ONE in every four Australians is older than 55 – and the United Nations estimates that this will increase to one in three at some point in the next 10 years.
As the average age of the workforce continues to rise, companies will increasingly be faced with issues of managing employees who are approaching the traditional retirement age. This can be particularly challenging in some industries where certain skills are being phased out, or when workers' fitness levels may impede their ability to keep doing their jobs as they get older. How can you handle these challenges in a way that is fair for everyone? Protection for older workers While in the past it was generally accepted that Australian workers would retire at 65, today Australia has no compulsory retirement age. If you believe an employee is no longer able to fulfil the requirements of their position, you will need to manage their performance through the standard channels – usually via a formal performance review system. Retirement must be entirely voluntary – it is illegal to compel an employee to retire, to deny them opportunities or to change their working conditions in a way that forces them to leave. You also cannot ask employees to sign a document agreeing to retire at a certain age. Doing any of the above will be an example of direct age discrimination, and forcing an employee to retire because of their age alone would also constitute unfair dismissal under the Fair Work Act 2009. However, it is a general exception to anti-discrimination legislation if a person receives a benefit due to their age – such as the introduction of an approved early retirement scheme (ERS). In other words, while it is illegal to compulsorily retire an employee, you can develop a policy that provides benefits for certain groups or classes of employees to encourage them to retire early. How early retirement schemes can work for you ERSs aren’t easy to establish, but they can be a very useful part of a plan to reorganise business operations – when a company is aiming to achieve a specific short-term objective. This can be anything from introducing new technology or processes, to replacing employees with those that have different skills, or even closing or relocating part of the business. The ERS should be available to a broad group of employees within the business – such as all those who have reached a particular age or with a particular occupational skill. It could also be open to all company employees. For example, in 2011 Loy Yang Power Management obtained approval for an ERS to reduce its labour costs – and invited its employees to apply for up to 40 positions in the scheme on a first come-first served basis, though there was a veto on applications from certain areas. Those who accepted the scheme were paid six months’ salary if they had worked for the company for fewer than 10 years, or 12 months’ salary if they had worked there for longer. Like redundancy payments, ERS payments are eligible for tax concessions – but ERS systems must be approved by the Commissioner of Taxatiosn before any payments are made. An ERS is unlikely to be approved if it is too similar to a typical redundancy scheme. The two schemes are fundamentally different – while a redundancy occurs when no-one is needed to perform a role, in an ERS the role can remain open for the position to be refilled quickly. Further to this, while you may choose what you want the ERS payments to be, redundancy entitlements are set out in the Fair Work Act 2009 and are allocated according to the period of continuous service with the company. If you are considering using an ERS in your business, you may also wish to consider the implications for any long service leave payments – as the law concerning these will vary from State to State. Transitioning towards retirement Employees aged 55 years or more have the right to request a flexible work arrangement – varying either their hours, patterns or locations of work – but you may have a right to refuse it on reasonable business grounds. You may ask that your employee, when requesting a change in their role, sets out a business case for the change
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Survey of service providers finds only 47% could keep pace with demand and just 57% said they had sufficient resources in 2017 This important article is originally from the Guardian 04 December, 2017
Disability service providers are struggling to keep up with growing demand and increased costs under the National Disability Insurance Scheme, according to a new report that warns the speed of the rollout is potentially affecting service quality. The National Disability Services 2017 state of the sector report, released on Monday, warns that policy uncertainty and inadequate price-setting by the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) has seen business confidence and financial stability among disability service providers fall in the past 12 months. A survey of 516 service providers found that only 47% could keep pace with demand and 73% saw an increase in demand for their services in the past 12 months, while only 56% actually increased the scale or range of services they offered to meet that demand. Only 58% of service providers in 2017 said they planned to expand their services, down from 68% in 2015, and only 41% described their financial position as strong or very strong, down from 53% in 2016. Sixty per cent of organisations said they were worried about