Fair Work Compliance for SMEs

In this episode of the My HR Partner podcast, host Adam Bell sits down with Karen Hillen to delve into the complexities of Fair Work compliance for small to medium enterprises. Karen explains the essentials of the Fair Work Act, its key components, and practical steps businesses can take to ensure they are compliant. She also discusses how to stay updated with changes in legislation, what to do if a business inadvertently breaches the act, and the invaluable resources available to SMEs. Whether you're a new business owner or a seasoned entrepreneur, this episode is packed with insights to help you navigate the maze of employment laws and regulations in Australia. 

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Talking all things HR to help you make sure you are dotting the "i"s and crossing the "t"s ensuring you have everything in place to have a thriving business with happy employees.

  Hi, I'm Karen Hillen. Welcome to the My HR Partner podcast. We talk about all things HR from recruitment to ending employment. If you'd like support with your HR, check out our website, www. myhrp. com. au.

Hello and welcome back to the My HR Partner podcast. Today we're diving into the world of fair work compliance.

Now that's Crucial for any small to medium enterprise, knowing what it's all about and knowing that you are actually compliant. Now, I'm your host, Adam Bell. And again, with me from my HR partner is Karen Hillen, ready to unravel these complexities of compliance for SMEs. Karen, welcome back to the studio.

Thank you. It's great to be here once again.

Excellent. Now, let's start off just by talking Fair Work. What's it all about?

Yep. So the Fair Work, Act governs the rules in relation to employees in Australia. So we have a Fair Work Act, gives you all of the, that's the legislation, gives you all of the rules that you have to comply with.

And Then from that you have things like the National Employment Standards, the Fair Work Information Statement, the Casual Employment Information Statement. You also have things like awards that are usually more sort of industry or occupation specific. But the Fair Work Act is probably sort of like the overarching, legislation and rules of employing people in Australia.

Sure. So the Fair Work Act, I gather that's a pretty thick document. There's a lot in there. What, how much does an employer need to know? Do they need to read it?

No, look, they don't need to read it. That's really there for the lawyers, I suppose, to really get into the nitty gritty of, interpreting things that are in there.

But you just have to know about it. You have to know that there is an act. And even if you don't know there's an act, you know, that there's a thing called the Fair Work Commission. You know, there's a website for the Fair Work Ombudsman. You know, that Fair Work other the rulers, I suppose, in relation to what you can and can't do when you've got employees.

So I think the more important thing to know is you don't need to know the act. You don't need to know the clauses and the content. What you do need to know is that it's there and that there are rules when it comes to employing people.

Okay. So how, Does a business go about making sure they are compliant then, with the act?

Yeah. So I suppose, and you know, I should say upfront, I'm an HR consultant. I'm not an employment lawyer or a lawyer. So, I'm not giving legal advice about an actor or anything like that. This is HR advice about, employing people and what you need to know. So things like, knowing. What the right pay rate is.

And that information comes from the award that covers your business and your industry. Knowing that there are things like, awards, pay rates, minimum wages, what the entitlements are for your employees in relation to things like, breaks and hours and overtime rates, penalty rates, all of those things will come from either the Fair Work Act, the award, or there'll be something there that will give you guidance about what you need to know in relation to what the minimum requirements are when you've got an employee.

Sure. How do business owners stay up to date with changes? Cause I gather there's changes in these legislations and things from time to time. How do business owners stay on top of that?

Unfortunately, a lot don't. So I think that can be a problem. A lot of business owners just don't know. And it's not because they're trying to do the wrong thing.

We've spoken about that before. Business owners, especially small business owners tend to, be good at what they're good at. They started their business because they're good at that. Then when they start to employ people, sometimes they don't even know. That there's such a thing as an award. They don't know what it is.

They don't know, that there are minimum pay rates or anything like that. They might get their advice from, a colleague in the same industry. They might go to some networking events, or they might go to a, you know, a seminar or an information session where they'll start to get information like things like that.

for things like this. But I think the thing is a lot of don't. So where they can get information though, people like me, you know, I've got, a database that I send, emails out to. I don't bombard people with a million emails, but I do update, my People on things like when there's a pay rate increase, when there might be a legislation change, all of those things.

So I'm one of those sources. And similar people to, to me also do that. There are also, organizations like industry associations where they will also send out that information. So whether that's, you know, the master builders association or the retailers association or whatever. industry body might be out there, they will also provide that advice.

So if you're a small business, it's good to subscribe to those sorts of alerts. You can, as a small business, you can also subscribe to all of the Fair Work information. You can join their database and they will send out alerts. information when things change.

Sure. So let's talk about a business that maybe has unwittingly breached the act and finds themselves on the, on the wrong side of fair work.

What steps should a business take when they find themselves in that situation?

Yeah, I think the main thing is for them to be honest.

Yep.

People make mistakes. Businesses make mistakes. Every situation's different. So it's hard to be general and say, this is going to happen or don't worry, this won't happen.

