People Dynamics Newsletter - People Matters
Issue 65, July 2010 | Back to Newsletters Index
PD News
Welcome to a New Financial Year! I hope the year finished well for you. We had a great year last year. A big thank you to our great clients, associates and of course my fantastic team—Shan, Emma, Jess and Ruth for their commitment and dedication to making sure our clients were looked after.
Our big news this month is that as of July 27th we say bye to Shannon for the rest of the year as she takes her much anticipated trip over to the States and Canada. We wish her a great time!
In the meantime we are looking to hire another staff member and train them during Shannon’s absence.
Fair Work Regulations
As of today, the Fair Work regulations in regards to wages come into affect. This means that you need to ensure you are paying your workers the correct wage schedules as per the new Modern Award that may apply to them.
Don’t forget that allocating which award applies to your workers is not an exact science, but it is expected that you make an educated guess. Check out www.fairwork.gov.au for more information.
Increase in Minimum Wage
Also beginning today, July 1, over 1.4 million workers will receive an increase of $26 per week to their wages, to $569.90 a week or $15 an hour, after years of wage freezes at the minimum wage. This means an increase of $2.5 billion dollars to the wage bill for small businesses, a move described by some industry bodies as ‘excessive’ and ‘irresponsible’.
Are you guys motivated?
Recent studies by Seek Learning, indicate that market confidence in employment has increased by 7% with the increase in the number of job advertisements being placed from June last year. Confidence in employees has also increased with job security up to the longer term average of 20% (from 8% in October 08).
The Seek survey, conducted annually, shows that employees are happiest in their first year of employment.—which means a great opportunity exists with our staff of 1 to 3 year bracket.
Legal Update
A reminder that it is important to have procedural fairness and robust investigation policies after a recent case against the sacking of a WA Bank Manager was held enforceable by the Federal Magistrates Court. The Manager was sued after being accused of sexually assaulting a junior member of staff during a ‘mentoring’ session which involved the consumption of large amounts of alcohol both during lunch and afterwards in the Manager’s hotel room. The court also declared that the manager owed his employee a duty of care after it was found he left her alone in his room when she was clearly distressed. Source HR Monthly June 2010.