Once, people teams had the luxury of time to plan, test and tweak approaches. Now, many of us are taking it day by day: ten-year plans have been scrapped, and ‘business as usual’ is a distant memory. Many TA teams and HR leaders are looking for guidance.

In times like these, we look to the experts for advice and predictions in an unpredictable landscape. Industry commentators like Hung Lee have their finger on the pulse of what it means to recruit in 2021, and can help make sense of a landscape that’s shifting every day.

Speaking in a recent PageUp webinar, Hung Lee outlined his 8 key talent acquisition trends for the new year. This is by no means an exhaustive list – but it is a good way to check that your organisation is on the right track.

Here’s what we know so far about what matters in recruiting in 2021:

• Everyone is an international recruiter
• Digital transformation and automation take centre stage
• There are new challenges and considerations for diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I)
• Alumni (former employees) become an organisation‘s greatest asset
• Employer branding becomes a non-negotiable
• Internal mobility evolves into a key source of quality talent.

2020 was the year that HR truly stepped up and took a seat at the table. In 2021, it’s time to continue that momentum and take the lead in transforming workplaces for the new world of work.

Talent acquisition trend 1: The global talent pool

COVID-19 has accelerated once-distant trends and forced the world’s biggest work-from-home experiment. Even laggards have been forced to adopt remote tech – and organisations are realising it can work. In spite of organisational complexities and the challenges of remote work, up to 37% of jobs can now be done fully remotely. In the US, there was a 150% increase in remote jobs from 2019 to 2020. In the UK, there was a 342% increase in the same period (Iain Moss, Adzuna, 2020). In Australia, there was more than a 200% increase in remote work in some states (NSW, ACT and Victoria).

Organisations are getting into the groove of remote work, and this has opened up possibilities for a global network of talent. No longer constrained by brick and mortar offices, organisations can hire the best people in the world – not just their city. In 2021, everyone is an international recruiter.

“Moving the job to where the people are is increasing,” says Hung Lee, curator of recruitment industry newsletter Recruiting Brainfood. Lee observes that “remote means anywhere” – and with technology improving and C-suite leaders enjoying the cost reduction of work-from-home arrangements, TA will shift from on-premise to remote hiring.

This brings about major changes:

• Moving away from the traditional full-time hiring cycle, remote workers can be freelancers and contractors. This trend lends itself to a “try before you buy” approach, according to Lee.
• There is zero friction for talent to move from company to company – which means the employee experience is more important than ever
• Compensation is set by elite organisations. No longer confined to local salary benchmarks, smaller players may struggle to compete with salaries offered by large organisations. For many jobseekers, the ability to live in their hometown but get paid a New York-level salary is appealing – and makes it hard for local organisations to compete
• Competition for top talent is global.

Talent acquisition trend 2: Digital transformation and automation becomes a priority

In a year of constant disruption, even the most progressive companies have had to think on their feet. They’ve achieved this agility through workforce automation. Research shows that 92% of senior executives agree that the lockdown period has made digital transformation a priority.

COVID-19 has forced the automation of in-person human roles, where possible. At the same time, remote working has flourished and given way to a raft of digitisation and automation. RPA (recruitment process automation) has delivered unparalleled efficiencies in the recruiting process, spurred on by reduced TA headcount and recruiters simply having to do more with less. What was once paper-based, manual and resource-intensive (multiple recruiters and interviewing rooms, onerous rounds of shortlisting and assessments) has become streamlined and fully digital.

Talent acquisition trend 3: Alumni form part of the talent community

“Retain the relationship, not the employee” recruiting guru Bill Boorman advises. This year, cash-strapped and time-poor recruiting teams are turning to the ‘talent community’ – alumni, silver-medalists and internal talent – as a source of pre-vetted, quality hires.

The return of the talent community creates a new job for recruiters – engaging talent even after they’ve left the organisation. In the past, once someone walked out the door they were often gone for good. Now, HR teams are acquainting themselves with the concept of ‘Boomerang employees’ – those that leave the business then eventually return. These people are an invaluable source of qualified talent, external referrals and, when treated well, should become lasting employer brand champions.

As people flow through the company from candidate to employee and eventually alumni, someone has to own and track this experience to ensure it’s a great one. Some organisations are approaching this by having a community manager that manages and engages people outside of the company. Others are developing alumni networks and using their career site as a leveraging point to attract alumni back.

Hung Lee shares key ways to engage alumni:

• Make relationships the entire point
• Bridge community & company. Careers sites are a great way to do this
• Treat talent mobility the same as career development
• That development might exist outside the company
• Not a single career path but career optionality

Talent acquisition trend 4: DE&I

In a year that’s brought us a global pandemic, political unrest and a worldwide shift to remote work, it would take a lot to capture our attention. And yet in 2020, DE&I did just that. As Black Lives Matter protests spread awareness and action around the world, the importance of racial equality, diversity and inclusivity in our own organisations captured the spotlight.

Lee says “DE&I has gone from being de-prioritised to re-prioritised” as organisations do the work in “rebuilding institutions that have been historically unfair.” Technology is helping to attract diverse candidates and reduce systemic bias in the hiring process, helping organisations to meet their DE&I goals at-scale.

