People Dynamics Newsletter - People Matters
Issue 43, September 2008 | Back to Newsletters Index
PD News
Happy Birthday to us!!
We officially turn 6 years old today as a business, having started on 1st September 2002.
A massive milestone for us, we want to take the opportunity of saying thank you to all our wonderful clients and suppliers who have made the last 6 years fantastic! Many of you we think of as friends as well as clients and we have thoroughly enjoyed our association with you and seeing your businesses grow. We look forward to continuing to help and support your business.
In other news, our new EPMS (Employee Performance Management System) is fully operational! For those clients who are not on the system just yet, we will be in touch shortly.
Staff Turnover
Many people, not just our clients, have been asking us recently what are the major issues occurring in the Human Resource Area. I can confidently say one of the major issues we are facing at the moment is staff turnover. Turnover is estimated to be costing Australian businesses $100bn (The Age 17/8/08) in lost productivity, training and recruitment costs. Turnover is 18% overall and 40% for workers in their 20s. The reasons aren’t new: poor career development opportunities, lack of interest in the work and wanting a career change. Generation Y continues to a be a challenge for many Managers.
Let us know if you would like the article or further information.
Legal Update
Unfair dismissal laws under Work Choices still apply. This means that if you are an employer of less than 100 people, you are exempt from Unfair Dismissal legislation. However, avenues are still open to ex employees to exercise Unlawful Termination legislation. This is based on the idea that an employee feels they were discriminated against in some way, such as they weren’t given proper training to perform their job. This is a difficult action for employees to undertake, illustrated by the fact the government has made available a $4000 grant to just begin such action.
It is expected changes to current Unfair Dismissal Laws wont be made until January 2010.