People Smartz Blog

This morning I posted a quote on Facebook from John C Maxwell - 

‎"Life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it."

Posting this particular quote was not an accident.  It is because I believe that in life, and in business, you have the ability to choose the way you react to a particular situation.

The current situation in regards to the World's and Australia's economy is creating a mindset within many business owners - one which says "here we go again" and "things are tough at the moment".

On the most part, I have to say that I agree with them!  Things are tough at the moment - but all that means is that now is the time to actively seek opportunity.

I would like to give you two examples of clients of mine who are reacting positively to the current environment and actively seeking opportunity.

One of them is operating a single person business. She has had a rough year with her home flooded in the January floods and many other things happening around her.  Yet, despite having to move home and her workplace 3-4 times, she has worked hard at grasping opportunities as they have been presented to her.  Despite working in an industry that is flat lining, she is one of the few of her peers who is able to predict a positive cash flow over the next 6 months.

The second client is a team of two young professionals who have looked at the economy, identified potential markets for themselves and actively worked those markets hard.  Where other companies in their industry are laying off staff, they are hiring.  Where other companies in their industry are lowering their rates, they are raising theirs. Where other companies are loosing customers, they are gaining them.  

Both these clients have one thing in common.  They have chosen to take a positive approach and grasp opportunities as they present themselves.  Importantly, they have worked hard at establishing relationships with other businesses to encourage a flow of work between the different businesses.  In short - their efforts are not only ensuring the success of their own business but also assisting others.

Over the past two or three weeks, I have met with many business owners who are "doing it tough" and I have shared these stories with them.  It is interesting to hear their feedback.  Many were continuing to do things they had done previously because they had worked previously, others were looking for the silver lining - one retailer told me that things would turn around over the coming months because "people will start getting their tax cheques".

Well, I'm sorry, people have been getting their tax cheques now for nearly 2 months!  And what happens if they decide to bank their cheque rather than spend it?

Waiting for a silver lining or continuing to do the same things does not change something.  Taking a positive approach and seeking a new way is - in other words choose to respond rather than choose to do nothing!

This is what we are encouraging our business coaching clients to do and everyone of them is achieving their targets. In the case of the two I have described above, we are re-writing the targets - they are not high enough!  On average over the last six months our clients have achieved an average increase of 62% in revenue during a period where "things are tough".

So if you own a small business, think about how you are reacting to the economic environment - are you taking advantage of the opportunities that are out there and taking a positive approach?

People Smartz is a Business and HR Coaching company specialising in assisting small to medium sized business owners.  Our aim is to assist Business Owners to achieve both their personal and business goals in a balanced and sustainable manner.  If you would like to discuss business coaching - Contact Us

Today I was almost involved in an accident in my car.

I was driving along the road, the last of three cars travelling along a suburban street.  Up ahead was a side street with one car waiting to turn out and another waiting to turn into it.

Unexpectantly, the first of the two cars ahead of me suddenly stopped to let these two cars exit and enter the side street.

Taken by surprise, both I and the driver of the second car braked hard.  Unfortunately, the second car was unable to stop in time and drove straight into the rear of the first car, which then crashed into both the cars turning.  Luckily, I was travelling far enough behind to avoid being physically involved and my car was undamaged - something I can not say for the other 4 cars involved.  

More importantly, no one was injured in the accident.

Now what has this got to do with a blog about business you might ask?

Well, it teaches us a lesson in why it is important to manage expectations in your business - when you don't, the unexpected happens!

We have road laws that control how traffic behaves, signs that indicate who is required to give way or stop, speed limits and many other things that are provided to ensure we are safe and consistent on the road.  Today's accident occurred (in my opinion), because someone decided that they would do the "unexpected".

Simply, he stopped to allow traffic that legally did not have the right of way to turn.  As he stated after, he thought he was "doing the right thing" and that "they could be waiting for ages".  

The problem was that this was not a behaviour those travelling behind were expecting - we were expecting him to follow the rules.  He hadn't even thought that others would be expecting him to do something different!

Now we have said before in this blog that the number one thing we see when asked to assist businesses with issues that develop with people is that there is an inconsistent approach to expectation management.  

When expectations aren't clear or not understood, then problems occur.  In the case of the car accident, the expectations were clear, but the understanding was not - the driver did not understand the need to stick to rules, he did not understand the effect that his actions may have (I am sure he does now!)

So there is a lesson to be learnt from today's event - how you deliver and ensure understanding of your and your businesses expectations is important in ensuring your business remains on track - without any "accidents".

