Everyone’s Sick! Understand Your Obligations For Sick Leave Requests

Anita Moss,

Have you noticed how many people are sick already this winter?! As an employer, it can be a challenging time to manage, with multiple staff either away sick, or coming to work while they’re still unwell and less productive.

It’s important to have clarity and consistency when it comes to managing your team’s personal/carer’s leave. Do you have a written policy in place for managing leave requests? Is it addressed in your enterprise agreement? … keep reading

My employees went wild on a team night out; now what?

Anita Moss,

Question: We had a great start to the year, so we invited our team to a night out; dinner and drinks, to celebrate. It’s a small team and we’re all adults, so we didn’t think it would be a big deal. Fast forward to the dinner and the team are ordering shots and cocktails from the outset. They were drunk and quickly became very rowdy and rude. The team all had a great time, but as the owner, I was embarrassed and concerned. How do we move past this? … keep reading

6 ideas to reward your staff (and why more money isn’t always the answer)

Anita Moss,

Want to reward high-performing staff? Sure, you could simply give them a bonus, however, often that money is quickly forgotten, especially when most bonuses are paid by bank transfer. This can make a monetary reward less effective in the long term. Often monetary bonuses become ‘expected’ so the feeling of reward and recognition is reduced. Staff rewards don’t have to be complicated or expensive to be valued. Here’s a few of our favourites.

… keep reading

5 Common Recruitment Mistakes made by Small Businesses

Anita Moss,

As a workforce management solution, we often recruit for various roles for our clients. Recruiting can be a time-consuming task and we know small businesses never have enough time! Small business owners tend to hire only when they already desperately need someone to complete the work, which means little-to-no planning, rushed decisions and messy inductions. Here’s some of the common issues we see: … keep reading

Celebrating International Women’s Day

Anita Moss,

Next week, we’ll be celebrating International Women’s Day on the Sunshine Coast, along with countless others across the country (and around the world). This year, on Friday 8 March, the focus will be on the IWD theme, #balanceforbetter. It’s about creating a gender-balanced world, acknowledging that everyone has a part to play in creating this balance in both their personal and professional lives. … keep reading

Our Guide to a Successful Probationary Period

Anita Moss,

Most employment contracts we have seen have a probationary period in it. However, many employers don’t give it much thought, except when they become unhappy with the employee’s performance or general ‘fit’ after they commence work.

There is no requirement to provide a probationary period. In saying that, it is a great tool for employers and their employees to regularly check in with each other, formalise any observed training needs and communicate expectations. They aren’t an excuse to simply fire someone 2 months and 28 days into their employment, with no explanation though. … keep reading

What to do when a long term employee isn’t performing…

Anita Moss,

When a long term employee isn’t performing well, it can be a real challenge to manage. Often business owners have developed strong relationships with this employee over their employment. It can be difficult to start a performance management conversation, whether the performance issues started suddenly, or if they’ve become worse over a length of time. Either way, for the sake of your business culture and productivity, and your sanity, it’s best to address the issues as they arise. … keep reading