The power of a ‘quality rejection’

I recently submitted a proposal to an organisation and it was rejected.  Naturally I was disappointed but my ego was left intact because the response the organisation gave was a ‘quality rejection’. 

The organisation responded promptly and thanked me for my submission.  They acknowledged my effort, respected my idea but gave me a clear reason why my proposal was not accepted.  They then apologised for not giving me better news and wished me luck with my next submission.

The letter was sincere and personal and left me feeling appreciated.  I took their advice on board and will incorporate their suggestions in future work.  Above all, their quality rejection confirmed my respect for the organisation. Let me just add – this was a government organisation.

It got me thinking about how rejection letters can contribute to the image of your Company brand.  My friend recently received a rejection letter from a local add agency. The rejection letter was a standard template that had not been customised or personalised. In fact it was titled “Dear Candidate Name”.  She was outraged that a Company she’d invested her time in for interviews and other meetings had not even bothered to address her correctly.  Hopefully this was an isolated error and not the Company’s standard operating procedure.  Nonetheless, my friend won’t be heading back to this Company for future opportunities.   

Similarly a young person I have been working with mentioned that she had applied for over a six jobs and had only received one rejection letter. 

I know how busy life in business can get. Usually when we are recruiting, we just want to get the right person into our vacant position and resume business as normal.  But we have to remember how important it is to treat all of our candidates with respect and gratitude.  They’ve taken the time to apply for a position, so we should at least acknowledge their effort and give them a ‘quality rejection’.

Your rejected candidates might be customers or even potential future employees.  You don’t have to draft a personal letter to each candidate – you can make a quick phone call or even develop a standard response that is sure to cover all bases.

This simple process is good practice and reflects positively on your Company brand.  If you haven’t got time, get someone to help and if you use a recruitment agency make sure this is included in their scope of service.

You never know how and when you and your ‘rejectee’ may cross paths again so do the right thing and give them a ‘quality rejection’.   

Adverse Action Claims and Your Business – What you Need to Know

If you employ staff, you need to get your head around Adverse Action and what it means for your business...

Previously small businesses that were somewhat protected in regards to costly claims around unfair dismissal claims now have another piece of tricky workplace legislation to get their heads around. The general protections (adverse action) section of the Fair Work Act has given employees another channel to air grievances that is time consuming and can be very costly to businesses of all shapes and sizes. 

Adverse action claims are becoming a more popular route for employees who don’t have unfair dismissal claims, are still employed and have complaints against their employer, or wish to make an anti discrimination claim.  Further, employees who can’t claim unfair dismissal when their employment is terminated, either because they’re still in their probation period or because they earn too much, now have access under the Fair Work Act to bring an even more serious claim against  their employer related to adverse action.

So what is an Adverse Action claim?

The key features of an adverse action claim are:

1.That there is a workplace right that the employee has undertaken, requested, queried or had withheld, such as conducting union related activities or raising concerns they might have in relation to Occupational Health & Safety (e.g. failure to provide adequate PPE).  This might also include an employee querying pay or leave entitlements.

2. That there is the allegation that you, as an employer, have made a decision to take some steps to deal with the worker in an adverse way because of them raising the claim or the issue.

Adverse treatment could include things such as cutting employees’ overtime, changing their shifts from weekend to mid-week, cancelling their annual leave or forcing them to take it, demoting them, or, most obviously, terminating their employment.

Under the Fair Work Act, it has to be established that there is a causal nexus, that is, that the workplace right was the motivating reason for the employer taking that adverse action.

From an employer’s perspective, the most alarming aspect of the legislation is that there is a reverse onus on the employer to prove that the assertion of the workplace right by the worker was not the reason that the employer took the action in question.

So let’s be clear:

IMPORTANT: Taking Adverse Action of itself is not prohibited.  To be prohibited, there must be a link between the adverse action and an employee’s workplace right.

For example;

·         A male employee tells his boss that he wishes to take parental leave when his wife returns to work. Boss responds that if employee takes parental leave he will not be promoted.

·         An employee is dismissed after their employer becomes aware that the employee made a complaint to the Union about not being paid overtime

·         A casual employee’s hours are reduced after taking long service leave

If a prohibited adverse action is found to have occurred, the legal remedies that may be awarded include:

·         compensation for loss suffered (this amount is uncapped)

·         fines of up to $33,000,

·         injunctions (to prevent the adverse action)

·         reinstatement (if the person was dismissed)

·          and/or any other order the Court sees fit.

ADVICE to Employers – Tips and Tricks

The risks associated with Adverse Action claims can’t be totally eliminated, merely reduced.

ü Know what employment laws and instruments (Modern Awards, employment agreements) apply to your employees;

ü Train your managers;

ü Update employment contracts and policies (discrimination, harassment, bullying, grievance handling);

ü Follow any grievance or dispute processes in industrial awards or policies;

ü Take all complaints seriously;

ü Performance manage employees if warranted (follow policy);

ü Document all performance interviews, investigations or other meetings;

ü Witnesses in meetings, interviews;

ü Document reasons for decisions which affect employees and contractors;

ü Offer employees opportunity to have support person present in meetings;

When in doubt, ask. More advice early, means less headaches later.