Remote working increases accessibility for roles, but it also presents new hurdles to overcome. Technology opens the door for people from different backgrounds, geographies and ability to land roles, but access to good technology is not universal. Digital inequality – poor internet connection or older tech – can introduce a new set of unconscious biases for candidates.

Lee points to a recent study by researchers from USC, who found that audio quality has a direct impact on perceived reliability and expertise. When they presented identical conference presentations in high and low quality and asked participants to evaluate the researcher and the research, people evaluated the researcher and research less favourably when the audio quality was low. As we enter a new remote world, new biases appear which require attention and awareness. According to Lee, addressing these issues of inequality requires “mitigating with more tech, not less”.

Talent acquisition trend 5: Employer branding becomes a non-negotiable

Where once a great employer brand was seen as a “nice to have”, it is now a necessity for organisations to compete for talent on a global stage. Lee says that “This is a once-in-a-lifetime period for organisations looking to fortify their employer brand.” The way organisations respond to this crisis will affect and define their brand for decades to come. This means providing a great experience: caring for employees with trust and transparency, and caring for your candidates with open and regular communication. Maintaining this level of care will become a core TA responsibility and expectation — and technology will help time-poor hiring teams to facilitate this at scale.

Talent acquisition trend 6: Internal mobility

With lockdown restrictions forcing widespread layoffs, and with reduced recruiter headcount forcing hiring teams to do more with less, organisations are redeploying staff to cut costs and keep valued skills within the business. According to LinkedIn insights, internal hires increased by 19% in April-August 2020 compared with the same time period in 2019. Internal hires now make up almost 20% of an organisation’s workforce on average.

But according to Lee, “COVID revealed we don’t do internal mobility well.” In a recent survey by HR.com, over a third of respondents say that no one owns the internal mobility process. And over a quarter of employees are unaware of available job opportunities.

In 2021, it will be up to TA teams to gain full visibility of their workforce and identify hidden skill sets or opportunities for development. Technology can help to provide this visibility, and a powerful ATS can even provide smart recommendations for redeployment opportunities.

Lee posits that “TA will be known as ‘Talent Access’ – they will ensure the availability of the entire talent universe to the employer.” Managers will transform into ‘career coaches’ and rely on performance management technology to facilitate everyday feedback and on the go learning opportunities. According to Lee, TA will take ownership of internal mobility and talent delivery, signalling a move away from hiring-manager led placements.

Final thoughts

These six talent acquisition trends point to a future of work that’s tech-enabled and automated, but that also uplifts the human aspects of Human Resources. With technology automating manual and repetitive tasks, TA teams are freed to do the real work: building meaningful DE&I programs, engaging valued alumni, raising up internal employees to greater heights. As we embark on this uncertain journey together, go safe in the knowledge that the HR world and your talent communities will always be there to share wisdom, support and guidance.

Marion Robinson is responsible for spearheading global growth for PageUp in all its forms. She provides strategic direction across PageUp’s client advocacy, partner alliance, marketing and brand-building programs, ensuring total alignment between them so as to deliver on the PageUp growth strategy. Leveraging a wealth of experience in client management roles across a range of industries including Banking, Human Resources and IT, Marion understands the daily people challenges of our clients first-hand. Her experience ranges from sales and marketing, change management, consulting and people development.

The post Experts share 6 key talent acquisition trends for 2021 appeared first on Recruitment Marketing.

In this instalment, Jonathan shares valuable information about what employers should expect and prioritise in 2021. 

The post-pandemic landscape has meant a number of challenges for employers and HR. As an Employment Lawyer, human resources departments ask for assistance on a range of matters. Here are some quick wins for you and your HR team in 2021.

1. Prioritise good performance management training

Some companies have seen a spike in productivity and others have seen productivity limited.  It is important to understand the unique problems that have compounded poor performance management.

A number of cases have succeeded against employers due to poor performance management by managers and supervisors. This has led to success in:

• unfair dismissal claims
• general protections claims
• discrimination disputes
• workers compensation claims

A focus on performance management training is the key to success. Here is some quick advice for how you can to improve staff performance from an employment lawyer:

• Ensure you have a performance management policy – if you don’t have one, develop one. It can be a great kick-starter for training
• Understand the consequences – for managers and supervisors, they need to understand what poor performance management can actually lead to – yes, there is liability for the company but also personal liability (accessorial liability). Case studies are a good way to demonstrate this.
• Consider external training, potentially from a specialist employment law firm, as they may be able to demonstrate the seriousness of performance management to managers and supervisors.

2. Review your payroll

Underpayment of wages is a significant risk for many organisations.  Big names such as Woolworths, Chatime and even a former MasterChef George Calombaris have felt the wrath of the Fair Work Ombudsman.

Read more: Google pays $3.8M to settle allegations of pay, hiring discrimination

Automated payroll systems are efficient. However, keep in mind the rules you input into the system will either be wrong or right.  Even if they are right – over time they could become stale and even be contrary to a legal obligation under a Modern Award.

