Has the penny dropped for you?

Has the penny dropped for you?

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Has the penny dropped for you?

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One of the most significant changes that has been introduced in the last few years is the new “positive duty” standard of compliance relative to sexual harassment, gender-based behaviour and psychosocial hazards. Current signs suggest that the “penny hasn’t dropped” with lots of organisations about what this really means. Has it dropped with you?

A positive duty means that we have to do things differently

Positive duties have been introduced for 3 reasons:

  1. We have real problems in our workplaces with mental health issues associated with psychosocial hazards and harm caused primarily to women by gender-based behaviour such as sexual harassment
  2. The existing “risk management” model of compliance commonly used by organisations doesn’t work and, in many cases, not only doesn’t help but aggravates the harm and
  3. It is not sustainable in terms of the harm caused to people and the associated costs in lost productivity and escalating health costs.

You see, putting out policies, telling people that they have to follow them and running education sessions on respect at work just isn’t enough.

We have been doing that for decades with issues like bullying and sexual harassment but have they made any real difference where it matters ie in changing behaviour so that they don’t happen in the first place? 

The simple answer to that is “no” as evidenced by the fact that these positive duties have been imposed because we need to do things differently. 

A timely reality check

Former Federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Kate Jenkins, conducted the national enquiry into sexual harassment which resulted in the Respect@Work Report,  introduction of the positive duty to prevent sexual harassment, victimisation and gender-based behaviours.

In an article on HR Daily, Ms Jenkins is reported as saying that:

  • many workplace managers told the inquiry that they were tackling sexual harassment through a policy, some training and a complaint procedure
  • organisational processes were primarily a defence mechanism
  • the focus of workplace leaders wasn’t on preventing sexual harassment but preventing complaints
  • for those who are trying to make people more comfortable complaining, her message was “if your focus is on asking people to complain about psychosocial hazard concerns, then your focus is not on preventing them”
  • Leaders should be asking why harassment is occurring and what can we do to change this
  • Of the 7 compliance standards in the Respect@Work Guidelines, leadership is the most important.

What she is essentially saying is that it is about action to change behaviour and that starts with commitment and action from the top. It is about making it real in your workplace culture and not just words in a policy or training session.

Has the penny dropped?

What should you do

Unfortunately, what we are seeing is a “risk management response” from most organisations and HR/WHS Consultants – they are writing new policies, running education sessions and telling people to behave which just perpetuates the problems that the positive duty is intended to address. Clearly, the penny hasn’t dropped.

As with any matter around people and culture, we encourage you to look at these things on 3 levels – organisational, team and individual – and please do that by engaging with your people in determining what the realities for your business and people are and covering off all of the bases. 

Remember it is about your business and your people so don’t just borrow or buy a policy statement from someone else and remember our 4C compliance model because unless you do all 4Cs, you are not truly compliant:

  • Commitment – the fundamentals that deliver purpose and compliance
  • Capability – the tools and systems that enable good people practice
  • Competency – the skills and knowledge that deliver positive outcomes for businesses and people
  • Culture – the integration of all of that to deliver everyday employee engagement and high performance.

We can help

We developed our 4C compliance model 20 years ago and that is how long we have been practising to that standard so it isn’t new for us. We could say that the law has caught up now but the truth is that, while positive duties have brought the flaws in the existing compliance models into sharp focus, we have known that they have been there all along.  

And that is because what we are dealing with is PEOPLE BUSINESS – it is about people and relationships.

We have put together blogs and accompanying explainer videos on each of the 14 psychosocial hazards in the Model code for managing psychosocial hazards at work published by Safe Work Australia. One of those covers sexual harassment. They are designed to give businesses an understanding of the sorts of questions you should be asking in your workplace to identify any issues that you might need to address. You can access them for free on the News Events page on our website and we encourage you to use them to do a preliminary risk assessment.

If you would like to learn more about ways that we help with this or any other HR issue, please call us on 1300 108 488 or email us at enquiries@ridgelinehr.com.au.

New workshops – understanding psychosocial hazards

New workshops – understanding psychosocial hazards

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New workshops – understanding psychosocial hazards

example flexible working arrangement

The introduction of the new positive duty to eliminate or control psychosocial hazards casts a whole new perspective on what organisations need to do to be compliant with their legal obligations and be seen to manage this duty  responsibly. It really does require a significant shift in mindset and an overhaul of how you manage policies, processes, practices and people.  

