General Protections claims have become a convenient tool for employees working in local councils to avoid or even unnecessarily prolong legitimate performance management issues, action regarding illness and injury and misconduct concerns. Executives and managers in Councils need to be aware of how to protect their organisation against such claims and reduce the risk and liability that may arise from general protections claims.

A case which has highlighted the steps Councils should…

A toxic workplace culture can place significant barriers in the way of achieving business objectives. If toxicity has invaded your office, it is likely that you are dealing with staff who are unproductive, resentful, unmotivated and perhaps difficult to discipline - and it can affect senior managers to junior employees. 

This can have significant effects on all areas of the business, and can even impact your bottom line. We…

Hi there,

Since mediating hundreds of workplace conflicts - between 2 or more than 100 people - I have come to the conclusion that all we need is love and understanding, in life but also in the workplace.

I hear you say: hallo Thilan, that's no rocket science!

Yes, I know it's cliche and it is not original, but if we all know this to be true than why do I still see such a a lack of love between colleagues in some…

The constant issue of not having a clear definition of what is an “independent contractor” in the Fair Work Act 2009 (Act) has reared its ugly face again as a landmark decision against Foodora was handed down. Commissioner Cambridge found that a Foodora driver should be considered an employee whilst applying the multifactorial test. 

The Commission found that in the case of Klooger v Foodora (…

The State of Workplace Mental Health in Australia report reveals that one in five Australian workers is currently experiencing a mental health condition and…

Changing generations along with a growing business scene have brought about a few more novelties in the working world. From jeans being embraced as your go-to business casual staple to working with people you’ve never even met (remote freelancers, that is), the workplace has changed quite a bit. However, one change, in particular, has made the rising number of employees a tad restless: ghosting. The term may have very well been coined by the same group of men…

Most startups, small, and other companies in their infancy do not have a dedicated recruitment department. In-house recruitment is usually cumbersome for our Human Relations. The average costs associated with hiring an employee can exceed $40,000. These expenses include training, adjustment periods, and lost productivity relative to a more skilled workforce. This is the…

So it’s that time of the year when your thoughts are probably turning to reviewing the year. That’s because it’s bound to be a popular topic of conversation at the many social events you’ll attend, especially with people you don’t see very often.

But your reflective mood is…

You will have undoubtably read many ‘future of learning’ articles that predict the means and mechanisms for learning, extrapolating peripheral technologies that are entering the vernacular of L&D, but this article is different. This isn’t a crass oversimplification of technologies but a means of extending L&D’s expectation of…

When determining what led to a certain set of events or making an important decision, it is essential for investigators and decision makers to have regard to an objective standard. 

In trying to get to the bottom of a situation or establishing an appropriate course of action, relying on the 'reasonable person' ensures that a broader perspective is taken. 

We look at exactly what this involves and how…

The 2015 Nancy Meyers film “The Intern” has been added to Netflix recently and despite cringing at a couple of clichés whilst watching it last night, I noticed a few things we could all learn from it about the modern workplace.

1. Blended teams are more…

The NSW Workers Compensation Commission (WCC) has made an interesting decision relating to workers who sustain an injury whilst at the workplace volunteering to perform work.

Under workers compensation legislation, an employer will only be liable for an injury if that injury arises out of or in the course of the worker’s employment.

In a major decision last year, the NSW Court of Appeal found that an injury sustained by a worker who had visited the workplace on…

As we begin 2019, our careers look very different to how they did a decade ago and the pace of change is accelerating rapidly.

Our routine work activities are increasingly being automated, allowing us to focus on the non-routine and more complex activities that have human impact. Australian organisations are increasingly embracing agile working, structuring themselves into multi-discipline squads or teams and looking at taking advantage of the gig economy. This enables them to…

We all have different hobbies, activities or interests we want to share with our friends and colleagues. However, not all interests are appropriate for the workplace.

In Rodger v ACT Government – Transport Canberra and City Services T/A ACTION [2018] FWC 6970, the Fair Work Commission (FWC) held that an employee’s conduct in bringing ornamental duelling pistols and inert booster charges in to work to show his colleagues created a risk to safety and…

Under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth), an employee is only protected from unfair dismissal if the employee is actually dismissed. Section 386 of the FW Act sets out the meaning of “dismissed” for this purpose and states that a person has been dismissed if their employment has been terminated on the employer’s initiative or if the person was forced to resign because of the conduct of the employer.

In most cases, it is clear when an employee is dismissed or has resigned.…

A few years ago, I attended a workshop exploring how HR could become more relevant and ‘get a seat at the table’.

Typically, we explored what the problem was with HR and how we could ‘fix’ it. In the final plenary session, sitting in a wide circle of 50 executives, we were sharing insights and learnings from the day. The head of a retail division of a company (a non-HR Exec) said,

“I get this, because I used to work in HR, then a few years ago, I got out of HR and went into…

The Christmas period tends to bring out the best- and worst - in people. It is a time of year filled with parties, merriment, laughter, great weather and a lot of socialising. 

But Christmas can also be a challenging time in the workplace, as employees may engage in inappropriate conduct at work related social events, may suffer the after-effects of excessive partying or may be generally less…

Thai Ngo is a recruiter, coach and speaker. The founder of Melbourne based career coaching company The Careerists, Thai is passionate about helping people succeed and uses his 11 years expertise in the workplace to help people succeed in getting that dream job.…

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