In a previous article, I set out three key tips that to help your business to avoid risks, including:

• review your payroll system
• ensure your payroll system reflects rules of awards
• compare your HR system with your payroll system

3. Keep an eye on immigration updates 

More and more opportunities around utilising a migrant workforce and skilled employees to plug gaps in the business continue to cause HR headaches.

• General Skilled
• 482
• Subclass 186
• Employer-Sponsored
• Partner Visa
• Australian citizenship

Now is a good time to understand some of the opportunities that are coming in 2021 to migration laws. Getting in touch with a migration agent, such as No Borders Migration, is a good start.

4. Industrial relations law changes

The government is looking to make changes to IR laws. At this point we understand there will be changes to:

• Casual employee rules to combat previous cases around Workpac v Rossato and Workpac v Skene
• Definition of a casual employee defined in the Fair Work Act
• Enterprise bargaining changes which may lead to a “slackening” of the BOOT test and quicker turnarounds
• Simplifying some awards including give key “distressed” industries opportunities to pay loaded rates
• Allow project life pay deals which are designed to prevent industrial (strike) action on the aspect of increased wages.

Continue to read about these issues to keep yourself informed. These changes will require a lot of preparation and potentially, advice, going forward.

Do you have a question for Jonathan? Send it to editor@recruitmentmarketing.com.au. Jonathan and his team of employment lawyers at NB Lawyers will answer as many as they can and share these answers in Recruitment Marketing Magazine*. 

*This series may be limited. Legal advice is general in nature. For tailored legal advice specific to your organisation, industry and location, speak to your organisation’s legal advisor.  

Jonathan Mamaril is a Director with NB Lawyers, the Lawyers for Employers, leading the Employment Law and Commercial Law teams. Jonathan assists employers in mitigating risk and liability and advises clients on all aspects of Employment Law. His focus is on being practical and providing value for clients through education and training to help them avoid headaches in the first place; and when a problem does occur, to deal with it properly so it doesn’t become a larger, more litigious problem. 

The post 4 hot tips for HR from an Employment Lawyer: Preparing yourself for 2021 appeared first on Recruitment Marketing.

Google has agreed to pay $3.8 million to 5,500 employees and applicants to settle charges of pay discrimination. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) identified pay disparities during a routine compliance evaluation. The gaps, the agency said, affected female employees in software engineering positions. It also detected hiring rate differences that disadvantaged female and Asian applicants for software engineering positions at several of Google’s locations.

In addition to back pay and interest, the company also agreed to set aside $1.25 million in pay-equity adjustments over the next five years for employees in engineering positions. Google also agreed to enhance future compliance; review its current policies, procedures and practices related to hiring and compensation; and conduct analyses and take corrective action to ensure non-discrimination.

Google also made headlines again recently when several hundred of its employees formed a union — a rare move for the tech industry. More than 500 workers at Google’s parent company joined the advocacy organisation.

The union will be the structure that ensures Google workers can actively push for real changes at the company, from the kinds of contracts Google accepts to employee classification to wage and compensation issues.

Pay discrimination

While this case is a US-based case, it’s represents a learning opportunity for Australian talent professionals. Australia’s national gender pay gap has hovered between 13.9% and 19% for the past two decades. There has been a decrease of 0.3 of a percentage point in the gender pay gap since November 2018 (14.1%).

Between 1999 and 2019 the national gender pay gap was:

• lowest in November 2019, at 13.9%
• highest in November 2014, at 18.5%.

If the work is equal or substantially similar, the employer should investigate to find out whether there is a legitimate justification for the pay disparity such as meaningful differences in education, experience, training or performance; if no such justification exists, a remedy could include an adjustment in pay.

Employers should also be aware that many states and localities prohibit employers from asking applicants pay history questions because reliance on prior pay is thought to perpetuate wage disparities for women and minorities.

The post Google pays $3.8M to settle allegations of pay, hiring discrimination appeared first on Recruitment Marketing.

The video features a voiceover and CommBank team members – targeting top tech talent by sharing the engaging tech stack their people get to work with and other attractive benefits.

The post How CommBank attracts top tech talent appeared first on Recruitment Marketing.

People often mistake employer branding as an activity solely tied to attracting the best talent to meet growth trajectories, especially in a buoyant and thriving economy. This is partially correct. But it’s important to remember employer branding is built from the inside out.

When the pandemic struck, many organisations were put to the test having to quickly shift their focus introspectively. Leaders had to migrate and manage their employees remotely, working tirelessly towards looking after their internal workforce’s well-being and engagement.

“The way your organisation treats key stakeholders, from employees to candidates and consumers, is critical in determining your employer brand credibility now and into the future.”

Josh Bersin, renowned thought leader and educator of Josh Bersin Academy, believes, irrespective of organisational industry, everyone is going through the four-phase pandemic cycle of “react, respond, return and transform.”

Are we there yet?

The dust is starting to settle as many organisations reopen, recruit and onboard employees back into the workplace. This was evident in one of our recent webinars, Steering Talent through a Crisis, where leaders reflected on their trials and tribulations to date.