Background

At Ridgeline HR, we developed our 4C compliance model 20 years ago and it really does stand up when you look at what a positive duty requires. It is much more than just putting out a policy, telling people they have to comply with it and reacting to resolve any breaches or complaints.

That is because we have always believed that the key PEOPLE FACTORS that SMBs have to get right are the quality of relationships and the behaviour of their people. They are very much in focus under the positive duties. 

So we are well versed in all of this stuff.

Our Workshops

We are offering organisations the opportunity to leverage our experience and knowledge in this space via engaging and practical workshops for your leadership team or your consultative/safety committee or other representative body.

The workshops which run for 3 hours are highly interactive and designed to engage participants in the process of developing an appropriate and effective organisational response to the introduction of the positive duty.

 Learning outcomes

 Participants will gain:

  • Knowledge of what the psychosocial hazards are and why they are psychosocial hazards
  • A practical awareness of the questions that organisations need to be asking with respect to each of the psychosocial hazards and how risks associated with psychosocial hazards can manifest in workplaces through policies, processes, practices and people.
  • An understanding of how multiple psychosocial hazards can be in play and compound risks.
  • An appreciation of the value of recognising organisational strengths as well as areas for improvement and the difference that approaching this with a positive mindset can make.
  • An introduction to our purpose designed HEART framework for implementing an effective psychosocial hazard control plan with your people. 
  • A practical start on developing your own organisational Psychosocial Hazard Risk Control Plan.

Options

We can deliver this workshop in person or online.

We can also provide a number of ancillary services such as:

    • Our Better Workplace Projects where we take a deep dive into your organisation having conversations with a representative cross section of your people to identify strengths and opportunities for improvements
    • Conducting surveys of your people using the best practice PERMAH Workplace Wellbeing Survey and/or its companion psychosocial hazard survey and unpacking the results with you
    • Setting up, training and facilitating your own Better Workplace Team to really take hold of the well-being agenda in your workplace and collaboratively drive improvements
    • Helping to redesign and reposition your People and Culture policies and procedures to align with your new positive duty obligations 

 Contact us using the “Tell us what you need help with” form below to arrange your session.

Using PERMAH for your POSITIVE DUTY

Using PERMAH for your POSITIVE DUTY

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Using PERMAH for your POSITIVE DUTY

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Above image is courtesy of The Wellbeing Lab/Michelle McQuaid Group.

 

Background

Under Workplace Health and Safety laws, a positive duty to eliminate or control psychosocial hazards has been imposed on all persons conducting a business or undertaking.

This means that the traditional compliance approach of issuing a policy and procedures, providing them to workers, requiring their compliance with them and acting on incidents or breaches when they are reported is not adequate any more.

It is necessary to conduct a thorough risk assessment to see whether any risks from each of the 14 psychosocial hazards in the Model code for managing psychosocial hazards published by Safe Work Australia and as set out in legislation enacted by each State or Territory.

There is also a duty to consult workers at each stage of the process and especially in relation to identifying risks and designing and implementing control plans and measures. 

One way to start addressing both the risk assessment and consultation obligations is to survey workers with an appropriate survey instrument. Our choice to do that is the PERMAH Workplace Wellbeing Survey.

Why have we chosen PERMAH?

The PERMAH workplace wellbeing framework is based on the ground-breaking wellbeing theory developed by Professor Martin Seligman as published in his celebrated work “Flourish”.

The PERMAH survey tool has been used by the Australian Human Resources Institute since 2018 as a national workplace wellbeing benchmarking tool and Small Business Victoria as the centrepiece of its small business wellbeing programs.

A unique feature of the PERMAH Survey is that every person who does the survey gets their own individual State of Wellbeing Report plus a template for developing a wellbeing plan plus access to a heap of wellbeing resources….all for free.

Organisations with 30 or more employees can acquire an annual licence and obtain organisational reports which show the aggregated findings on wellbeing in the organisation through the eyes and experiences of its people.

We have a team of people who have undertaken Certificates in Creating Wellbeing and in Leading Psychological Safety and Care and are accredited to debrief people on their PERMAH Survey results.

With the advent of the positive duty to eliminate or control psychosocial hazards, the survey has been augmented with a panel of additional questions specifically related to each of the 14 psychosocial hazards detailed in Safe Work Australia’s model code.

So we believe that the PERMAH Workplace Survey with the Psychosocial Hazard Panel Add-on ticks all of the boxes – it is science-based, it has credibility being used nationally by AHRI, it is affordable, it provides free and practical wellbeing advice and resources to everyone who does it and it addresses the psychosocial hazards in a practical and cost effective way.