Hunter People Solutions Launch New Website!!

Before you play, turn you sound up a little. Enjoy.

www.hunterps.com.au

Employer of choice

Are you an employer of choice?

The term ‘employer of choice’ is bandied around a lot these days, particularly by large organisations trying to attract and retain top talent.  Having worked as a Human Resource professional for many years, mostly for big companies, I’m familiar with the hoops companies need to jump through to become qualified as an “Employer of Choice”. The rigorous evaluation process for earning such certification includes the demonstration of good leadership qualities, a positive culture and best practice people systems.

So what about the small Companies? How are they able to use this term to enhance their Company brand? Without human resource support and often expensive, leadership and cultural development programs to offer, how do they compete with the big boys when candidates are considering their options?

After working with small businesses I’ve noticed, that for many small to medium sized companies there is genuine focus and a considered approach to looking after their people so that high calibre employees are retained.

I am particularly impressed by a small business client (let’s just call them MRA) that offers some real, valuable and relevant perks to their employees.  They have recently implemented a performance management system that is genuinely concerned with providing positive feedback in relation to performance, day to day coaching and a legitimate development program that sees their employees accessing new and different work opportunities.

They also provide work life balance options for all echelons of the business that include a flexi-time system with flexible start and finish times and part-time work for those that request it.  On top of all this they provide lunch for all employees every day and have an active social club!  Management are all on the same page in regards to providing employees with an open door policy and they are committed to working collaboratively to remedy employee grievances and issues. 

The owner’s operating ethos is that “we want people to come to work and have fun and help us grow the business at the same time”. They say “no thank you” to draconian policies and procedures that stifle creativity and create rigid operating practices.   

So what does MRA get out of this? For starters, a turnover rate of less than 2% which generates a massive saving in recruitment, retention and productivity costs. In addition, their employees are so happy with their workplace, they actively help the Company headhunt talent so attraction costs are further minimised. This is also rewarded by a candidate referral bonus program. 

The longer I am alive (and living that life in Newcastle), the more convinced I become of the small world we live in. Your employees are your biggest asset and a very important stakeholder in creating the image of your business being a “great place to work”. 

Something to keep in the front of mind when making decisions and adopting practices that affect your employees.  

And for the record....

Fear of a Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) inspection sits in the pit of the stomach of many small business owners. The very thought of Inspectors rifling through business records and finding erroneous processes can send shivers down the spine of any employer. The Ombudsman means business when it comes to adequate recording keeping and is not afraid to dish out fines or commence court action.

FWO Inspectors can knock on your door without a specific complaint from your workforce and without significant notice. They can require you to supply time-and-wages records in order to determine if your staff are being paid correctly and if you are complying with workplace laws.
If your record keeping is not up to scratch you may just be asking for them to launch a wider investigation. This is one of the key reasons it is wise to maintain good record keeping practices. Equally, maintaining robust employee documentation is, in itself, a good habit to develop and will minimise exposure to potential employee claims.
However, even the most organised business, may have let some of the legislative requirements slide, especially given the rate of change in workplace law in recent years. So here are a few tips to make sure you don't get stung for poor record keeping practices.
Many of the Fair Work Act 2009 requirements are the same as under the Workplace Relations Act 1996. There are, however, some new requirements. For example, from 1 January 2010, businesses need to make sure that an employee record (including payslips) contains their Australian Business Number.
Pay slips must be issued to all employees within one working day of pay day, even if an employee is on leave and can be in either electronic form or hard copy.
The legislative requirement to keep all employee records for 7 years stays the same.
All employee records have to be easily accessible by a FWO Inspector and written in English.
Under the Act, businesses must keep 'all' employee records. An 'employee record' includes a record of personal information relating to the employment of an employee including:

• The employee's contract of employment including their terms and conditions
• Their personal information such as address and family contacts
• Anything relating to the employee's performance including training records and disciplinary information
• All information relating to hours of work, wages/ salary and entitlements as well as leave records
• Tax, superannuation and any membership information

So far the FWO has been supportive toward business, particularly small business. Unless they suspect deliberate deviation of the rules, they do provide employers the opportunity to rectify errors before heading down the path of issuing fines. You don't want to find out first hand though!
Take a good look at your record keeping systems - do you think you would pass a FWO inspection? Do a self audit and if you're still not sure, get some help.

A Hot Topic for Tots: Parental Leave

There's been much in the press in the last week or so about proposed national Paid Parental Leave schemes. Regardless of what you make of the proposals and the politics(!), I thought it might be timely to talk about the recent changes to unpaid parental leave that commenced on 1 January 2010 and apply to most Australian workplaces right now.