Employee engagement is more important than ever as companies navigate through the recovery phase of redefining and building their workplace. Many organisations have worked successfully in keeping employees connected, engaged and spirits high through the thick of the pandemic; fostering all levels of remote culture building exercises.

However, these efforts need to continue across, what might now be, a split work-from-home and in-office working environment.

Personalising the employee journey

The COVID crisis exposed organisations’ underbellies and represented a dire need to pay close attention to the employee lifecycle and take targeted, individualised action.

Leaders had to take deliberate action in understanding each valued employees’ unique psychological, emotional and financial requirements. Every person experienced the pandemic setback differently with many organisations quickly realising they needed to take an individual, tailored approach with every employee.

Various reports, polls and studies demonstrated people experience high levels of anxiety, stress and fatigue; many confirm health is still, presently, a major concern for them.

Mastering the employee life-cycle is ongoing work-in-progress, especially within a disrupted workplace, where the future is uncertain.

Hybrid work-from-home models

In many cases, there’s still some disconnection between employers’ workplace requirements and their shifted preferential needs. The transition into the workplace is “not all plain sailing”, as organisations test hybrid work-from-home and partial in-office working arrangements.

While employees are enjoying working remotely in their uninterrupted work-from-home environments, the desire to return to the office, employees and employers alike, persists.

Many people thrive on connecting in-person and enjoy the opportunity to hold scrum and project meetings, to continue building the team spirit they so sorely missed.

This being said, live webinar polls have confirmed an increasing number of employees are enjoying a hybrid working arrangement, where they can benefit and enjoy “the best of both worlds”.

Communication is topping agendas

Stakeholder communications across all operational levels are topping most workplace agendas, with many CEOs and leaders continuing with transparent and consistent town hall discussions with employees through this recovery phase.

Leaders continue with intimate and regular conversations with their team members, having to demonstrate trust, empathy and team collaboration.

Marketing and Communications have shifted a great deal of their attention from consumer marketing to internal communications about the well-being and safety of their employees.

It is imperative that conversations across all levels continue, especially while organisations have their workforce dispersed at home and on-site.

Reframing the workplace

The pandemic has resulted in many organisations having to reframe their staffing structures to future-proof themselves for our new world of work.

Certain roles are being terminated and others being newly created. Sadly, this gives rise to the possibility of further redundancies. Organisations now face the challenge of retaining employee engagement in the aftermath of redundancies.

Employees are being retrained and reskilled with organisations redeploying and realigning their talent to meet their future business objectives. Agility and resilience are now key focus areas for many organisations.

Ensure your organisation retains its focus on your internal talent, especially if you’re like other businesses undergoing big transformations during this recovery phase.

Employees, candidates and consumers continue to watch how companies are treating their stakeholders. This will determine your employer brand credibility now and into the future.

This African proverb couldn’t be more relevant:

“Tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today!”

Celeste Sirin is the Managing Director of Employer Branding South Africa, a consultancy assisting companies to build and market their employer brands to attract, engage and retain talent. Having worked in the recruitment industry for many years, running her own recruitment marketing and response management agency, she has first-hand recruiter knowledge. 

Celeste’s mission is to define and drive the essence of employer branding and the fundamental importance of companies adopting it as a business imperative.

The post Reboot your employer branding response in 2021 appeared first on Recruitment Marketing.

What you want is your very own Mary Poppins – an employee who has a special mix of talent, character and experience, and brings out the best in everyone around them. Someone who can bring order to the mess with a snap of their fingers, and shake-up outdated processes with a sweetly sung lullaby. These rare, yet marvellous, employees don’t usually come with distinctive talking umbrellas and daisy-blossomed hats, and so finding one can prove quite difficult.

So, what did it take to lure a gem like Mary Poppins to Cherry Tree Lane, and how can you replicate the magic for your own difficult to fill roles?

Why, with an excellent job advertisement of course!

If you remember, there were actually two advertisements written: one by Mr. Banks, and one by the children, Jane and Michael. I’m going to dissect both advertisements to show you why imitating Mr. Banks’ method (like sadly so many modern job ads do) won’t help you attract a Mary Poppins, while Jane and Michaels’ method will.

Let’s start with the headline

Required: Firm, respectable, no nonsense.

Have you noticed the first mistake of Mr. Banks’ advertisement yet?

His headline gives no indication as to what the role he’s advertising for actually is. ‘Firm, respectable and no nonsense’ are great traits to be hiring for, but at first glance, he could as easily be looking for a lawyer as he is a Nanny.

Jane and Michael on the other hand, open with:

Wanted: A Nanny for two adorable children

Not only have they put the role title right there in the headline, but they’ve also included some extra information (two children), and even put a little extra oomph by adding a strong descriptor in there as well (adorable).

The hook

A British Nanny must be a general,

The future empire lies within her hands.

And so, the person that we need, to mould the breed,

Is a nanny who can give commands.

