The Latest from Kristy-Lee

Employee turnover can be a challenging issue for any business, especially when it becomes a recurring pattern. Whether due to employees leaving voluntarily or being let go, a high turnover rate is not only costly but can also affect team morale, productivity, and company culture.

For business owners and leaders, understanding and managing turnover is essential. This article covers the key aspects of measuring employee turnover and explains why it’s a crucial metric for any business aiming to build a stable, effective team.

What Is Employee Turnover?

In simple terms, employee turnover is the rate at which employees leave your business within a given period.

It’s calculated by dividing the number of employees who left by the average number of employees during that period, then multiplying by 100 to get a percentage.

For example:

If your business had an average of 40 employees in 2024, and six employees left throughout the year, the turnover rate would be calculated as (...

As 2024 comes to a close, business owners and leaders are preparing to wrap up the year while also setting their teams up for success in 2025.

The final weeks of the year are an ideal time to celebrate your team’s hard work, ensure compliance with the latest regulations, and start planning for what’s next.

Here’s a checklist of sorts to help you streamline your end-of-year activities, maintain engagement through December, and lay the groundwork for a strong start in the new year.

1. Perform a Compliance Check

In 2024, there have been a range of updates to workplace laws that businesses must stay on top of (let’s be fair, that’s an understatement!).

Taking time now to review your compliance can help you avoid penalties and ensure your business starts the new year on solid legal footing.

• Employment Contracts and Policies: Ensure that all contracts reflect the latest laws, and are not falling short of your compliance obligations. This is also a time to review key pol
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As businesses of all sizes strive to create positive workplaces in order to attract and retain great talent, a critical question often arises: Should small to medium sized businesses invest in Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) and broader wellbeing initiatives? Are they worth it?

Employee wellbeing, once seen primarily as a concern for large businesses, has become increasingly essential for businesses of all sizes.

Let’s explore why EAPs and wellbeing programs are relevant and how SMEs can leverage them to boost productivity, enhance employee morale, and foster a healthier work environment.

Understanding Employee Wellbeing
Employee wellbeing encompasses a broad spectrum of factors impacting a person’s experience at work, extending well beyond job satisfaction.

It includes physical, mental, and emotional health, as well as financial and social wellbeing.

This holistic view underscores that employee wellbeing isn’t merely about addressing work-related stress; it inv...

The National Employment Standards (NES) are central to Australian workplace law, forming the foundation of employee entitlements.

As a small business owner, understanding and complying with these standards is crucial, as they provide a safety net of minimum terms and conditions for nearly all employees covered by the national workplace relations system. This guide breaks down the essentials of the NES, outlining its twelve elements, who it applies to, and some common misconceptions that often lead to non-compliance.

What Are the National Employment Standards?
The NES, introduced under the Fair Work Act 2009, sets out twelve minimum conditions that apply to all employees covered by the national workplace relations system. These standards serve as the baseline for employee rights, meaning no employment contract or workplace policy can provide conditions less generous than the NES. For small business owners, ensuring compliance is non-negotiable, as breaching the NES can lead to signifi...

To break free from micromanagement and reclaim your time and control at work, you need to understand where it sits among different styles of management.

What is micromanagement?

Micromanagement refers to a management style that is typically excessive and controlling and usually exercised by a supervisor or manager. This management style focuses heavily on task-specific elements while often neglecting the bigger picture, such as overall outcomes, staff development, and collaborative teamwork.

Micromanagement can impede team efficiency and arise from several underlying factors. These factors usually encompass a lack of confidence in team members' competencies, a tendency to seek control due to apprehension or self-doubt, and a need to maintain close oversight to ensure tasks meet personal expectations.

Micromanagement frequently emerges when leaders encounter challenges in effectively delegating tasks, motivating their team, and fostering a culture of accountability. Althoug...

As your business grows, the dynamics of your team need to evolve.

The employees who helped you reach your current stage may not be the right fit for taking your business to the next level. Recognising when it’s time to reassess and restructure your team is crucial for sustaining growth.

The Growth Journey of Any Business

Something that a lot of small to medium businesses experience is the growing pains when the team that helped them get to a certain stage, isn’t the dream team you need to take you to the next level.

Every business embarks on a growth journey, evolving through different stages: idea-powered, you-powered, person-powered, team-powered, and, finally, people-powered.

The dynamics and skills required at each stage are distinct. Understanding this journey is crucial for aligning your team with your business's current stage and future aspirations. It’s also important to have effective onboarding and offboarding to allow for this kind of growth to happen withou...

In leadership, effective communication is more than just speaking clearly—it's about listening actively and with intent.

The ability to truly hear what your team is saying can be the difference between a cohesive, high-performing team and one filled with misunderstandings and disengagement. Yet, many leaders underestimate the power of listening or default to a single listening style, not realising that different situations call for different approaches.

To lead effectively, it's crucial to develop a range of listening styles that adapt to the needs of each conversation.

Whether you’re solving a problem, gathering information, or providing emotional support, your listening approach will impact the quality of the interaction and, ultimately, the trust and respect you build within your team.

In this blog, we’ll explore the four key listening styles every leader should master, as detailed in this HRM article, and how to use them to improve your team’s communication, moral...

Performance reviews are a cornerstone of effective employee management, yet many small business owners struggle to get the process right. At their core, performance reviews are an opportunity for business owners and employees to reflect on achievements, identify areas for improvement, and set the course for future success.

Done well, they can improve employee engagement, boost productivity, and foster a culture of growth and accountability.

However, when performance reviews are poorly executed, they can become a frustrating exercise that demoralizes employees and hinders progress. Instead of driving positive change, ineffective reviews can cause confusion, resentment, and disengagement.

This is why understanding the key elements of a productive performance review process is essential. It starts with a clear sense of what you want to achieve: offering feedback that not only acknowledges success but also highlights areas for growth, with the aim of motivating your employees t...

How frustrating is it when you have someone on your team who you know has so much potential, is actually really great at their job and everyone really likes them - but it’s like they are just going through the motions? They get the job done, but only just, they certainly don’t show initiative and you just want to shake them because you know they are capable of so much more, of doing a much better job.

You know they are smart, capable, skilled and you’re frustrated that you’re not seeing their best.

Here's what you’re dealing with when it comes to these people – it’s not that they are lazy – they simply lack motivation.

The Problem with Waning Motivation Levels

Why is that your problem you ask? Well, you know how hard it is to find great staff right? So, you don’t want to exit them and have to go through the recruitment process again. Add to that the fact that by proactively working to improve motivation you are actually improving employee engagement – and that can resul...

KPI’s, Key Performance Indicators, Key Success Criteria or any other term you would like to use are essential to drive employee performance, productivity and engagement.

Too often this task lands firmly in the ‘too hard basket’ because – let’s be honest – it’s not the easiest task to do.

“If it can not be measured it can not be managed” - Peter Drucker

When was the last time you contemplated creating KPIs for your team?
Done poorly, creating KPIs are an utter waste of time. For many of you who have been in the position where you have been allocated or managed staff with ineffective KPI’s, this will have undoubtedly influenced your desire to develop better targets for your future teams.

If this sounds like you, I am going to challenge you to rethink your approach today. I am challenging you to set just 1 KPI for each role over the next week, and 3 big ones for your business or team.

Why Create KPI”s?

Our team members fundamentally want to know 3 key things from th...