How we can we help

Our “Using PERMAH for Positive Duties” service incorporates the following elements:

  • A 12 month licence for the PERMAH Workplace Wellbeing Survey including the add-on psychosocial hazard panel.
  • Ability to undertake the survey as an organisation multiple times during the licence period.
  • Templates and an animated video for communications to employees on the PERMAH Workplace Wellbeing Survey, why your organisation is doing it and how employees can participate.
  • Professional analysis of survey results, provision of a supplementary report and management debrief on the results.

We have the flexibility to package these elements in a variety of ways and to undertake other services such as individual PERMAH debriefings, training programs and facilitated sessions with leadership groups or consultative or safety committees.

Where to now?

If you would like to learn more about the positive duty to eliminate or control psychosocial hazards and your options for addressing it, we’ll be happy to advise you. Just give us a call on 1300 108 488 or email enquiries@ridgelinehr.com.au.

 

 

 

 

Managing disconnection from work

Managing disconnection from work

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Managing disconnection from work

example flexible working arrangement

The impending legislated right for workers to disconnect from work outside their contracted working hours has the usual subjects again yelling that “the sky is falling” on employers.

The thrust of the proposed changes is to discourage employers from making unreasonable contact with or demands on their employees outside their contracted working hours, to provide for people to be paid for time worked outside their contracted working hours and to have access to the Fair Work Commission to make their employer stop making unreasonable connection with or demands on them outside their contracted working hours if the Commission finds the employer to be doing so.

There will be exceptions such as if the contact is due to an emergency or for welfare purposes. People who have roles that require them to be on call as a normal feature of their job won’t be an issue as long as the connection is reasonable in that context.

It has also been made clear by the Minister that it would be reasonable to contact relevant employees if a worker did not attend work and the employer needed someone to take their place or for normal rostering purposes.

Of course, if the contact is unreasonable, that might well constitute an unreasonable job demand in any case and therefore constitute a risk arising from a psychosocial hazard under Workplace Health and Safety laws.

Do you need to contact your employees outside their contracted working hours?

For the vast majority of workplaces, the answer is probably “no, other than in the case of an emergency or for welfare purposes” – just what the proposed legislative change says.

Sure, there will be times when you are working into the night and want to get an email off to an employee for their  attention when they come in in the morning ….. but you don’t need them to see it tonight so either delay sending it until the morning or use the scheduling facility on your email service for it to automatically go to the employee’s inbox at the start of their day in the morning.

It really is that easy to manage in most cases.

What about if the employee wants a flexible working arrangement?

One of the arguments that the naysayers are putting up is that this right to disconnect will adversely affect employers’ willingness to offer flexible working hours or hybrid working arrangements.

One of the things that should be covered off in the discussions and agreement about a flexible working arrangement is how communications and connection are going to be managed by the employer and the employee.

For example, let’s say a single mum who is an accounts clerk asks for a flexible working arrangement under which she would work from 9.30 am to 2.30 pm each day and from 8.00 pm to 9.30 pm each night so that she could manage her parental responsibilities in the morning up to school drop off time and from school pick up time through to the children’s bedtime. She might come into the office in the day and do the night work from home.

The arrangement with the night work might be that she can perform tasks which do not require interaction with others (eg data entry, accounts processing, etc) but that anything requiring contact with another person is to be done either by a scheduled email issuing the following morning or deferring that item until she came into the office the next day. 

You should Include that communications protocol in the flexible working arrangement agreement to ensure that it is understood and complied with.

And guess what? That pattern of hours of work becomes that employee’s contracted hours of work so there isn’t an issue of a need for that employee to disconnect in any case because they are working.  

Again, it really is that simple to manage in most cases.

Do you really want to be contacting your employees outside their contracted hours?

Because we live in such a digitally connected “look at it now” world, if you send something to an employee outside their contracted working hours, there are many who will not be able to resist having a look.

If, by having a look, that raises something for them that creates some level of anxiety and that in turn interferes with their state of mind and/or their sleep and/or their leisure time/rest and recovery and/or the relationship with their partner……..well, do you really want an anxious, tired, sleep deprived employee coming into work the next day?

The answer should be self-evident.