Well, at least Mr. Banks has mentioned the role title now. He’s even given the role a sense of impact and purpose, although ‘the breed’ is a pretty cringe-worthy word choice, revealing a lot about his values around children. And ignoring the blatant use of gender-biased pronouns, there is still one more error he’s made here. He’s addressing the ether. He refers to ‘the person that we need’, which might not be as bad as ‘the incumbent’ or ‘successful applicant’, but it still could be better. Something more like Jane and Michael perhaps:

If you want this choice position…

Their entire ad speaks directly to the person they’re looking for and offers a much stronger emotional connection to motivate the reader’s confidence to read on.

The candidate requirements

A British bank, is run with precision,

A British home requires nothing less.

Tradition, discipline and rules must be the tools…

He really loves to mix the metaphors, doesn’t he? Is he looking for a General, a Bank Manager or a Nanny? This aside, I will applaud his succinct list of candidate requirements (Jane and Michael do let themselves down with no less than 15 requirements in their ad). However, I question how he came up with his list? It’s barely 17 minutes into the movie when he writes his advertisement, and already Mr. Banks has shown himself to be quite the distant father-figure. While he cites ‘insight and balanced judgement’ as necessary qualities in a recruiter, he seems to lack any genuine insight into what his children really need from a Nanny.

Someone with true, balanced judgement would have more gladly sought the feedback from those working closest to the role he was writing the ad for (rather than ripping up their letter). Jane and Michael on the other hand are probably going a bit far, insisting on sweets and treats and an absence of warts. But they also provide clarity by listing specific activities the role will involve:

Play games, all sort… Take us on outings… sing songs.

The employee benefits

Without them, disorder, catastrophe, anarchy,

In short, you have a ghastly mess!

Rather than sweetening the offer with some perks of the job, Mr. Banks finishes with what could be interpreted as either exaggerated fear-mongering or a thinly veiled threat. I think we can all agree this is a less than ideal closing argument.

Jane and Michael do however list some employee benefits, albeit in an interesting and humorous way. I can’t say I’ve read many job ads listing the things they don’t offer, but they are memorable and appealing through their personality and authenticity.

We will never give you cause to hate us.

We won’t hide your spectacles so you can’t see,

Put toads in your bed or pepper in your tea.

The call to action

…

The problem here is Mr. Banks offers no call to action at all. Jane and Michael however close with:

Hurry Nanny! Many thanks. Sincerely, Jane and Michael Banks.

Ok, it’s still not very explicit on what the applicant needs to do next. But they do provide their names. No applicant likes writing ‘to whom it may concern’ and despite claims otherwise, even with the internet and social media, it’s not always easy to find the correct name to address a cover letter and resume to. Offering a name is offering an extra step of human connection to attract top-quality talent, making their path to you as clear and simple as possible.

The truth of the matter is we will nearly always need these Mary Poppins employees so much more than they need us. So, if we want to attract these talented people, we need to offer something worthy of their attention… something supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

The post How to hire your very own Mary Poppins appeared first on Recruitment Marketing.

Thank you to readers who submitted their questions. In this instalment, Jonathan provides his answers to your work-from-home and talent management questions. 

COVID-19, lockdown, face masks, illness, border closures and work from home (WFH), remote working.  These words seem to go hand in hand in our current workplaces.  Some states and territories are still feeling the effects of the pandemic while other workplaces are starting to look towards getting people back to the office (or already have).

Work-from-home (WFH) arrangements have been forced upon many organisations, testing the flexibility of our workplaces to accommodate these needs while retaining high productivity. Many HR professionals, Managers, Directors and employers are grappling with a prime issue: What are our powers and responsibilities when it comes to WFH arrangements? 

Here are three things you need to know. 

1. Health and safety responsibilities still lie with employers

Of concern for many is the issue of responsibility if an employee injures or becomes ill while working from home. This has manifested in a number of ways and here is a snapshot of the type of matters which have arisen and we have dealt with recently:

• An employee injured their foot while “walking around” their home office
• An employee who made a complaint to their employer that they felt more “stressed” working from home because they couldn’t “switch off”
• An employee who felt “pressure” while working from home from her husband and kids and developed mental health issues such as anxiety
• An employee who complained of back problems due to using a chair in their home office (not supplied by the company).

The basic fundamental health and safety obligations will still apply and that is an employer must do what is reasonably practicable to ensure the health and safety of an employee. There are also obligations on the employee as well to ensure their own health and safety.  Whether the employee is injured at the office or working from home – for health and safety purposes the obligations will still lie with the employer.

Read more: Ask an employment lawyer Q&A: Leave entitlements, JobMaker, WFH setups and more

There is of course merit to discussions around whether the employee was engaged in work hours or in the conduct of work. There are several cases which point to a distinction.  To mitigate this risk a number of steps can be taken:

1. Undertake a health and safety assessment, if it is not possible to do one in person, consider a self-assessment audit with undertakings by the employee that they are being honest with their assessment
2. Put in place a work-from-home policy – this should cover a number of issues but at a basic level, reminding them of their health and safety obligations, the procedure to request work from home, approval requirements for equipment and company property to be supplied
3. Consider providing standard company property if it is an inherent requirement of the position – chairs and computers are a good example and potentially even tables, cameras and basic stationery
4. Training – consider undertaking appropriate WFH training for managers and also for employees WFH this will ensure expectations and standards are known. If this is backed by the above policy even better

2. WFH arrangements – can they be refused?

Requests to WFH will fall under flexible work arrangements, flexible work arrangements are underpinned by the National Employment Standards.

