5
 
19/04/2007
Status e News Introduction

Engaging Human Resources

Gary Hatwell Executive Chairman
Gary Hatwell
Executive Chairman

 

Employing staff is sometimes considered a daunting process by employers. There are ads to prepare, resumes to read, candidates to short list, interviews to conduct, referees to contact, salaries to negotiate, contracts of employment to initiate and inductions to facilitate, and all of this effort and expense is required prior to knowing whether you have secured a productive employee or not. At Status, our mission is to make the recruitment process easier for employers. In issues 3, 4, and 5 of Status e News we have profiled two employee "hot prospects" from each of our three employment offices and would like you to consider these candidates for any employment opportunities with your company.

So the first employer to lodge a vacancy on-line , and conduct an interview with any one of our first six profiled "employee hot prospects" will receive a $150 shopping gift voucher. This offer is available with respect to each of our six candidates - six vacancies + six interviews = six $150 gift vouchers to give away and, although there is no requirement to employ our candidates, your vacancy must be genuine. Our first six profiled hot prospects are listed at right.

In this issue we look at the future of Australian Workplace Agreements as well as our regular "Employee Hot Prospect" section and, advise the results of our Round 3 Footy Tipping Competition.


What is an Australian Workplace Agreement?

The new WorkChoices legislation amends the Workplace Relations Act 1996, and covers all ’constitutional corporations’ [trading, financial and foreign corporations], under a new federal employer system. The relevance of these legislative changes to employers in Australia is that most incorporated bodies including, all proprietary companies are considered "trading corporations" and are therefore, respondent to these new laws. Under the legislation, any federal award remains binding, but some provisions cease to be allowable and any pre-existing federal agreement, for example EBA’s, remain binding but can be replaced by a new workplace agreement at anytime.

An Australian workplace agreement is an individual written agreement between an employer and an employee that sets out terms and conditions of employment. Once an Australian workplace agreement starts to operate, it replaces any award or collective agreement that would otherwise apply to the employee.

An Australian workplace agreement overrides employment conditions in state or territory laws, if the Australian workplace agreement mentions those conditions. However, an Australian workplace agreement cannot override state or territory laws which cover occupational health and safety, workers’ compensation or training arrangements. You can learn more about Australian workplace agreements at the Australian Government Office of the Employment Advocate at http://www.oea.gov.au/

There are statutory minimum provisions of Fair Pay and Conditions covering wages, hours and annual, personal and parental leave that must be included in workplace agreements. However, on the statutory provision of 4 weeks annual leave, a workplace agreement can provide for up to 2 weeks of this leave to be "cashed out" annually. You can learn more about statutory minimum provisions of Fair Pay and Conditions at http://www.oea.gov.au/graphics.asp?showdoc=/employers/fairpaystandard.asp

Prohibited content for agreements include:

  • renegotiation of contracts
  • restrictions on use of contractors or labour hire workers
  • any "remedy" for unfair dismissal
  • secrecy provision re content of agreement
  • matters not pertaining to employment relationship

Moreover, there is very prescriptive requirements about what cannot be included with respect to union involvement in workplace agreements. You can learn more about what constitutes prohibited content in Australian workplace agreements at http://www.oea.gov.au/graphics.asp?showdoc=/employers/prohibitedContent.asp#index3

Australian workplace agreements can be registered online using the OEA’s online lodgement system at http://www.oea.gov.au/graphics.asp?showdoc=/employers/agreementOverview.asp and selecting the Workplace Agreements Online hyperlink. Registration of workplace agreements is automatic and there is no certification or approval process, in other words, once an Australian workplace agreements is lodged it is enforceable. However, employers need to be careful, as penalties of up to $33,000 can be imposed for including prohibited content in workplace agreements. 

Employee Hot Prospect

Carlie
Carlie
Carlie is confident, skilled and experienced in customer service roles. She has all the necessary qualities to succeed in the retail fashion industry, which is where she is seeking employment.
Kevin
Kevin
Kevin has an impressive background as an experienced sales co-coordinator. He is outcomes driven and would excel in any sales representative or public relations work.

  Status Footy Tipping Competition

David George, left - Corporate Projects Manager<br /> with Peter Crotti

David George, left - Corporate Projects Manager
with Peter Crotti

The first perfect tipping round of 8 from 8 has secured Peter Crotti, yet another Status employee, with the prizes this week. Peter works from our Marion office as a training and employment consultant, and was so excited at hearing the news of his win that he did an impromptu "jig". Now, I’d liked to have seen that Peter, and staff tell me that as a dancer you make a mighty fine trainer. Congratulations Peter, you deserve to be "crowned" this week’s winner for that perfect performance.  

Hopefully, next week we’ll have our first employer winner and I can get out of the office for a while.  Remember, you can always view your position on the leader board by logging into the AFL website and selecting the Status Employment Services competition. To review Status’ footy tipping competition details click here. 
COPYRIGHT:© 2007-2009 Status Employment Services rights reserved.

Disclaimer
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