their ability to adjust to changes resulting from the NDIS and only 57% said they had sufficient resources in 2017, down from 60% in 2016. The report will be presented to industry chief executives at a meeting in Sydney on Monday, before a meeting between industry and the NDIA CEO, Rob De Luca, on Tuesday. The number of participants in the NDIS has grown from 30,000 to 113,000 in the 15 months since the trial period ended in July 2016. At the same time there was an almost sevenfold increase in the number of complaints about the scheme to the commonwealth ombudsman, which service providers said reflected problems with the process for designing individual service plans. The NDIA is working towards a target of 475,000 participants by 2019-20 but a productivity commission report in October warned that deadline would not be met because the sector was not growing fast enough The chief concern listed by disability service providers in the state of the sector survey was that the service prices set by the NDIS were not sufficient, with 50% of providers saying they would have to reduce the quality of the service they offered to fit within NDIS cost parameters. National Disability Services has warned before that organisations were faced with shutting down regional or remote services because the price structure set by the NDIS did not cover the actual cost of services. Sixty per cent of organisations said they wanted the NDIS to set prices aligned with the cost of supply. An independent review of pricing under the NDIS, commissioned by the NDIA board, is due to report its findings this month. Organisations also raised concerns about poor-quality NDIS plans, which the report said were being undertaken by local area coordinators who were under pressure to meet rollout targets and often cutting corners. “Planning was rushed, often conducted over the phone and existing services were frequently disregarded as a starting point for considering the supports needed,” the report said. “Essential supports were omitted from plans and rectifying these omissions was not easy.” The number of organisations that said the government was neither anticipating nor responding to the needs of disability service providers rose from 62% in 2016 to 74% in 2017, and 67% said the NDIA was not working well with providers. “The NDIA cut corners to meet ambitious targets to get people with disability into the scheme,” the National Disability Services CEO, Ken Baker, said. “I think it recognises now that it needs to focus much more on improving the quality of the NDIS experience for providers and participants.” Baker said the disability sector would work with the NDIA to resolve problems. “We are determined to see the NDIS succeed,” he said. “Too much is at stake to let it fail.” Originally - November 23rd, 2017 Carol Louw Employment, Human Resources, Industrial relations
CONSTITUTIONAL LAW: TASMANIAN PROTESTERS ACT BURDENS FREEDOM OF POLITICAL COMMUNICATION By a majority of 5 to 2, the High Court has held that the substantive prohibitions and ancillary provisions of the Workplaces (Protection from Protesters) Act 2014 (Tas) impermissibly burdened the constitutional freedom of political communication and so were held to be invalid. Brown & Anor v State of Tasmania (2017) 69 AILR ¶102-879; [2017] HCA 43 TERMINATION OF EMPLOYMENT: WHEN LEGAL “ASSISTANCE” BECOMES LEGAL REPRESENTATION A Full Bench of the Fair Work Commission held that the term “representation” under s 596 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) extends beyond oral advocacy at a hearing. The full bench found that a lawyer “assisting” the employer at the hearing of an unfair dismissal application was in fact legally representing the employer. Fitzgerald v Woolworths Limited (2017) 69 AILR ¶102-880; [2017] FWCFB 2797 GENERAL PROTECTIONS: EMPLOYER TO PAY OVER $57,000 IN COMPENSATION AND PENALTIES FOR ADVERSE ACTION AGAINST PREGNANT EMPLOYEE The Federal Circuit Court ordered an employer to pay over $37,000 in compensation, and a $20,000 pecuniary penalty, after it took adverse action against a pregnant employee by bringing forward the date of her redundancy so that it took effect two days before she went on paid parental leave. Power v BOC Pty Ltd & Ors (No 2) (2017) 69 AILR ¶102-881; [2017] FCCA 2387 ENTERPRISE AGREEMENTS: EMPLOYER PREVENTED FROM RE-LITIGATING DISPUTE The Federal Court set aside an employer’s originating application for a declaration interpreting an enterprise agreement on the basis that there was no “matter” to be determined because the issue in dispute had already been resolved in a private arbitration before the Fair Work Commission. Energy Australia Yallourn Pty Ltd v AMWU (2017) 69 AILR ¶102-883; [2017] FCA 1245 WORKING WITH CHILDREN: TRIBUNAL INCORRECTLY APPLIED “UNJUSTIFIABLE RISK TO THE SAFETY OF CHILDREN” TEST The Supreme Court of Victoria found that the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal erred when reviewing a decision refusing to grant an assessment notice under the Working with Children Act 2005 (Cth). The Tribunal failed to properly administer the test specified in the legislation which required determination of whether “giving the assessment notice would not pose an unjustifiable risk to the safety of children”. PQR v Secretary, Department of Justice and Regulation (No 2) (2017) 69 AILR ¶250-072; [2017] VSC 514 UNFAIR CONTRACT: CONTRACT FAILED TO PROTECT FROM BULLYING AND ARBITRARY TERMINATION A contract which failed to protect the worker from arbitrary and immediate termination, and did not adequately protect against bullying and harassment, was declared to be unfair and harsh by the Supreme Court of New South Wales. The plaintiff will receive a payment in connection with the contract, adjusted for a settlement reached with the second defendant. Sutton v BE Australia WD Pty Ltd (No 3) (2017) 69 AILR ¶200-588; [2017] NSWSC 689 By Andrew Hobbs - Employment Law Handbook, Friday 1 December, 2017