Although there are some differences between award free employees and award (and enterprise agreement) covered employees there is a general requirement to:

• Discuss any request with the employee regarding the request
• Take into consideration:
  • Needs of the employee
  • Effect for the employee if arrangements were made
  • Reasonable business grounds to refuse.

The key part for employers and HR is the term “reasonable business grounds”. The criteria set focuses on the following key factors:

1. Cost (high cost)
2. The effect on other employees’ arrangements
3. new employees will be required to accommodate the arrangements
4. there would be a significant loss of productivity or/and negative impact on client/customer service

To be frank, whatever business grounds put forward employers and HR need to ensure that those arguments would satisfy a Commissioner in the Fair Work Commission. That is to say, whatever you put in writing (and you have 21 days to respond) a Commissioner will look kindly on the arguments put forward.  You will need to consider all of the above to have a chance at a refusal being supported by the Fair Work Commission if it is challenged by an employee (and their representatives).

Consider the case of Victoria Police v The Police Federation of Australia (Victoria Police Branch) T/A The Police Association of Victoria [2019] FWCFB 305 wherein the Victoria Police were unable to refuse a detective’s request for flexible working arrangements.  This is even with the following arguments:

1. the arrangement would Impose an unreasonable financial burdenas they would need to pay the detective his full salary plus overtime allowances
2. a significant increase to the risk of fatigue-related OH&Sincidents as the shifts would be longer
3. A negative impact to productivity and parity to the colleagues of the detective

Although there were some other issues that hindered the Victoria Police in this matter the arguments would seem to be (on the face of it) wholly justified on reasonable business grounds. The Fair Work Commission found this was not the case.

Taking this case into consideration you will need to go further than the Victoria Police to justify a refusal.

3. Termination of employment (and discipline) must follow a procedure

If you have not got a proven procedure for dealing with dismissal this is the time to put one in place and ensure you are getting legal advice (to claim privilege) every step of the way.  We have provided details around this in previous articles such as Defending An Unfair Dismissal Claim – HR Need To Consider 3 Main Issues and The Pink Folder – Senior Employees And Their Duties Of Trust And Confidence (3 Tips For Employers) and General Protections Complaint – Huge Future Economic Loss $Pay-Out Due To COVID-19.

Here are some further considerations to keep in mind:

• If an allegation of misconduct has been brought up such as timesheet fraud, misuse of social media, misuse of leave or data theft has occurred – although it may be frustrating for all involved the allegation should be put to the employee preferably through a show-cause letter
• Why a show-cause letter – it gives the Employer an opportunity to consider any response by the employee there may well be even mitigating circumstances that should be considered.
• Performance management should be managed in the same way even with WFH – this might mean discussions over virtually instead of in-person but the same premise holds true
• Whatever is in writing and whatever has been said should all be assumed to be exposed and potentially read or considered by a Judge or a Commissioner – will this be looked upon favourably – if not? How will risk and liability be mitigated?

Do you have a question for Jonathan? Send it to editor@recruitmentmarketing.com.au. Jonathan and his team of employment lawyers at NB Lawyers will answer as many as they can and share these answers in Recruitment Marketing Magazine*. 

*This series may be limited. Legal advice is general in nature. For tailored legal advice specific to your organisation, industry and location, speak to your organisation’s legal advisor.  

Jonathan Mamaril is a Director with NB Lawyers, the Lawyers for Employers, leading the Employment Law and Commercial Law teams. Jonathan assists employers in mitigating risk and liability and advises clients on all aspects of Employment Law. His focus is on being practical and providing value for clients through education and training to help them avoid headaches in the first place; and when a problem does occur, to deal with it properly so it doesn’t become a larger, more litigious problem. 

The post Ask an employment lawyer: 3 things you need to know about managing WFH arrangements appeared first on Recruitment Marketing.

“There has been a massive MASSIVE change at Coronis. In his first year of real estate, where he battled the challenges COVID19 threw his way, Corey sold 33 properties with no prior real estate experience thanks to the support of the Coronis Group.”

Read more: Coronis, Coronians and a culture of the best

In their new employer branding video series, “Think you know Coronis? Think again!”, Coronis employees share what it’s like working for the organisation in candidate, professional video interviews.

In this video, Sales Agent Corey Biles discusses the support and training available to all agents, and addresses misconceptions about the role.

The post An inspired employer branding video series by Coronis appeared first on Recruitment Marketing.

Although there are powerful women in leadership, only a few who aspire to such positions reach the C-suite level. According to a Mckinsey report, women constitute 42 per cent of all employees, yet comprise only a quarter of executives and only 10 per cent of CEOs for large for-profit companies. The transition point from crucial management positions to CEO has the highest drop off (59 per cent) in women’s representation.

While gender equality awareness has been on the rise, and companies have been increasingly active in driving the diversity agenda, women remain underrepresented across industries.

