEs and oversees business investing in the country. End2End Business Solutions provides human resources techniques and best practices ideal to building or transitioning business and effective employee relations. Visit http://www.end2endbusinesssolutions.com.au for more information.

How New Changes to Federal Sex and Age Discrimination Laws will Affect Your Business

In 2010, the Australian Federal Government passed the Sex and Age Discrimination Legislation Amendment Act, with the act coming into effect as of July 1, 2011. The changes refer mainly to the Sex Discrimination Act (1984) and the Age Discrimination Act (2004).

The Sex Discrimination Act has been amended to include an extension of protection relating to sexual harassment, family responsibilities and breastfeeding in public. The Age Discrimination Act has been amended to include the appointment of a stand-alone Age Discrimination Commissioner in the Australian Human Rights Commission.

The extension of protections from discrimination will extend the scale of protection by forbidding direct discrimination on the basis of family responsibility for both men and women in all areas of employment. Prior to this extension coming into effect, discrimination on the grounds of a person’s family responsibility was limited, and some have suffered termination of employment because of family commitments and responsibilities. Under the new act, termination of employment due to ‘family responsibilities’ will be prohibited, defined as responsibilities of an employee to care for and / or support a dependent child or immediate family member.

Another extension of protections has been issued for breastfeeding mothers. It will be discriminatory to impose, propose discrimination and to disadvantage women who are breastfeeding. This Act also covers the act of expressing milk, single acts of breastfeeding, and breastfeeding over a period of time.

The third extension of the Sex Discrimination Act is greater protection from sexual harassment. Before passing on this new act, sexual harassment is taken to have occurred if a person “would have anticipated” that the person being harassed would be offended, humiliated or intimidated by their uninvited sexual conduct. The new act broadens this, so that a person need only anticipate “the possibility” that the person being harassed would be offended. This new act also makes it illegal for sexual harassment to take place within a work place including customers and clients of your business.

The final amendment is the appointment of an Age Discrimination Commissioner. This act includes a provision that a stand-alone Commissioner will be established within the Australian Human Rights Commission, and will address age discrimination by enlightening the community and contesting the attitudes and stereotypes, which contribute to discrimination on the basis of age.

What You Need to Do to Ensure Your Business is Prepared for the Changes

· Take sexual and age discrimination seriously.

· Ensure you do not treat an employee who has family responsibilities any differently to how you would treat someone without them, regardless of their sex.

· Make sure your workplace has been updated with relevant workplace procedures and policies in relation to these updated Acts.

· Do not discriminate against a female breastfeeding employee, or limit their right to express milk during work hours

Visit www.end2endbusinesssolutions.com.au for HR solutions.

Benefit From the Opportunities Created With HR Outsourcing

In the corporate world, there is a very important role played by business human resources. The human resource team plays a key role in the recruitment process, induction of new staff, managing the evaluation process of existing associates, and the dismissal of employees who have below average performance or those who consistently fail to comply with company policies. When you are unable to rely on an in-house human resource team to manage your employees, the best course of action would be to outsource these services.

Some businesses make the decision to utilize in-house human resource solutions and this can often be a mistake. Unless you are a very large corporation, the hiring of a full-time human resource staff will often result in the decrease of revenue, since these services are very limited. If you represent a small or medium-sized business, it would be ideal to go for the advantage of acquiring the services of HR outsourcing, rather than making the poor investment decision of hiring a full-time individual to work for your company.

There are many opportunities that you can benefit from when you make the decision to invest in HR outsourcing, in order to meet your company's employment demands. These opportunities include utilizing quality services, meeting your business expectations, and saving your company a significant amount of money.

One of the benefits that a company will be able to take advantage of outsourcing business human resources is the utilization of quality services. By hiring an individual outside the company, you will be able to take advantage of highly qualified individuals who are best equipped to deal effectively with your employment demands. These involve hiring new associates, managing your existing associates, as well as identifying opportunities to terminate unproductive associates.

Another benefit that comes with HR outsourcing is the meeting of business expectations. Every business has a desire to grow and this will require constant changes in staffing, as well as company policies. Through the utilization of an outsourced HR service, such as hiring professionals and performance management policies, you will be able to focus on the efforts of expanding your business as you achieve financial success.

The third benefit that appeals to every company when investing in an outsourced HR service is by saving your company money. Hiring a full-time human resources manager can be incredibly expensive and a waste of money, especially when you have a very limited staff to support. Through outsourcing, you will be able to identify the exact critical areas you want to concentrate on and save money by only investing in these demands.

In order to identify what areas of your business you want a human resource specialist to focus on check the solutions found at http://www.end2endbusinesssolutions.com.au/

Changes to the NSW Workplace Health and Safety Legislation

Recently, the NSW Government passed a new workplace safety bill harmonising with the federal government's workplace health safety legislation. Until now, each state has had seperate workpalce health and safety laws with NSW being the first state in Australia to fully integrate at a national level.

It makes sense to cut the red tape and unify the state laws into one single set of national legislation but the advantages go further than just simplifying the legislation; workers and businesses will benefit by:

* maintaining the state's strong work, health and safety framework
* keep businesses accountable
* reduce compliance costs and red tape for employees
* regardless of where you do business in Australia, the same laws will apply

In addition to the benefits outlined above, the new nation-wide laws will continue to protect the rights of the Work Health and Safety representatives. Representatives will still be able to entre workplaces in order to investigate health and safety issues while for the first time they will have the power to take action over safety breaches.

Despite the implementation not taking full effect until 1 January 2012, the Government has fast tracked aspects of the legislation to align with the federal model. For more information on Workplace Health and Safety, visist www.workcover.nsw.gov.au.

OHS Laws Harminsation January 2012

Are you ready for the latest changes to the OHS laws. They will be coming into effect from January 2012. NSW has passed a bill effective from June 7 to mirror the new national laws.

Use the following link to familiarise your business with the latest changes www.workcover.nsw.gov.au/newlegislation2012/whatsnewfornsw/ .

End2end can help you with the new changes, so give us a call today to be ready for 2012.