Employers forced to cut staff levels must ensure that remaining workers are equipped with the skills to deal with abusive customers, or risk exposure to litigation from distressed employees, a workplace lawyer warns.
"Gardening leave" clauses in employment contracts can be an effective means to keep company secrets out of competitors' hands and prevent departing employees from disrupting the workplace, providing they are not enforced for an "unreasonable" length of time, according to a senior employment lawyer.
HR managers should put in place strategies to encourage "passively engaged" or "flight risk" employees to share in the company's visions and goals, rather than investing in the small proportion of workers who don't want to be there at all, Westpac's strategy and metrics manager says.
Replacing employee commissions with team bonuses and implementing "Ten Commandments" has pushed employee engagement through the roof at online learning company Learning Seat, says its chief executive officer.
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.
Employers hoping to minimise their exposure to litigation at work Christmas parties and other social functions would be wise to adopt responsible-service-of-alcohol principles, according to workplace relations lawyer David Cross.
Human rights icon Sir Bob Geldof has warned the Australian business community that if businesses are to "grow" throughout the economic crisis they must maintain diversity and equality for all as a priority.
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.
A score of Australian businesses have sought recognition for workplace flexibility since the implementation of a new scheme in May, but all have yet to reach the lofty goal of platinum accreditation.
Employers must implement an efficient and accessible sexual-harassment complaints process if they are to avert the devastating impact that sexual harassment can have on a company's morale and bottom line.
General protections claims are the fastest-growing category of applications in the Fair Work Commission, with reforms now underway to stem the tide. This webinar will discuss important developments in both procedural issues and case law.