Other considerations

As noted above, a failure to ensure that there is no unreasonable connection with employees outside their contracted working hours could give rise to risks associated with psychosocial hazards and Workplace Health and Safety laws require employers to exercise a positive duty to eliminate or control such risks. There are a number of psychosocial hazards that could come into play in this regard. We have a blog and explainer video on each of the 14 psychosocial hazards on our website – you can access them here

Additionally, the Fair Work Commission has just begun a review of modern awards with respect to “Work and Care” and the issue of disconnection from work will no doubt be a prominent issue in considerations in that review. See https://ridgelinehr.com.au/award-review-on-work-and-care-underway/

We will keep you informed of further developments as they occur and ensure that we tell you what the real effects of legislative changes are rather than what the scaremongers would have you believe.

If there is anything here that resonates with you and you would like to explore further, give us a call on 1300 108 488 or email enquiries@ridgelinehr.com.au. We would love to have a chat about it.

 

 

 

 

Award review on “work and care” underway

Award review on “work and care” underway

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Award review on “work and care” underway

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Yesterday, the Fair Work Commission commenced its new “Work and Care” Review of Modern Awards which, on face value, could bring about the most substantial and biggest range of changes to our modern awards for decades.

When modern awards were created back in 2009, they were essentially a merger and rationalisation of thousands of pre-existing Federal, State and Enterprise-based awards leading to the 121 modern awards that we have today. 

This “Work and Care” Review has its origins in a Senate Inquiry into Work and Care established in 2022 which led to the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations instructing the President of the Fair Work Commission to initiate the review.

The Fair Work Commission has issued a discussion paper which sets out the terms and process of the review and addresses relevant recommendations made by the Senate Committee and some other matters. It also has a comprehensive set of questions on the variety of matters to be considered in the review. You can access the report here.

The Senate Committee’s recommendations

Here is summary of the relevant recommendations of the Senate Committee as presented in the FWC discussion paper which shows how far reaching changes could be:

  • An enacted right to “disconnect from work” enabling and supporting productive work from home and flexibility of work, protecting workers’ rights to disconnect from their job outside their contracted hours, reinforcing that right with employers and applying a positive duty on employers to reasonably accommodate the right wherever possible;
  • Amending the Fair Work Act to provide improved rostering rights for employees and, in particular, working carers, by requiring employers to implement rostering practices that are predictable, stable and focused on fixed shift scheduling (eg fixed times and days) and increasing employers’ existing obligations to genuinely consider employee views including working carers on the effects of roster changes and  other work arrangements;
  • Conducting a work value case in care sectors including early childhood education, aged and disability care and sectors covered by the SCHADS Award with a rage of entitlements specifically mentioned eg payment for work-related travel time, administrative responsibilities and essential training and a minimum shift call-in time;
  • Extending the definition of “immediate family” for carer’s leave purposes to include any person who has been a member of the employee’s household for at least 18 months, an employee’s children including adopted, step and ex-nuptial children, an employee’s siblings or the siblings of an employee’s spouse or de facto partner or any other person significant to the employee to whom the employee provides care;
  • Consideration be given to the adequacy of existing leave arrangements including separate carer’s leave and annual leave;
  • Reviewing access to and compensation for paid sick leave and annual leave for casual and part-time workers;
  • Requiring employers to provide at least two weeks’ notice of roster changes, to genuinely consider employees’ view on the impact of roster changes and to accommodate the needs of employees plus an employee “right to say no” to extra hours with protection from negative consequences;
  • Reviewing the operation of the 38 hour week with consideration of stronger penalties for long hours and other possible ways to reduce them including through the work health and safety system to ensure safe working hours;
  • Introducing an enforceable “right to disconnect from work, restricting employers from communicating with workers outside their contracted hours except for emergency or welfare reasons plus increase penalties for wage theft for unpaid additional hours;
  • Introducing mandatory annual reporting of companies with 20,000 or more employees in Australia on workplace practices to ensure roster justice and flexible working arrangements and related collection of data on requests for flexible working arrangements made and shift roster changes;
  • Developing a new statutory definition of casual employment that is restricted to work that is genuinely intermittent, seasonal or unpredictable and restricting the use of “low base” contracts, ensuring part-time employees have access to regular and predictable patterns and hours of work with consideration of penalty rates for work outside contracted hours;
  • Developing standard definitions of full-time and part-time employment for inclusion in the Fair Work Act 2009;
  • Undertaking a review of standard working hours with a view to reducing the standard working week.

Please remember that these are just recommendations which are to be considered in the review being undertaken by the Fair Work Commission. Some of the items require legislative change and that would be up to the federal government to negotiate through Parliament. So it will be a while before we know exactly what any award or legislative changes that flow from the Senate Inquiry will look like in real terms.