This is were tools such as position descriptions, employment agreements, codes of conduct, processes and procedures become very important.  They lay out the basic "expectations" of the business in regards to behaviours, customer and peer interaction, business development etc.  If these are clear and easily understood, you are a long way along the track to ensuring a smooth running business.

In line with this is ensuring that you have strong systems to communicate formally and informally with your team.  This includes performance management systems and the way you pass on important information.  Regardless of the size of the business, these systems in themselves can be designed to improve both individual and business performance.

Equally important is the demonstrated behaviour of owners and managers of your business. By ensuring your own actions are line with these expectations, you are providing an example to your team.

If you would like to improve the performance of your team, first look to how you manage your expectations - For many years, we at People Smartz, have been assisting in ensuring that businesses run smoothly through the strong development of these expectation management tools and behaviours. Call us today to assist you!

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The HR Coach Research Institute has released its latest quarterly index.

The latest information coming out of the business sector indicates a significant drop in business confidence and a unique situation developing in terms of a two speed economy.  

The following summary is provided courtesy of the Institute:

"Alarmingly, this data was compiled before any firm Carbon Tax plan was released by the federal government, thus does not account for the affects of the proposed tax. In light of this, confidence and sentiment in the business sector will most probably not improve in the coming quarter.

Furthermore, job advertisements fell, as did job creation in the past quarter.

The multi-speed economy in Australia is presenting the business sector with the unique situation that has the economy growing whilst at the same time making business owners retreat into survival mode. As a result long term planning and strategy are suffering.

Interestingly employee satisfaction levels within the business sector are higher than those of business owner's satisfaction with their own business. This could exacerbate already strained relationships."

You can download a copy of this latest research from our website - HR Quarterly Index

On Monday, Fair Work Australia finally laid down a decision that should have not been required in the first place.

Nearly a year and a half ago, a number of teenagers lost their after school jobs because of a clause within the General Retail Award which basically said a casual could not work for less than a 3 hour period.

For these teenagers, this effectively ruled out going to work after school as the time between school finishing and the retail outlet they worked in closing was less than 3 hours.

Now having restrictions on the minimum hours that can be worked is understandable.  In fact, to a certain extent, I support them.  However, when you are restricting the ability of teenagers to learn important work habits, then the law needs to be modified.  

Arguments from unions etc that easing this restriction would lead to "job losses" and "lower wages" did not really argue the primary point - that by enforcing this rule we were interfering with what is basically a vital learning area for our younger generations.  To suggest that allowing teenagers to work out of school hours was going to cost adults jobs just goes against the fact that most of those adults started exactly where these teenagers are now - with after school work!  Where did these adults learn the work habits that brought them to employment in later life if not in jobs such as these?

While it took 16 months and 3 rounds of arbitration to get there, this is a decision that should be congratulated. Despite the unions and government supporting the maintenance of the 3 hour limit, the tribunal has decided that provided a certain set of circumstances exist, a school aged person can work for less than a 3 hour period.

Under the new arrangements, school age persons can work a minimum of a 90-minute shift.  This will apply only if the employee is a full-time student; that the hours worked are between 3pm and 6.30pm on a school day; and the employee and their parent or guardian agrees on the shorter period. The shorter period is also allowed only if employment for a longer period is not possible because of the operational requirements of the employer or the unavailability of the student.

These arrangements are simple commonsense.  It is a pity it took so long to arrive at this decision!

When we first started People Smartz, our aim was to assist companies who understood that people are the most important asset a company can have.

Our aim has never changed, we believe that it is people who can drive a business to success and have not moved from this belief.

This means our aim has always been to work with businesses to assist them to build the individual and collective capability within a business - the aim being what we call "Mutual Success".

Last week we met with one of our long term clients.  They are a small company of 20 employees with offices in two states.

This company has strong leadership, some good managers and some good people - A recently completed employee survey assessed their employee satisfaction at 73%!

But it was the items that the survey raised that interested us - what they were doing well, and what they could do better.  

What the survey enabled us to highlight was the differences in management and leadership between the states.  Where one state was strong in communication, the other was not, where one state was strong in sharing company performance, the other was not etc.

This has enabled us to see identify the individual strengths of the managers and use them in our planning to assist the company in moving forward to "mutual success".  By developing a plan utilsing the individual competencies each manager is displaying, we can use those strengths to develop weak areas in another area of the company, or even in another individual.

Building on what you already have in an organisation can sometimes have a very positive effect on a company.  By identifying the strengths you have in managers and staff, and utilising them to build the business you are developing not only the company but building responsibility, accountability and ownership - all positives for any company!

If you would like assistance in developing a plan to improve the performance of your company and encourage "mutual success"  - Contact Us Today!

