How To Make Sure You Are Paying Your Staff Right?

Photo Credit: grace_kat Flickr via Compfight cc

Making sure your staff are paid correctly is one of the most important things a business owner should do.

Yet, it appears to be an area that isn’t given the level of attention that it should.

One of the most popular reasons for this is that the often repeated line of, “it’s all too confusing”.

If you subscribe to that excuse, here are a few ways to make sure you are paying your staff right.

Fair Work Ombudsman – Pay And Conditions Tool

FWO P.A.C.T. screenshot
Screenshot of Fair Work Ombudsman’s Pay And Conditions Tool

It comes as no surprise that the Fair Work Ombudsman’s Pay And Conditions Tool (P.A.C.T.) is on this list.

The P.A.C.T. helps both employers and employees check their relevant pay and conditions.

It even helps those employers who don’t know which Modern Award applies to them.

This browser-based tool is relatively easy to use, with only basic answers required.

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Enterprise Agreement Negotiation - IR Simplified

Enterprise Agreements Part 3: Negotiation

This is part 3 in a series on enterprise agreements. You can find the lead post in the series here. Part 1: Enterprise Agreements Part 1: What Are They? we discussed what enterprise agreements are, how they differ from Modern Awards and talked about what can and cannot be in one. Part 2: Enterprise Agreements Part 2 – Planning was a discussion … Read more

Episode 24: IR Simplified Podcast

Today’s episode of the IR Simplified podcast continues the series on Unfair Dismissals, this time I am talking about the Employer’s Response to an application for an unfair dismissal remedy. You can read the scenario of John Smith and Acme Widgets here. The employer’s response to John Smith’s application is here You can find the … Read more

IR Simplified Podcast, Episode 33 National Employment Standards

Episode 13: IR Simplified Podcast

IR Simplified Podcast, Episode 13
IR Simplified Podcast, Episode 13

Episode 13 of the IR Simplified podcast goes into what should be in an enterprise agreement.

Clauses from the FWC website:

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Episode 06 – IR Simplified Podcast

Episode 06: IR Simplified Podcast

This episode is dedicated to answering listener questions.

The first question comes from Simon in Templestowe who asks a question about termination of employment.

The second question comes from Tania in Brisbane who asks a question about enterprise agreements.

There is also the opportunity for listeners to receive a massive 50% discount off the price of a premium access pass to the IR mini Summit in February.

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Episode 04 – IR Simplified Podcast

In this episode, I will talk about the continual doom and gloom comments by industry groups, those IR practitioners who mimic their comments,  clarifying some confusing points about enterprise agreements, and whats in store in the coming IR mini Summit. Australian Industrial Relations group on LinkedIn IR Simplified mini Summit

Did Steve Knott Get It Wrong?

Photo Credit: Lars Plougmann via Compfight cc
Photo Credit: Lars Plougmann via Compfight cc

Steve Knott, Chief Executive of AMMA, when talking about the Fair Work Act 2009 stated “… for too long employers have battled an ineffective and uncompetitive workplace system that creates barriers and distractions to leadership, innovation and productivity.” That unions were “…forcing employers to process a phone book of union claims, effectively excluding any real opportunity to look at ways to improve the competitiveness and productivity of the business”. He goes even further to say that “The system also leaves employers under a constant threat of strike action”

Is he right, making misleading comments, or showing his lack of understanding of Australia’s employment legislation?

It should be noted that the comments above were made in support of the Fair Work Amendment (Bargaining Processes) Bill 2014 which is currently before parliament.

Way Off The Mark

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Negotiating Your Enterprise Agreement

Enterprise agreement bargaining table
Image courtesy of suphakit73 / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

After giving is some serious thought and more than a little bit of prior planning, you have decided that an Enterprise Agreement will be a good thing for the future growth of your business.

What’s got you confused is how you make it happen.

Do you just give your staff an agreement that you prepared earlier and wait for a yay or nay from them? Or, do you give them a blank sheet of paper and get them to write down their wish list, picking and choosing what you want to put into it?

Whilst the process of negotiating an enterprise agreement is relatively easy, there are certain things that need to be done, and in the right order, otherwise you may have some explaining to do when you seek approval from the Fair Work Commission.

Notice Of Employee Representational Rights.

Before you can start bargaining for the enterprise agreement, you need to let your staff know that it is happening. This is where the Notice of Employee Representational Rights comes in.

Schedule 2.1 of the Fair Work Regulations 2009 specifies the content that the notice should have.
It is also worth noting that the notice of employee representational rights should be just that, and not have anything else attached to it, either in the email notification or when/if the notice is placed on a notice board.[GARD]

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Planning Your First Enterprise Agreement

Your First Enterprise Agreement | IRSimplified.com.auYou’ve made the decision to start negotiating your first Enterprise Agreement. Before you send off your Notice of employee representational rights, there are a few things you need to think about first.

Do You Really Need One?

This is probably the most important part of the whole Enterprise Agreement porcess. If you aren’t 100% sure that your business needs one, then don’t start the process.
Having an enterprise agreement in place will lock you into the terms and conditions that are in that agreement until another one takes its place or it is terminated.
An enterprise agreement is ideal if you business is going to experience growth during the agreement’s lifetime. Having one will simplify the the process of paying your staff by taking away the confusion that exist with the Modern Award system.

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What Is Industrial Relations

What Is Industrial Relations?Merriam Webster defines Industrial Relations as the dealings or relationships of a usually large business or industrial enterprise with its own workers, with labor in general, with governmental agencies, or with the public.

If you have picked up a paper any time in the past 6 – 12 months, you could be forgiven for thinking that industrial relation is the trade off between wage increases and the mythical productivity increase.

Yet industrial relations is both more and less complex than that.

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