Now is the time to give top priority to strategic talent management, because the economic uncertainty provides opportunities for smart organisations to grow, human capital advisors say.
Concealing a company's shaky financial position from employees during the economic downturn could be grounds for an unfair dismissal case should redundancies ensue, according to a workplace lawyer.
Employees with children will for the first time have a legislated right to request flexibility in their work arrangements, while employers will have a countervailing right to refuse requests on "reasonable business grounds", if the federal government's new industrial relations bill becomes law.
Waiting until the New Year to announce planned redundancies can have a long-lasting negative effect on employee morale and a company's brand, warns executive consultant Leslie Alderman.
With global economic turbulence set to continue and IR legislation changes taking effect within a year, employers must act now to ensure they will survive the emergence of an altered business landscape, according to a workplace lawyer.
Making a sick or injured employee redundant is fraught with risk, and the process can evolve into a litigious disaster if the task is hastily or imprudently undertaken.
The Federal Government's new unfair dismissal laws and bargaining framework - replacing elements of the Work Choices regime - will come into force from July 2009, Workplace Relations Minister Julia Gillard has announced.