For the last two years, we have released many blogs posts on the unfair dismissal laws contained in the Fair Work Act.

Earlier this month, Fair Work Australia released its latest quarterly report.  It contains some interesting numbers in regards to unfair dismissal claims and the Fair Dismissal Code for Small Business

With unfair dismissals, the tribunal received 3219 unfair dismissal applications in the quarter. The overwhelming majority of these (2564), were settled at or before conciliation. The tribunal made decisions on only 64 dismissal claims in the quarter, finding 24 were unfair and 40 fair.  Only 18 claims resulted in a decision awarding compensation to the ex-employee.

Employees are now much more aware of their rights under the act and claims are on the rise.  Many of our clients are reporting that claims made against them have been frivolous and they have settled "just to make it go away".  The numbers released this month certainly seem to uphold what they are telling us!  

From the numbers presented by Fair Work Australia, The Fair Dismissal Code for Small Business is not working!  While 609 applications related to a small business employee, only two were rejected because the dismissal was consistent with the code. 
We believe this is a worry - if followed, the code is designed to protect a small business from unfair dismissal claims.  At People Smartz, our experience is telling us that, if they know about the code at all, most businesses are finding it difficult to understand - after all, it is basically a corporate process that they need to follow!

We believe that small businesses are generally finding it difficult to work with these laws and over time the issues they present are compounding.  The latest set of numbers from Fair Work Australia seem to indicate this is correct!

Given the current state of Australia's workplace laws, small businesses need to ensure they have the systems in place to protect them against unfair dismissal claims.  This includes having appropriate systems in place to manage poor performance and terminate staff.  

At People Smartz, we are experienced in assisting our clients to put such systems in place.  For many years, we have had in place a review process for small business called a "People and Business Review".  This is designed to review what is in place in your business and assist you to identify the changes you need to make to protect your business.  Why not book yours today?

Contact Us Today!





 

It appears that we are finally starting to see some real pressure being put on the Opposition to provide a real policy difference between the parties in relation to industrial relations.  Even Heather Ridout, once a supporter of the Fair Work Act, has recognised the need for debate in this area

And it is about time too!

The Fair Work Act does not balance the playing field in industrial relations and is providing disincentives to small and medium sized businesses.  It is complex and a minefield for players in the game who do not have the time, resources or knowledge to manage it.

At People Smartz we work predominantly with businesses who do not have a Human Resources team, they do not have experience in interpreting the awards and they do not have the time to understand all the complex points of the different areas of the law.

Only last week I conducted a review for a small business person.  His business was operating well and, as far as he was concerned, was compliant with the award and legislation.  However, by the time the National Employment Standards, the Modern Awards, the transitional arrangements and the difference between state and federal jurisdiction had been explained to him his comment was "how am I supposed to keep up and understand all this!"

This particular gentlemen was not working with his staff compliantly and needs to make changes to his employment arrangements.  Due to the changes between state and federal coverage, he had missed several important points of coverage, because of transitional arrangements he had missed increases in minimum wages, because of a lack of understanding of the National Employment Standards he was underpaying staff in accordance with the "Better Off Overall Test".

He is not alone.  We see small and medium sized businesses every week who are in some way not meeting the minimum entitlements under this legislation.  And it is important to note that this is because they don't understand the requirements on them.

Over 80% of those employed in Australian businesses are employed within businesses that have less than 5 staff. These businesses are the real engine room of Australia's economy and they are woefully ignored by an industrial relations system which is not designed to help or support them. Nor have we seen any real effort to provide them with the education they so badly need. 

Since 2005 we have had two pieces of legislation that have led the industrial relations debate - Work Choices and the Fair Work Act.  In my opinion, each of them has taken the debate to the extreme left or right in an effort to either decrease or increase the power of unions within the Australian political and industrial relations arena.  Their underlying aim has not been the development of any "fair and equitable" system, nor have they been designed with the primary aim of benefiting the Australian Economy. Their real and underlying focus was on union power.

It is time that we moved this debate along, the opposition needs to move on and start challenging the inadequate aspects of the current legislation and bring the discussion back to developing a system designed for all Australians and that can support all Australian businesses.  The Opposition needs to stop treating this as a "no-go" area, forget Work Choices and begin encouraging real debate in this area.

It is only through real debate that we will see change - thank god, we are beginning to see some movement in that direction.  
 

A recent case before Fair Work Australia has emphasied the importance of employers having a fair and published process in regards to handling disciplinary problems with staff.

The case (Michelle de Leon v Spice Temple Pty Ltd [2010] FWA 3497, revolved around the "abrupt and quite unprofessional" manner with which an employee had dealt with a high profile customer.