WE’VE all been on the answering end of a job interview, but when it is our responsibility to hire a new employee, it can be a real challenge to find the right person for the role and the business. Below we list some of the points you should keep an eye on when preparing to hire a new worker, either to replace a person who has left or because of an increase in business. It might take a long time Recruiting often takes longer than you think it will. It usually takes between 45 and 50 working hours to fill an average position, and about 70 hours to hire someone in middle management – assuming the relevant hiring managers are available to interview and not out of town or simply too busy. How do you want to source the talent? Advertising on job boards like Seek or MyCareer can often deliver hundreds of resumes, so be prepared to devote the time to reading all the resumes you will receive. If you prefer not to advertise, you can always approach people directly or via LinkedIn. LinkedIn tends to be a great resource for senior roles, but proves less effective for more junior roles. This is because for a junior role, it is better to consider a large number of resumes, but to find the right person for a senior position, networking is likely to be much more effective. When using social media to assess an applicant’s suitability, be sure the information you obtain has direct relevance to the job requirements – such as cultural fit, discretion, maturity and ability to spell correctly. Do not breach discrimination laws or privacy laws in any conclusions you draw from accessing an applicant’s social media accounts. Be clear about what you want To hire effectively you will need a position description drawn from a job analysis – by interviewing the current employee and their peers, conducting focus groups of informed people or documenting the activities of another person doing that job. A good position description will outline the tasks and responsibilities you expect to be met and the competencies and behaviours you want the person to demonstrate. Many organisations focus on one or the other, rather than both. This means they tend to hire people who fit in well at the company, but can’t do the job, or people who can do the job, but don’t fit in. Be clear about what you will offer them In order to attract the best possible candidate, you need to be clear about what you can offer them – in terms of training, salary, location, hours, parking and any other terms. You need to be able to deliver anything you promise during the recruitment process, unless you are making a statement about a future matter – in which case you must have reasonable grounds for making the statement. If you do not do this, you could be liable for misrepresentation and are likely to find yourself managing a very unhappy and unproductive employee. Use the right interview techniques The best interviews are relaxed and informal with a core of questions that are asked of every candidate to allow objective comparisons to be made. If you are going to conduct one interview, make sure you include both technical and behavioural-based interview questions. If you decide to hold two interviews, ensure the second interview builds on the first or delves into areas not covered in the first interview. Remember that it is unlawful to ask an applicant of a particular group – that is, age, sex or race – questions that you would not ask of a different group, unless it relates to the inherent requirements of the role or concerns a health and safety matter. Check their referees Once you have decided on your shortlist, ask for a minimum of two referees from each candidate. Ensure the people you are taking a reference from directly managed the candidate, and try to ask them questions relating specifically to the needs of the job once you have confirmed the previously stated facts. If you have any niggling doubts about any aspect of the person’s ability to perform in the role, explore these with the referee. Many things to consider The process of recruiting a worker may differ depending on the role you are trying to fill – a permanent role or a casual one, a contractor, officer or company director? Even writing a job advertisement can be challenging, let alone knowing what to ask of both applicants and their referees. Go to our friends at the Employment Law Practical Handbook which covers these topics and more, including a checklist of what to consider if an employee has a criminal record, the role of post-employment restraints and template job analyses, position descriptions and letters for unsuccessful applicants. From: Liquidstate.com.au