What’s keeping smart women from climbing up the ladder?

• Culture: A 24/7 ’round the clock’ culture that struggles to accommodate parenthood
• Work/life balance: Work structure and low tolerance to flexibility exclude working women from critical roles and projects
• Perceptions: The unspoken ‘mateship’ or the ‘boys club’, excludes women from informal networking like drinks at the club or a game of golf
• Afraid of making mistakes: Research shows that women who make mistakes in traditionally male occupations (and leadership roles) are judged much more harshly than their male counterparts who make mistakes.

Why should organisations have women in leadership roles? 

Research from Mckinsey found companies with higher numbers of women at senior levels have better organisational and financial performance. The report also revealed that having women at the decision-making table was not only good for the business, but it made the organisation one where more people wanted to work.

Men and women enter the workforce in relatively equal numbers, yet when it comes to managerial positions and leadership roles, women fall short. People and culture can nurture women into leadership positions.

Here’s how companies that care for their women workforce can move the needle.

1. Pursuing conscious inclusion: Conscious inclusion means leading and acting with the intent of providing equal opportunity. Recognising and preventing bias begins at the top and should run across the company culture
2. Leveraging the COVID impact to reset norms around flexibility: The crisis has prompted companies to rethink their beliefs on remote working. Ninety-three per cent of companies now say more jobs can be performed remotely. Remote work opens the opportunities for mothers and caregivers
3. Develop rising women: A good mentor can make a huge difference, especially in a male-dominated workspace. Coaching, mentoring, and networking programs have proved quite successful in helping female executives succeed. If women feel judged harshly for making mistakes, then create a culture and safe environment where it is okay to make and learn from mistakes
4. Active listening: Creating an open dialogue and listening to how employees feel can provide valuable information in creating a pathway for career progression
5. Set numeric goals: Some may call them quotas, but this is the simplest way to know how far your D&I program has reached.

The way forward

Women bring different perspectives to drive effective solutions which is why companies need a healthy representation of both genders.  Companies that aspire to be great places to work and succeed in business should make a genuine effort towards gender equality. It helps to have a plan that is backed by accountability. True equality needs to go beyond the ‘check-the-box’ mentality and must be supported by senior leaders – both male and female.

Karina Guerra heads the marketing team at Xref, a leader in online reference checking present globally. She holds an MBA from UTS and has experience managing teams across multiple regions. Karina currently directs a multicultural team that promotes compliant HR technology and automation. She is a true believer of digital transformation and loves utilising the power of the internet to reach people.

The post Why more women don’t get to the C-suite and what to do about it appeared first on Recruitment Marketing.

You asked, Jonathan answers. Thank you to readers who submitted their questions. In this instalment, Jonathan provides his answers, sharing information about leave entitlements, employer’s work-from-home obligations, JobMaker and more. 

Q1) Hi, if employees have exhausted all sick/annual leave entitlements after the holidays, should we allow them to go into negative leave balance? If so, how much negative leave balance should we allow?

There are two parts to this question, the first is the personal leave component (sick leave) the second is annual leave.

Personal Leave

With respect to personal leave, we recommend it only be allowed where an employee is entitled to personal leave under the National Employment Standards (for example a personal injury or illness).  An employer should not allow a person to use their personal leave to supplement annual leave (unless there is a genuine entitlement to personal leave).  By doing so you may create an expectation among employees that they are entitled to use annual leave and personal leave interchangeably.

There is also the option of allowing unpaid personal leave if the leave entitlements have been utilised.

Allowing employees to go into negative personal leave balance is not recommended  because employers will likely encounter difficulties in recovering outstanding personal leave from final termination pay.  There are strict limits on when amounts can be deducted from employees pay and without proper documentation, an employer may be left with no recourse to recover personal leave paid in advance.

Of course there are exceptions and if you have a policy allowing negative leave balances then you will need to follow those policies.

Annual Leave

Annual leave operates differently.  Under all Modern Awards there is ability for an employer to enter into an agreement with an employee to take annual leave in advance.  Such an agreement may be necessary where there is an office closedown over the Christmas break.

In these circumstances an employer should enter into a written agreement setting out:

• The amount of leave to be taken in advance; and
• The date on which leave is to commence;

The agreement must also be signed by the employer and employee.

This agreement must also be retained as an employee record.  If an employer enters into an agreement to take annual leave in advance, they are entitled to deduct any outstanding leave in advance from the employee’s final termination pay.  This is supported under Section 324 of the Fair Work Act.

Despite there being a broader scope to allow annual leave to be taken in advance, the amount of leave taken in advance should be minimised (e.g. no more than 1-2 weeks).  Unlike personal leave, there is scope for an employer to refuse a request for annual leave provided the refusal is reasonable.  As such, if an employee makes a request for annual leave in advance it can be refused on reasonable grounds.

Got a question for Jonathan? Send it to editor@recruitmentmarketing.com.au. Mamaril and his team of employment lawyers at NB Lawyers will answer as many as they can and share these answers in Recruitment Marketing Magazine*. 