But I think in most cases, if you're a business and you've made a mistake, as long as you're willing to fix it, then, usually you're not going to be fined or anything like that. Fair work usually, will just want to see that you Fix whatever the problem is now. That's a very general statement. If it's something that's a really serious breach, you may be fined, but usually, you know, say, for instance, you've underpaid an employee or a group of employees.

You haven't known that you've done it. but you've received some information, you've realized that you didn't update their pay rates in the last national wage increase or something like that. As long as you rectify it, it's usually going to be okay. I think the main thing is, you know, where you see people or businesses end up in the media, on social media, in the paper, wherever it might be, it's usually because it's an ongoing, longstanding thing that they probably haven't wanted to fix.

So it's got a bit more out of control. But I think sometimes smaller businesses tend to worry that they're going to end up in trouble. You shouldn't worry about that. You should fix it. Don't think, find out

you've done something wrong, fix it, become compliant, you know, rectify the issue. Hands up, didn't mean to, and generally, hopefully, most times that'll be okay.

Yeah, and you'll have to deal whatever those consequences are. So, you know, if it does happen to be that you get fined for some reason, you just have to accept that that's going to happen. The worst thing you can do is, decide to pretend you don't know. And then that's going to snowball the effect of whatever the problem might be.

So I think you just really have to own it, be honest and fix it. And, and also communicate with your employees, and let them know what's happened. I think most people are reasonable if they can see that you've made a genuine mistake and you're fixing it. Most people are happy with that. So I really think it is, the communication of how you deal with that and how you, you tell your employees what you've done wrong and how you're fixing it.

Sure. And do Fair Work, do they have a hotline or anywhere you can contact them to find out? you know, whether you are compliant or not with certain things, or at least, you know, just ask the right questions.

Yeah, absolutely. , Fair Work Ombudsman have, a great, service where you can call them.

It's really important to make sure that you get the right number. There are, if you Google Fair Work, you really want to make sure that you're looking at fairwork. gov. au. Right. So you get Fair Work, not Possibly another company that might look like Fair Work.

But want to charge you for their advice and help.

Yeah, yeah. Fair Work. Seen this before. Yeah,

so Fair Work don't charge for advice. They're there to help employees and employers. And they have a great service. I call them. So sometimes if I'm not 100 percent sure on my advice or I've given advice to a client and they question it, I will call Fair Work and I will get advice from them.

So. They're great. You know, that's what they're there for. They're there to help. They're there to provide that advice. It will be usually quite general in the advice that they'll give you. They won't give you a lot of detailed advice, but they have, a small business advice line as well, where you can, can get a little bit more advice.

So again, There's that, there are industry associations that also help, also things like business chambers. They will normally have an employer advice line as well, where you get a certain number of calls per year for free. Yep. And then there are people like me as well, where, you know. Well, that was

going to be my last question.

How does my HR partner assist You know, small businesses in navigating these regulations. You said, as you said, clearly you're not an employment lawyer or anything like that, but how can you assist your clients?

Yeah. So one of the things I really like to make sure people understand, there are lots of flexible options.

You don't have to sign up for long term contracts, especially if you only have a couple of employees. You. usually won't get value out of signing up to a monthly subscription. Or, you know, something that's going to, you're going to have to commit to. So I have the option of just booking in for a 15 minute HR advice call.

So if you're a business that has a couple of employees, you've got one or two questions, 15 minutes is normally enough.

So

we can have a chat, we can talk through what your questions are. I can, guidance and the answers to what you need,

where to find the information,

sometimes it'll be sending you a couple of templates or some information from Fair Work, for instance, about what you need to do.

And then I also have some other options. I've got an online platform. It's called the HR hub. So that's on my website where there's a lot There's a free version and you can also have a paid version that gives you a lot more information. It just gives you access to a lot more documents and templates.

And then for businesses that have more employees and have more of a need, I do have a monthly service where I'm basically your virtual HR manager, where you pick up the phone or send an email. Whenever you've got a question, you get things like. policies, contracts, all of the documents that you need included in that.

I love that about your service, Karen, that the flexibility and the options that you've got, as you've just explained from, you know, a one off 15 minute call to, you know, a subscription service where you're the outsourced HR department and can look after everything. So if you are listening, you know, whether it be, fair work compliance or any other HR needs, do have a chat with Karen at.

At my HR partner, she does it all, looks after it for you. Say to me, Karen, all the time that HR is boring. So let you look after it and, let your clients get on with business, which I think is fantastic. So look, thanks so much for those, invaluable insights into compliance, for our listeners.

If you're navigating, you know, the maze of compliance or anything else, HR related, Karen is just a phone call away or jump onto a website. My HR P. com. au, which outlines all of your services, got some, heap of really fantastic resources there as well. So look, stay tuned and join us next time as we explore, effective training programs and until then stay compliant and stay informed.

Thanks so much, Karen.

Thanks, Adam. Have a great day.