In the steps leading to recruiting, hiring and training your next top employee—the most valuable stage is crafting the job description. 

So why are there so many mistakes?…

The current ABS stats on Industrial Action released recently indicate a significant increase in the number of days lost due to the increase instances of Industrial Action.

Whilst stats are open to interpretation from both sides, employers and unions, lets focus more on why Industrial Action takes place.

The main causes can vary, but the biggest cause boils purely down to bad communication. First off lets be clear that the "union" is not the officials standing waving flags,…

I recently had an ex-colleague who followed up with me as he was wanting to know the ‘rules’ or protocol around poaching employees from competitors. He was feeling a little squeamish about it and he felt it was ‘under-handed’ tactics as he put it.

So I said to him, ‘From a young age we have been taught it’s OK to poach’.

What do you mean? He said aghast!…

On the whole, managers welcome the relief from a difficult or non-existent approach, system or structure around the staff appraisal process.

You can also often strike the manager with the negative perspective in relationship to the employee performance appraisal process.

After many years of hearing their complaint and peeling away the layers of rationalisation the reason many managers hate the employee performance appraisal process is for a…

This is a question that comes up in various polls, groups and expert Q&A’s on social media boards repeatedly and often. You would think since the Industrial Revolution we would have evolved and managed to understand this fully, and in practice, yet still we have not come so far.

Is it that leaders themselves are ignoring the guide lines and research? Now more than ever, there is a plethora of free information out on the internet to answer this question.

So here we go again…

Should Companies re-think allowing employees to work from home? It seems these days, for many companies, you are damned if you do and damned if you don’t.

However in light of a recent ruling forcing Telstra to compensate an employee working from home who in 2006, after falling down a flight of stairs in her home, injured her shoulder, is giving employers the nudge to re-think their approach to flexible work practices.

The Administrative Appeal…

Let’s face it, many of us have heard the stories with disbelief and some times mortification of an outrageous demand or spoiled-brat attitude of a Generation Y encounter in the workplace. Baby boomers and Generation X’ers mutter ‘It never would have happened in ‘my day’ or chuff quietly to themselves at the ‘cute’, but gullibly over-ambitious statement by a younger Gen Y that they intend to be Vice President of Marketing, next year, with only 2 years experience out…

The argument continues and still there is no clear cut answer. Just who has legal ownership over contacts built up in an employees LinkedIn or Facebook account? Is it their personal account or the employers entitlement?

We now see increasing litigation starting to occur between employees and employers over the use of social media in the context of damaging employer reputation and perceived employee misconduct when employees have posted disparaging,…

North American and European organizations, are leading the way in adopting significant outsourcing of strategic HR initiatives, taking a new approach. Australia’s mid-sized companies have had a cautious stance on the subject for a long time, believing that larger or multi-national organizations are the only ones who would benefit from strategic Human Resources outsourcing due to greater economies of scale.

This is gradually changing, yet Australia is…

A Code of Conduct is an essential part of any employment relationship. It sets clear, indisputable boundaries of behaviour and expectations, for both the employees and the employer.

To establish a truly sustainable business, you need to not only deliver high standards of service and product to your customers, but you need to also demonstrate behaviours that are consistent with your businesses values and expectations.

Now there is no right or wrong format for a Code of Conduct,…

As I was helping a manager write a job description recently, he leaned over and said, “Wait.  There’s one more ‘requirement’ we need to add.”  Waiting a beat, he smiled:  “Ability to make boss look good.”  We both laughed  – but we both recognized the truth in what he had said, too.

While the…

The most contentious point of any negotiation/discussion about wages and conditions linked to productivity is how you measure the productivity changes. It is important for negotiators to be aware that the productivity gains do not necessarily equate to job losses, or loss of current conditions.

With the recent media exposure in regards to agreement outcomes for some major australian industries, it begs the question, is the art of effectively negotiating…

So why are negotiators failing to secure productivity gains during union negotiations? One simple answer, they are unaware that the Good Faith Bargaining door swings both ways.

So lets examine, in brief, a typical negotiation scenario. The union surveys its members for what they want as outcomes to the negotiations. The employer (if properly supported/advised) establishes a negotiation framework. This sets clear boundaries for their negotiators in terms of what productivity…

There seems to be a growing number of instances where HR Consultants/Advisors and Managers are confused about the minimum requirements for the provision of a Right Of Entry Notification under the Fair Work Act, allowing unions to gain access with non-compliant notifications.

There are a number of instances where union officials can exercise their right of entry, the most common being entry to hold discussions with employees who are members of the union under the unions…

With the recent media reports around the rapidly decreasing level of productivity in australian businesses, and employer associations focused on unproductive political lobbying to have the Fair Work Act changed, one question springs to mind. Why are employers so afraid of IFA's? 

The intent around the use of IFA's is to allow the employee in essence to not only request, but to have a meaningful discussion around changing certain conditions of employment to facilitate a better…

There are various definitions of workplace bullying, but for those who are uncertain, it can be described simply as “the repeated, less favourable treatment of a person by another or others in the workplace, which may be considered unreasonable and inappropriate workplace practice.”

Now that I’ve got the definition out of the way I’ll scare you a little more.

There would not be a business in Australia that at some stage has not had a workplace bullying incident.

Examples…

One of the regularly highlighted weaknesses of the Fair Work Act 2009 is the trade unions ability to impose work bans for indefinite periods in pursuit of unsustainable improvements to wages and conditions, without the necessity for any productivity improvements being offered to the employer as an offset.

Unions bargaining around the country continue to reject acceptable wages increases averaging 3-4%. This has been an acceptable and sustainable percentage wage increase across a…

All too often, both employers and employees, think that Performance Management is a disciplinary tool by which to rule over all. Well it isn’t. Yes in some instances Performance Management can, and must, be used to correct inappropriate behavior, or under-performance, but generally it should be seen and used as a way to energize employees, improve productivity, and improve the culture of the workplace.

Now exactly what is Performance Management? Simply put it is an…

Caption: The author's grandfather at work in his shoe repair shop, circa 1986.

A chance encounter with a friendly shoemaker in…

A few recent conversations with our company’s receptionist have reminded me of two things: 1 – HR’s unique opportunity to bring people and resources together; and 2 – It is often the “little” conversations that spark the true “eureka” moments and help people and resources connect in meaningful ways.

Playwright … Parent … Receptionist

In chatting with our receptionist, Carla, over the past year, I’ve gotten to know her from a variety…