How to deal with frequent sickies

Employee absence has a huge impact on your organisation. It affects staff morale, disrupts the work of others, and reduces the quality of work outputs. Absences carry costs, risks and productivity hits for your business.

Generally speaking, you cannot dismiss or discipline an employee for being absent due to sickness. Doing this may expose you to a claim of unfair dismissal, discrimination or unlawful termination, so this needs to be handled carefully and properly to reduce your risk of future complications.

To control the impact of absenteeism, you need to:

• see trends so you can control costs,
• manage your policies so you can minimise compliance risk, and
• identify workers with attendance issues so you can improve workforce productivity.

Here are a few sample ideas for you to consider implementing –you will find that simply announcing these measures to employees will reduce the number of sickies in your workplace.

• Identify the causes for an employee’s absenteeism. If you can find out why an employee is consistently absent, you can deal more effectively with the problem. Look for patterns in their absences.
•  Implement a thorough record system, including the date, duration and reason for each case. It is useful to set parameters for further action, ie after 4 absences in a 6 month period, meet with the employee to discuss further. Ensure that the employees are aware you are monitoring absences.   
•  It is also important that all employees know who they have to inform if they are off sick.  25% of employers now accept text or email messages about sickness, but a personal phone call makes it more difficult for the employee to fake illness.
•  Hold return to work interviews after every absence. This is a proven method of reducing sickness absence, especially for companies employing fewer than 250 people.
•  Your employee should be given a chance to improve their attendance levels before you begin disciplinary action. You should give clear documented warnings at every stage of the possible consequences of continued absences. If there is no improvement despite formal warnings, then dismissal is an option as a last resort.

It is advisable to speak to an HR Adviser at an early stage as the process must be handled carefully, fairly and consistently. This will ensure that you avoid employment tribunal claims of unfair dismissal or disability discrimination.

How to Avoid Discrimination in the Workplace

As an employer it is your responsibility to ensure you are across all aspects of anti-discrimination laws and know how they apply to your business. Also keep in mind that these laws apply to every aspect of business, including recruitment.

The law states that all employees are covered by the Fair Work Act 2009, and includes full-time, part-time and casual employees, probationary employees, apprentices and trainees and individuals employed on contracts

The law states that all employees are covered by the Fair Work Act 2009, and includes full-time, part-time and casual employees, probationary employees, apprentices and trainees and individuals employed on contracts. Some points of note:

• Everyone in your workplace must be treated equally and fairly regardless of position

• Promotions and opportunities should be available equally to all employees and follow non-discriminatory criteria. Aspects such as family or disabilities should not play a role in the decision making process.

• Training should be offered in a variety of methods where possible. These options might include e-learning, self-elected and self-paced training days or training completed in blocks. This will ensure all employees have equal opportunity to complete required training in a way most convenient to the employee 

• If you work in an environment with shift work, make sure all employees are given enough notice to cover such things as parental or carer responsibilities. Allocate shifts well in advance and take note of employee availability.

• Employees have a right to choose whether they want to transfer to another office or position.

In addition to the above points, it might be worth noting the attributes employers must not discriminate against include:

• Race
• Colour
• Sex
• Sexual preference
• Age
• Physical or mental disability
• Martial status
• Family or carer’s responsibilities
• Pregnancy
• Religion
• Political opinion
• National extraction or social origin

Discrimination or unlawful action could possible take place in a number of different circumstances. This could include an employer doing or threatening to do the following;

• Dismissing an employee
• Injuring an employee in the workplace
• Altering an employee’s position to their disadvantage
• Discriminating between employees
• Refusing to employee a prospective employee based on any of the attributes listed above.
• Discriminating against a prospective employee on the terms and conditions in their offer of employment.

It’s important to take anti-discrimination in the workplace seriously. Under the Fair Work Act 2009, penalties can range from $6,600 per breach for an individual and up to $33,000 per breach for a corporation. For further information on preventing workplace discrimination call Annette from End2End Business Solutions on 02 8977 4002.

WHS - New Codes of Practice

WHS - New Codes of Practice

With the introduction of the new Work Health and Safety legislation on the 1 January 2012 a revised Code of Practice has come into effect. These harmonise with the previous OH&S laws Australia wide. A code of practice applies to all businesses and persons who have a duty of care in the circumstances outlined in the code.

Detailed below is a list of the new model codes of practice, a further list identifying those that have been revoked while any remaining codes of practice will continue to be recognized under the new legislation.

• How to manage Work Health and Safety risks
• Harzardous Manual Tasks
• Managing the risks of falls at Workplaces
• Labelling of workplace hazardous chemicals
• Preparation of safety data sheets for hazardous chemicals
• Confined spaces
• Managing noise and preventing hearing loss at work
• Managing the work environment and facilities
• Work Health and Safety consultation cooperation and coordination
• How to safely remove asbestos
• How to manage and control asbestos in the workplace

The following NSW codes of practice will be revoked:

• Storage and handling of dangerous goods
• Facade retention
• Noise management
• Labelling of workplace substances
• Control of workplace hazardous substances
• Electrical practices for construction work
• Mono-strand post-tensioning of concrete buildings
• OHS consultation
• Workplace amenities
• Risk assessment
• Low voltage electrical work
• Preparation of material safety data sheets

For further detailed information on each of the codes, visit www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au.

Codes of Practice deal with specific issues surrounding workplace health and safety yet do not cover all risks associated with work. It’s worth using this opportunity of changes to the legislation to complete a full review of the work health and safety procedures in your workplace. Don’t hesitate to contact Annette at End2End Business Solutions http://www.end2endbusinesssolutions.com.au, who can assist in conducting a thorough WHS audit.

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.