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.