In addition to the provisions for more flexibility in working arrangements when parents return to work after baby (see last blog), the new laws also provide for an extended period of unpaid time off at the birth (or adoption).
Previously, parents were entitled to receive up to 12 months of unpaid parental leave combined. The National Employment Standards (NES) extends this by giving both parents the right to separate periods of up to 12 months unpaid leave. Alternatively, if only one parent wishes to take leave, they will have the right to request an additional 12 months of leave. What this means, effectively, is that the maximum total leave period for an employee couple is two years, in whatever combination they might seek to take it.
To be entitled to unpaid parental leave, a full time or part time employee must have completed at least 12 months continuous service. In the case of casual employees, they will only be entitled to unpaid parental leave if they have been employed on a regular and systematic basis for at least 12 months and, but for the birth or adoption, would have a reasonable expectation of continuing employment.
You can only reject an employee request for an extended period of leave if you have 'reasonable business grounds' for doing so. The same considerations in assessing requests for extended periods of parental leave should apply as for requests for flexible work arrangements. These include:

• the effect on your business of approving such a request, including the financial impact of doing so and the impact of efficiency, productivity and customer service;
• the inability to organise work amongst your existing staff; and
• the inability to recruit a replacement, or the practicality or otherwise of the arrangements that may need to be put in place to accomodate the employee's request.

Clearly, the reasonableness of any refusal will depend on the particular circumstances of the situation.
Other recent changes include increasing the amount of leave that can be taken concurrently by both parents (up from one week to three), extending the entitlement to same sex couples, and extending parental leave to apply in cases of adoption for a child under the age of 16 years (up from 5 years).
So there you have it - that pretty much has you updated and able to participate in an intelligent conversation on this topic in the future, as/if/when you are approached by an employee who is heading in the 'family' direction.
And one other thing, just in case you get the question.
Parental leave only applies to human children. Puppies, kittens, foals etc do not fit the definition.
(Don't laugh - the question has seriously been put to me. And on more than one occasion).

Flexible Work Arrangements - New Rights

So here we are - 2010. Happy New Year!

Here at Hunter People Solutions we think it is going to be a great year - a year of new adventures and bigger challenges with a good dose of change management thrown in to the mix. And this isn't just because we both have our first-borns off to big school (although that's a part of it!) - it's due to the workplace impacts that will occur as a result of the final pieces of the Fair Work Act (2009) coming into effect.
Do you know if your business is sufficiently prepared for these changes? Or are you thinking you are just going to 'wing it'?
You're no doubt aware that a big component of the new laws is the introduction of the National Employment Standard (NES). There are 10 standards and they form part of the safety net that applies to all employees who are covered in the federal system. The piece of the NES that we believe has the most potential to impact businesses is the right for employees to request a change in their working arrangements.
The right is available only to employees who are parents of, or have responsibility for the care of a child who is under school age (or, if the child is under 18 years of age, who has a disability). And the change in working arrangements must be for the purpose of assisting the employee to care for the child.
So, what sort of flexible 'changes in arrangements' are we talking about here?
While not being specific, the new laws suggest this might include changes in hours of work, in patterns of work or in working location. So the sort of requests that should be expected will probably include switching to part time work by working fewer days per week or fewer hours across each day as well as requests to work from home or moving to another more convenient office location.
To be eligible to make such a request under the NES, employees must have completed at least 12 months continuous service. They have to put their request in writing and set out the details and reason for the change.
If and when you receive such a request, the new laws require you to do a number of things:

• You have to respond in writing within 21 days, advising the employee if their request has been approved or not.
• If you've refused the request, you have to provide the reasons for your refusal.
• You may only refuse if you have 'reasonable business grounds' for doing so.

Which leads us to the curliest question so far. What constitutes 'reasonable business grounds'?
While not being specific (again!), the new laws suggest such grounds might include:

• the effect on your business of approving such a request, including the financial impact of doing so and the impact of efficiency, productivity and customer service;
• the inability to organise work amongst your existing staff; and
• the inability to recruit a replacement, or the practicality or otherwise of the arrangements that may need to be put in place to accomodate the employee's request.

Clearly, the reasonableness of any refusal will depend on the particular circumstances of the situation.
Most importantly in this new workplace relations area, it is imperative that you understand and adhere to your obligations as an employer when faced with requests for flexible work arrangments. If you don't, for example, because you forgot to appropriately respond to a request within 21 days, you may face a claim for breaching the NES. And a maximum penalty of $33,000 applies (ouch!).
Our advice?
'Winging it' is probably not the best option. Understand your obligations so you can be on the front foot with your employees. We suspect this new right will soon be as commonly understood as the existing right to 12 months unpaid maternity leave that we all take for granted. And ask for help if you need it. An independant ear and some professional advice can really make the difference to making a solid robust decision or a dodgy, fishy one.
Oh...and stay tuned to the Blog. We'll keep you posted as to how this new workplace right plays out as requests start coming through in Australian workplaces......