The Latest from Kristy-Lee

Time to Pause

As we kick off a brand new financial year, it can be a perfect time to pause, and take a look at how we are tracking with our vision, goals and objectives for the year.

For many businesses the plans, goals, strategies and projects they put in place at the beginning of the year may be just gradually moving along, or in some cases things may have been switched direction, or upended more than once.

The New Year Shine

At the beginning of the year, we are typically all bright eyed and bushy tailed. We are refreshed from our traditional Christmas close down and break, we are motivated by our vision for the year ahead and excited to share it with our team.

For many of you that may have looked like a team planning and strategy day, where you got the whole team together, virtually or in person, to share the vision, get them excited and communicate clearly their role in making that happen.

That results in a great spike in engagement, as our teams all want to be part of som...

Hello and welcome to Episode 226 of the People Powered Business Podcast.

Well we have hit the time of year where motivation tends to be low – so today we’re talking about giving your team a mid-year motivation boost with a mid-year reset.

Firstly I’ll chat about why motivation wanes at this time of year. From the high energy and enthusiastic start to the year, post Easter we always see a decline in motivation. Coupled with that it’s cold and miserable, we’re tired and on any given day every second person is sick!

And that’s why it’s so important to give your team a motivation boost right now. You can rest assured if you’re feeling blah – your team are too! Focusing on motivating the team right now will certainly set you up for a better second half of the year and let’s face it, we all need something to focus on and look forward to.

We wrap up this episode with my sharing some of my favourite mid year motivation boosting strategies and tactics.

But I’d love to hear about what you’r...

At the time of writing this article, the Fair Work Commission has recently handed down its decision following the Annual Minimum Wage Review process. The process involves the Commission reviewing submissions from various interested parties, including employer and employee representative groups, as well as analysing data relating to wages, such as changes to cost of living and alike.

What is The Annual Minimum Wage Review

Essentially, they are looking to ensure that the minimum wages set out in the Fair Work Act, including the National Minimum Wage, as well as al Award minimum rates of pay, is set at an appropriate level for our current economic conditions.

What Else is Changing

In addition to the National Minimum Wage and Award Rate changes, we are in the midst of a raft of changes to Industrial Relations legislation, which applies to not only wages, but various other aspects of the employment relationship.

Keeping up with compliance obligations is one of the key pain points...

Hello and welcome to Episode 224 of the People Powered Business Podcast.

Today I am bringing you an end of financial year compliance wrap up.

This time of year is always an important time for finance people, it’s often less of an issue for our HR matters. But not this year!

The absolute flux of change that’s happening right now in regards to compliance obligations is unprecedented and Fair Work have made it clear that not knowing is not an excuse to fail to comply with your obligations as an employer.

So today we look at the key changes that have occurred in the last 12 months, the current important changes and what’s on the horizon when it comes to more changes in the next 12 months.

If you’d like to connect with other businesses who are also juggling the challenges of teams, I’d love you to join us inside our free Facebook Group, HR Support for Australian Businesses, so I can learn more about what’s working for you and any challenges you might be having. Join Here - https://w...

In the ultra-connected ‘always contactable’ world, the lines between work and personal time have been becoming increasingly blurred, and for some maintaining a healthy work-life balance has become increasingly challenging.

The constant accessibility and expectation to be available outside of work hours can take a toll on employees' well-being and personal lives. However, a new legislation called “The Right to Disconnect” aims to address this issue by granting employees the right to disconnect from work-related communications outside of their designated work hours.

Understanding the Right to Disconnect

The Right to Disconnect legislation is designed to protect employees from unreasonable out-of-hours contact from employers, suppliers, contractors, and customers.

It does not prohibit employers from sending emails or messages outside of work hours, but it grants employees the right not to read or respond to them.

This legislation acknowledges the importance of work-life b...

Hello and welcome to Episode 223 of the People Powered Business Podcast.

Today we are answering another listeners question, this one coming in from Kirsty and her question is about determining how to ensure you are paying correctly in accordance with the award, and what to do if employment falls across more than one award.

To help answer this, I unpack how to determine the correct Award, and Award Classification for an employee based on your industry and their occupation.

We then look at what to do if more than one Award applies, and finally I share my favourite ways to ensure the correct pay rates are applied.

If you’d like to connect with other businesses who are also juggling the challenges of teams, I’d love you to join us inside our free Facebook Group, HR Support for Australian Businesses, so I can learn more about what’s working for you and any challenges you might be having. Join Here - https://www.facebook.com/groups/hrsupportaustralia

Hello and welcome to Episode 122 of the People Powered Business Podcast.

This week we have a brief but important technical update for you after the Fair Work Commission announced its decision around the National Minimum Wage increase effective 1 July.

This year we have a 3.75% wage increase being applied to the National Minimum Wage and all Modern Award Minimum Wages effective 1 July 2024.

But really, in the scheme of the changes happening in the Industrial Relations legal landscape right now, that’s just the beginning.

We have yet another increase to Superannuation on the 1st July 2024, there are going to be changes to the casual employment definition and a new pathway for casual conversion coming. We of course are about to see the Right to Disconnect laws come into place, which we’ve discussed on a separate episode. There is going to be clarity on the employee v’s contractor conundrum, new protections for gig economy workers and more.

The reality is, as an employer it is our res...

Hello and welcome to Episode 221 of the People Powered Business Podcast!

Today I am delighted to be joined by guest expert Nicole Turnbull from Neon Shed.

Nicole is the Founder and Chief Courage Officer at Neon Shed, which brings light to the dark sides of work.

She works with businesses to eliminate psychosocial hazards at work and ignite courage in leaders and teams by giving them the tools and options to know HOW to have a safe workplace.

Nicole has over 20 years experience in communications and 15 in the work health and safety industry. She has worked for both NSW safety regulators, the workers compensation insurer and the workers compensation independent review office. Nicole has seen the damage poor communication and psychosocial hazards can do to individuals, teams and organisations.

Nicole is also the Winner of the 2023 Influential Businesswomen Awards for Most Empowering Founder (Australia) and the host of the Under the Rug at Work podcast.

If you’d like to connect with ...

Positive Duty Laws under the Sex Discrimination Act

The Positive Duty guidelines from the Australian Human Rights Commission have been developed to help organisations and businesses eliminate unlawful behaviour as much as possible in their workplaces.

In late 2022, the Respect Work Act was passed into law, marking a significant legislative change in Australia's industrial relations landscape. As part of this comprehensive legislation, a new legal framework was introduced, referred to as 'positive duty.'

This framework places an onus on employers to take reasonable steps to eliminate sexual harassment and sex-based discrimination within their workplaces under the Sex Discrimination Act.

The fundamental shift is that it's no longer adequate for employers to react to complaints as they arise. Instead, they now have a proactive obligation to implement measures that prevent these issues from happening in the first place.   

So, what are the Positive Duty laws?

This legal shift has far...

Hello and welcome to Episode 220 of the People Powered Business Podcast!

Today we’re talking Employment Agreements or Employment Contracts - the all important document that sets out the terms and conditions of the employment relationship.

Why? Well simple, it’s the most popular question I get asked about that continues to daunt and baffle business owners who desperately want to get these documents right.

In this episode we discuss what employment contracts are and why they are so important, and why you absolutely want to have them in place, but we also unpacked what should be included, and what you want to leave out.

An Invitation

Would you like to connect with other like-minded business owners, leaders and managers experiencing similar situations with their team? Join the discussion inside our free Facebook Group – HR Support for Australian -Businesses - https://www.facebook.com/groups/hrsupportaustralia