Healthcare continues to evolve into a paperless industry as the professional reliance on mobile and tablet devices grow concurrently. In fact, majority of healthcare professionals are becoming ‘digital omnivores’ as they work between a desktop computer, tablet and smartphone. But what does this transition mean for companies marketing to and communicating with healthcare professionals in this digital age? Here at Liquid State we understand the value of knowing your customers’ needs and the latest industry trends. So, we took a look at the digital habits of healthcare professionals to see how app creation and app content management could bridge the gap between health marketers and their audience. Healthcare as a Paperless Industry According to recent study by Transparency Market Research (TMR), the healthcare industry is in the midst of transitioning from paper-based to paperless records. This will result in the expansion of the electronic health records (EHR) market and digital health marketing worldwide. Forbes reported in 2013 that less than 2 percent of American hospitals were paperless in regards to patient records, administrative tasks and medical research. However since then, the pressure has increased for more healthcare professionals to adopt a paperless approach. In 2015 the US government introduced a new scheme whereby, hospitals will receive reimbursement incentives for transitioning to digital records and hospitals, which fail to adapt will face serious financial penalties. This push towards a paperless industry is not only a bonus for corporate social responsibility (CSR) but will also result in lower overheads as the cost of stationery, paper and storage is removed. Many argue that digital storage is also the safest way of storing and transmitting medical records and relevant information. Therefore, this transition will impact healthcare marketing and communication, as marketing efforts will also shift towards a paperless approach, including app creation. Many have already taken the lead in creating apps to target healthcare professionals and publish essential information directly to their device. Effectively marketing your business through an app will ensure that your communications become an integrated part of the healthcare professional’s digital work process. Healthcare Professionals are ‘Digital Omnivores ’To ensure a paperless industry, healthcare professionals are adopting an integrated communication approach by working between smartphones, tablets and desktop computers. This behaviour is a characteristic of ‘digital omnivores’. According to the Mobile Trends Report published by Epocrates, in 2015 there was a predicted surge in ‘digital omnivore’ healthcare professionals as the technology becomes more accessible and user friendly. Specifically, 74 percent of healthcare providers will identify as ‘digital omnivores’ working between tablets, smartphones and desktop computers in a professional capacity in 2015. These healthcare professionals require an integrated communication system with a functional interface and enhanced user experience. The Mobile Trends Report asserted that: “In this era of easy access to and widespread proficiency with computers, smartphones, and tablets, the conversation must move beyond hardware and into the data and design that can be delivered to any health care provider’s preferred screen.” Therefore, when marketing to healthcare professionals it is important to ensure consistency and functionality between each device. The best way to ensure this is by publishing your marketing communications through an app that can be downloaded on smartphones, tablets and even desktop or laptop computers. That way you can ensure your communications are integrated across their chosen devices. Product and Brand Loyalty Healthcare professionals also exhibit strong product and brand preferences when working between devices. In the past five years, numerous reports show that doctors have clear choice for the Apple iPad and iPhone in a professional context. According to a 2011 survey of healthcare workers by health marketing company Aptilon, 79 percent chose Apple’s iPad. Now in 2015, it is reported that 59% of doctors and medical practices are integrating tablets as part of their daily operations with the iPad as the most popular choice. Furthermore, 68 percent of physicians use an iPhone compared to 31 percent who use an Android device. Therefore, this Apple brand loyalty has strengthened with each product update as the iPhone and iPad’s capabilities better support professionals in the health industry. Although, Android is becoming a strong competitor against Apple with the release of premium devices by Samsung, HTC and LG. Research suggests that Android holds a sizeable lead in market share with the younger age group of 34 years old and under whereas Apple is closing the gap within the 35-54 age demographic. However, many health tech and marketing companies are making the mistake of adopting an ‘iOS only’ strategy by creating apps that are only available on iPhone and iPad. Although this approach may cater to the majority of healthcare professionals, it is essentially boxing out Android users from downloading their app. Therefore, to better cater to a larger portion of healthcare market, it would make the most sense to create content that is available on all brands and products. For example, an app available for download on all Apple and Android devices. Digital Habits of Healthcare Professionals with Apps Ultimately, understanding these digital habits will inform how health marketing firms communicate with their target their audience in this technological age. Creating an app would allow marketers to consistently publish communications directly to the healthcare professional’s device – no matter the brand or product. |