What this all means

The last year and a bit have delivered far more change in workplace relations law and employment rules via legislation, modern award reviews and decisions made by the Fair Work Commission and the Courts than we have seen in years.

This review tells us that we can expect more of the same in the years ahead.

The other element here is the WHS one that is noted in relation to extended working hours but equally links the positive duty to eliminate or control psychosocial hazards, many of which can be connected to some of the recommendations of the Senate Inquiry – eg around remote work, organisational justice, reward and recognition, job demands, etc.

The positive duties are progressively being rolled out across the country via State and Territory legislation.

For this reason, it is important to consider the agenda here in that broader context and the smartest way to do that is to consider whether any of the issues raised here are demonstrative of an issue in your workplace and the need for you to do something about that.

Conversely, have a think about whether you already accommodate some of the items raised here or perhaps you could actually do so. Remember that the Fair Work Act and modern awards provide minimum standards and there is nothing that should stop you from considering what you might be able to offer more than those in any way.

Given the challenges that we have in both accessing the talent we need for our businesses and looking after our own and our employees’ wellbeing, anything we can do over and above those minimum standards helps us on both counts.

You could also consider negotiating an enterprise agreement with your employees delivering on some of those above award benefits and using that as a public validation of your commitment to your people/your Employer Value Proposition. There might also be some changes that you want to make that are not allowed for under the relevant Award and so an enterprise agreement might be useful legally validate and protect desired changes.

We will monitor developments in the review and communicate further as and when developments occur.

If there is anything here that resonates with you and you would like to explore further, give us a call on 1300 108 488 or email enquiries@ridgelinehr.com.au. We would love to have a chat about it.

 

 

 

 

Our Positive People Partner offering

Our Positive People Partner offering

Latest News & Events

 

Our Positive People Partner offering

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The introduction of positive duties to prevent sexual and gender-based harassment and to eliminate or control psychosocial hazards has raised the bar on compliance for all “Persons conducting a business or undertaking”. We believe that these responsibilities are especially challenging for small to medium businesses who don’t have their own specialist HR or WHS staff so we decided to design a solution for them.

You are a small business owner probably with 10 to 100 staff and you want to be a good employer but you are finding it tough to deal with the ever increasing compliance burden and the mental health and wellbeing challenges that some of your people have. You haven’t the training or experience in those things and you need to be focused on operating and growing your business.

1 in 4 Australians will have a mental health challenge this year so the odds are that you have some in your workplace.

The responsibilities that you have as an employer fall into the following areas (as set out in the National Mental Health Commission’s “Blueprint for mentally healthy workplaces”):

  • Protect: identify and manage work-related risks to mental health
  • Respond: identify and support people experiencing mental ill health or distress
  • Promote: recognise and enhance the positive aspects of work that contribute to good mental health

So you know that you need help but you are not sure where you can find all that you need to get this stuff right in a practical and affordable way.

That is where we come in. Ridgeline HR has been operating since 2000 and we specialise in “Helping PEOPLE in BUSINESS with PEOPLE BUSINESS” – from hiring to firing and everything in between”. 

We have the expertise in compliance and workplace wellbeing using a structured approach based in positive psychology to help with the positive duties and other change requirements in an engaging and compassionate way.

This is how our “Positive People Partner” offering works:

  • We effectively become your own People and Culture Manager
  • We visit your workplace on a scheduled basis, typically fortnightly or monthly 
  • We get to know you and your people and learn how we can be of assistance to you and them
  • We educate you and your team about key matters such as the positive duties to prevent sexual and gender-based behaviours and to eliminate or control psychosocial hazards
  • We facilitate the consultation process on key issues like those positive duties with your people so as to understand how your people see these and what issues might be of most significance for them in your workplace
  • We undertake the risk assessments and put together the risk management plans in consultation with you and your people 
  • We design the policies, systems and communications that need to be put in place and educate you, your leaders and your people about how they work, why they are necessary and what their responsibilities are
  • We are available for any of your people to call us for confidential discussions on any health and wellbeing challenge or other concern that they might have
  • We will advise and coach you and your leaders on any issues that you need to deal with in the area of people and culture
  • We provide you with access to our established network of quality employment lawyers and other specialists to help with specific issues as they arise
  • We’ll have a bit of fun along the way.

If you would like to explore our “Positive People Partner” offering further, please give us a call on 1300 108 488 for a free no obligation consultation about your needs and ways that we might be able to help.