As a result of a complaint from the customer, the employee was dismissed from her position.

The Deputy President of FWA was very critical of the employer because:

• the decision to dismiss the employee was made prior to meeting with her to discuss the issue.  In the words of the Deputy President, she was effectively "ambushed" by the allegation and was given no opportunity to respond to the allegation.
• she was not given the opportunity to have a support person present at the meeting (the employer did suggest that the staff members immediate supervisor was present to support her but this was not accepted).
• she was not given any written warning about her conduct nor was she given a letter of dismissal stating the reasons for the dismissal.

With Queensland in the midst of one of the great natural disasters, nearly every business we are speaking to is effected in some way. Some are under water, or commencing the clean up after being under water, others are not but have staff and team members effected.  This scale of this is just incredible.  Our thoughts are with each and everyone of you.

Over the last couple of days we have begun receiving queries about issues regarding employment and the floods.  If you would like information on employment issues such as leave, standing down employees etc, visit our Queensland Floods page.

We have also created a forum topic where people can go to ask questions - The People Smartz Forum.  It you have any questions regarding employment and the floods, feel free to post them so everyone can see.

The unions last week began a push to enable casual employees to transfer to permanent employment.

The plan proposed by the unions would require employers to make casual employees permanent after 12 months.  There was also some discussion in the plan about governments “favoring’ companies with majority permanent workforces in the awarding of contracts. The unions believe such an approach is necessary to tackle “precarious employment”.

Business groups were not happy (as you would expect) claiming that such moves would drive companies “to the wall”.  They called the approach a “misguided view of the jobs sector” and said “it doesn’t relate to the modern-day Australian economy, which is dominated by the services sector”.

We gave had such rules before.  In 2004/5, rules where “regular and systematic” casual employees were allowed to request part time employment were introduced.  We had a similar “hue and cry” then!

From my experience, very few casual employees wanted to take up the opportunity.  Australian workers generally understand the difference between casual and permanent employment and are often loath to let go of the 20-25% loading for casual employment. 

Casual employment is designed to allow an employer to handle the peaks and troughs of their business.  Casual employment contains no guarantees and no expectations of employment beyond the end of the current shift.  In its purest form, it is “call and come to work”.  Because there are no guarantees or expectations of future work, a loading is paid to compensate for the lack of annual leave, sick leave etc etc.

But the needs of the business often necessitate rostering casuals for work, sometimes weeks in advance.  Overtime, this leads to businesses adopting rostering systems which virtually “guarantee” work to a casual.  Basically, the employment becomes “regular and systematic”.  When work becomes regular and systematic, the question needs to be asked – are they really casuals?

This is the point behind the unions push.  If a person is employed as a casual but doing regular shifts and systematic work then they should receive the entitlements of permanent employees because in practice, that is what they are.

Whether you agree or don’t agree with the unions, there are many advantages to creating a permanent workforce in your business.  A guarantee of employment encourages commitment and develops “ownership” in the role.  Accountability is easier to assign to someone whose employment is guaranteed and your ability to develop consistent behaviors’ is improved.

Many businesses I deal with argue that putting on permanent staff “takes away the flexibility” from their business.  For some businesses this may be true, and for them, I would not recommend such a measure providing the employment they were offering was not “regular and systematic”.

Another argument I often hear is that it is too expensive to have permanent employees.  Well, the fact is that in the long run it is probably cheaper!  While you need to accrue leave etc, you will not be paying the 20-25% loading and your productivity will most probably improve.  The reality is that it often has nothing to do with “cost” but more to do with “ease” – it is easier to pay everything out with a 20-25% loading than have to “accrue”.

The ease of “getting rid” of casual employees is also stated as a reason for keeping people as casuals.  However, the reality is that if they are regular and systematic in their employment, the unfair dismissal rules will most probably apply – the end result being that this argument is flawed in its execution!

For any workforce, permanent or casual, I recommend you sit down and work out the number of hours being worked in your business.  Is there a constant number of hours worked in each week?  This is the first step in working out whether you can (or should) put permanent employees in place.  If you can, casual employees can then be used to handle the peaks and troughs – not for the constant hours.

If you must have casuals in your business, then think seriously about how you work with them.  Do you roster them in a regular and systematic way?  Do you need to do this?  Can you do it any other way?  In other words – do some workforce planning!

Would you like to know more about how you can improve the use of people in your business?  At People Smartz, we assist businesses in planning for the most efficient and effective use of their workforce.  We work with you to ensure that you are using your most important resource in a manner which leads to success for you, your business and your team.   Call us today!