What is happening in the world of HR for small businesses?
Secure Jobs, Better Pay: More Changes to Australian Workplace Laws
Late last year, the Australian Government passed the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Secure Jobs, Better Pay) Act 2022. This legislation continues introducing new workplace laws and changing a range of existing rules.
Flexible Work Arrangements
What should I do next?
There is an expectation that requests to work from home are expected to rise. You need an up-to-date Flexible Work policy for your business that reflects these changes and provides employees with a process to follow to make a request.
Don’t wait until you get a request. Have a clear strategy for accommodating flexible work for your employees in different roles in your business. You may even want to be proactive and consider a flexible work policy for ALL employees.
Unpaid Parental Leave
When was the last time you updated your leave policy? Familiarise yourself with parental leave requirements and ensure your policy reflects these changes. Consider how this works with your Flexible Work policy. They should work together to provide information to your employees so they can assess their options.
The most important thing is communicating with your employees while they are on parental leave. This means you can discuss the options for both parties as you go, and nobody should have any surprises.
Need help?
If you need assistance navigating these changes for your business, contact the Strawberry Seed team at (03) 4216 5200 or info@strawberryseed.com.au.
EOFY is closing in fast
How is it almost the EOFY again so soon? Below are tips on a few things to consider early. More tips can be found in our article 5 EOFY HR Questions for Small Business.
Our June edition of The Punnet will be focussed on the minimum wage increase (and other Fair Work changes) and what they will mean for your business. Don’t forget to register for our June webinar, which will also focus on everything related to the 1 July increases (scroll down for details).
Increase to Minimum Wage and Awards
We have been inundated with questions from clients about what the wage increase will be this year. I wish we had a crystal ball and knew the answer. There have been submissions to the Fair Work Commission that range from 2% to 7.5%. Don’t have a heart attack. They are still at the submission stage, so there is no need to panic just yet.
We will pass that information on to you the moment the increase is announced (don’t worry, we will make Carli watch the announcement because it is not scintillating viewing). It is expected to be announced in mid-June.
In the meantime, think about the following in preparation:
- What is my budget for increases this year?
- Do I need to reclassify any of my team?
- Have their hours changed in the last 12 months? Will this affect the BOOT?
- Has anyone’s role changed?
We will be getting out the information for our HR Support clients over the next few weeks so we can prepare well in advance.
If you want our team to help you with an audit this year, contact the Strawberry Seed team at (03) 4216 5200 or info@strawberryseed.com.au. We are already getting requests; the earlier you get in, the quicker you will get something back, as it will be first in, first out.
Increase to Superannuation Guarantee
Effective 1 July 2023, employers must increase the minimum superannuation contribution to employees from 10.5% of “Ordinary Time Earnings” (OTE) to 11%.
Depending on whether an employee’s salary is expressed as inclusive or exclusive of superannuation, it may decrease an employee’s take-home pay or increase costs for the employer. Now is an excellent time to review how this increase will affect your employees carefully.
15% minimum wage increase for some employees in Aged Care
Direct care and some senior food services employees in the aged care sector will receive a 15% wage increase from 30 June 2023.
This increase applies to eligible employees covered by the following:
- Aged Care Award
- Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services Industry (SCHADS) Award
- Nurses Award.
It takes effect from the start of the employee’s first full pay period on or after 30 June 2023.
More information can be found on the Fair Work Website, or contact our team for help if this will affect your business.
Upcoming Training and Development
Mental Health First Aid Training
Undetected mental health issues have a long-term negative impact on your staff and the wider workplace. Recognising the signs and symptoms of mental health issues is the first step to supporting an employee or workmate struggling.
Our Principal HR Advisor and Mental Health First Aid Instructor, Frances Orr, is an accredited MHFA trainer who has delivered in-house MHFA training for many clients since 2021.
We now have a regular schedule of public face-to-face and blended online MHFA courses, and we currently have spaces available for courses in June and August. The public courses allow businesses to send a smaller number of their team to attend the course.
To celebrate our 10th Birthday – we’re offering a special 10% discount to any courses booked in June or August. Just enter the promo code: birthday10 at the checkout.
Blended Online Workplace Course
The blended online course is split into two components. In the first component, your team will undertake a self-paced eLearning component (4-6 hours online directly with MHFA). This is followed up by component 2, two 2.5 hour instructor-led webinar sessions. Each attendee will receive an MHFA manual and a certificate of attendance and can gain mental health first aid accreditation. During this course, we can address current industry issues or concerns you are experiencing in your organisation. This public delivery is limited to 12 participants in each webinar session.
The cost of this course is $250 plus GST for each attendee.
The dates for the upcoming instructor lead webinar sessions can be found here.
Face-to-Face Standard MHFA Course
The face-to-face course is conducted over two full days. All attendees will receive an MHFA manual and a certificate of attendance and can gain mental health first aid accreditation. During this course, we can address current industry issues or concerns you are experiencing in your organisation. This public delivery is limited to 20 participants; refreshments, lunch, and afternoon tea will be provided.
The cost of this course is $350 plus GST for each attendee.
The dates for the upcoming face-to-face sessions can be found here.
Why is Mental Health First Aid training important?
As a manager or business owner, you will likely have been confronted with mental health issues at your workplace. Do you know how to talk to a team member who’s struggling? Maybe you hold back because you don’t know what to say or worry about saying the wrong thing.
Mental Health First Aid training teaches practical first aid skills to help a team member or co-worker experiencing mental health issues. We’ll teach you how to approach someone struggling, ask the right questions and help them access professional help.
To learn more about our in-house training options, click here or contact Frances for an obligation-free customised quote at mhfa@strawberryseed.com.au.
Free Upcoming Webinars
Award Increase 2023 – What do employers need to know?
The next of our free webinars will be held on the 28th of June 2023, at 7.30 pm.
The 1st of July each year comes with an increase to the minimum wage and Award rates. Other changes, such as the increase in superannuation, are also on the agenda.
We know these changes come with questions from employers, so this webinar is all about answering your queries and concerns, including:
- What the increase will be for 2023?
- How to ensure you are still paying correctly if you pay above the award?
- How to manage annual salaries that are inclusive of superannuation?
- What else do you need to think about?
As we understand small business people have busy days, we have scheduled this session for the evening (so you can enjoy it with a glass of wine if you wish)!
Bookings can be made here, and please feel free to pass this on to other business owners.
Coming Soon: The topic for the July webinar will be ‘Finding New Employees – The ticks of the trade‘ with our Recruitment and HR Advisor, Kelly Furniss. Click here for more information.
Upcoming Leadership Training Workshops – Melbourne and Sydney
One of our popular HR services is to develop and deliver customised in-house Leadership Training for our clients. However, we realise that not all small businesses are large enough to have a session independently.
Our Leadership Training Workshop is designed to bring together people managers from the small business community to share their experiences and develop their knowledge and skills to be better leaders. This workshop aims to ensure leaders get the most out of their people, improve productivity and reduce organisational risk.
Next Available Workshops
Melbourne – Friday, August 25th 2023
Sydney – Monday, 11th September 2023
Discount codes are available for HR Package clients, and keep an eye out on our socials over the next week for our birthday special! For more information and details on how to book, click here.