Q2) Can any age discrimination charges against employers be made if you can only hire employees under 35? (For the JobMaker hiring credit)

In its current form, the JobMaker Hiring Credits are intended to support employees within the 16 to 35 year age bracket, who have been very disadvantaged by COVID-19. In practical terms, this is a welfare measure intended for their benefit. As to whether allegations of age discrimination can be made, we need to look at the position at the State and Federal level.

At the Commonwealth Level, section 33 of the Age Discrimination Act 2004 (Cth) permits ‘positive discrimination’ if there is a bona fide benefit to persons of a particular age, intended to meet a need that arises because of the age or intended to reduce a disadvantage experienced by person of a particular age. The JobMaker scheme arguably fits within this exemption. It is intended to reduce the unemployment rate of persons aged 16 – 35, who have been impacted by COVID-19.

As an example of state laws, in Queensland, there is no ‘positive discrimination’ provision under the Anti-Discrimination Act 1991 (QLD). Employers have had to specifically seek exemptions when they wished to benefit a particular group of people. As an example, in Re: Protech Personnel Pty Ltd [2019] QIRC 175, Protech Personnel applied to the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission to be able to specifically advertise for and recruit women for the construction industry. Women have been historically underrepresented in this industry. Protech Personnel’s actions were well-intended, however they were still required to specifically apply for an exemption.

In our view, section 104 of the Anti-Discrimination Act 1991 (QLD) may be relevant. It allows a person to do an act, to members of a group with an attribute (such as age), if the act was designed to assist their welfare. Given the intention of the JobMaker Scheme is to benefit the welfare of a particular age group, it may fall within section 104 of the Queensland Act, creating an exemption to age discrimination.

Having regard to the above, there is unlikely to be an issue if an employer only hires persons eligible for JobMaker. There may well be an issue however, where the employer specifically advertises for persons aged 16 – 35. There is a material difference between merely making use of JobMaker and specifically excluding applicants from applying for a vacant position because of their age.

Q3) With JobKeeper due to expire in March, can employers terminate employees if there is no work? (What if there is work for some employees but not all?)

The unavailability of work does not in itself create a reason to dismiss an employer, however it is a change to the operational requirements of an employer’s business. The employer can then make decisions as to whether or not certain roles are still required, having regard to the changes in operational requirements. If roles are no longer required, the employer may be able to dismiss an employee for reasons of redundancy.’

There is a process for this however and depending on the industrial instruments in play it can even be prescribed.

If an employer and/or an employee is covered by an award, there may be certain consultation obligations under the award that must be fulfilled prior to making a role redundant. These consultation obligations are quite strict, for example, most awards require information to be providing in writing to potentially affected employees.

Regardless of whether an employer and/or employee is covered by an award, there is still an obligation on an employer to consider redeployment opportunities. These opportunities may not exist in the event of unavailability of work, however the onus remains on the employer to give consideration.

Failure to consider redeployment or properly consult with employees may lead to additional risks for an employer (for example, the risk of a successful unfair dismissal or a general protections claim).

Q4) Is it the organisation’s responsibility to provide equipment to work-from-home employees for safe working; for example, a proper computer chair?

An employer has an obligation to ensure the health and safety of its employees whilst they are at work, irrespective of whether the employees are performing their work from the employer’s premises. As part of these obligations, an employer should seek to determine whether the employee’s workspace at home is reasonable, having regard to health and safety risks. This can be by way of a self-audit performed by the employee or another professional attending the work office of the employee.

The Fair Work Commission decision of McKean v Red Energy Pty Ltd (a summary of the case can be found here) involved a work from home employee due to COVID-19 who was denied a request for a desk. The Fair Work Commission found that it was “plainly” reasonable to refuse the provision of a desk as other items had been provided already:

• Online training and resources
• Access to an occupational therapist
• Ergonomic assessment
• Laptop computer
• Headset
• Chair

Although it involved an unfair dismissal claim it is relevant because it focuses on the reasonableness factor by way of:

• Rejection
• Direction
• Refusal

It is important to note the primary duty is to do what is “reasonably practicable” to ensure the health and safety of workers under workplace health and safety legislation.  What is reasonably practicable will largely depend on the individual circumstances of the employer.

We also note a good way to keep track of Company assets is to implement a Company asset register.  If an employee is allowed to take office equipment (e.g. desks, chairs, phones), they should be required to sign a declaration saying they possess the equipment.  This will ensure that all Company property is returned when the employee returns to the workplace.

Please also note workers have a duty under work health and safety laws to take reasonable care for their own health and safety.  As such it is a good idea for the business to require the employee to perform an audit and make a declaration that their premises are fit to allow working from home.

This series may be limited. Send your employment questions to editor@recruitmentmarketing.com.au.

*Legal advice is general in nature. For tailored legal advice specific to your organisation, industry and location, speak to your organisation’s legal advisor.  

Send your questions to editor@recruitmentmarketing.com.au. Jonathan and his team of employment lawyers at NB Lawyers will answer as many as they can and share these answers in Recruitment Marketing Magazine*. 

The post Ask an employment lawyer Q&A: Leave entitlements, JobMaker, WFH setups and more appeared first on Recruitment Marketing.