Watch out if you get caught - you are going to be in a whole world of trouble!

By: Natasha Hawker

You may remember that a couple of weeks ago we released a blog on the required increase to superannuation contributions, due from 1st July 2013. Well, in the interim, I have heard more and more stories of employers reducing their employees' base salaries to compensate for the increase in contributions. Can employers do this? No, no, no!

For starters it is a breach of contract to reduce employees' salaries and if you are paying close to the minimum Award salary anyway, you may risk a breach here as well. The other potential internal risk you might face is resignations which, should you want to replace people, would cost you far more than the super, not to mention the adverse impact on morale and productivity.

Employers need to consider, as hard as it is sometimes, that this is a cost to doing business in Australia. There is a reason why it is a phased increase and also why we have had a long lead time to introduction. It was to enable businesses to factor it in to their budget forecasting and to make a decision to either absorb the cost or increase prices.

An alternative option is to consider, as part of your employee value proposition, paying above the minimum super - say 13%, as there are tax benefits for you and your employees.

So what is your business doing? Have you heard of any instances of salary reductions happening in your industry?

Natasha Hawker owns Employee Matters Pty Ltd; an HR Consultancy that assists small to medium businesses with their HR functions to make them more efficient and profitable. Their offering includes HR Management, Recruitment, Training, Coaching, and Exit Management – find them at www.employeematters.com.au

If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands!

By: Natasha Hawker

We are supposedly the happiest industrialised nation in the world but how are your employees fairing?

Australia has been rated the happiest OECD country, with a Better Life Index of 84% of Australians being satisfied with their lives. Interestingly though, whilst we often say we are a nation of bludgers, we work some of the longest hours in the world with over 14% working very long hours. What are the average hours that your employees work? Is it the 38 hour maximum as directed by National Employment Standards (NES)?

Obviously, for the most part in Australia, we have high employment rates, good access to health care, security and have largely been missed by the GFC - so compared to some other industrialised countries it's a very rosy life. 

• What about in your work place - are your employees happy with their work environment? 
• Would you know? 
• Does it matter? 
• Why should it matter?

It is now a proven fact that high happiness or engagement levels absolutely matter in the workplace. Those organisations that have happier employees have greater productively levels, less absenteeism, a better safety record and also higher profits. Some businesses - typically the larger ones - also assess enablement - as in how easy is it for me to do my job or am I continually thwarted by systems, people, management or culture.

The reality for most SMEs is that they largely have only anecdotal evidence at best of how their employees are feeling about their place of work. If you can increase engagement or morale levels the positive benefits to the business can be huge. The best way to do this is to complete an annual survey - and it doesn’t have to be overly complicated - the other way is to talk to your people but be aware that this may limit the ‘honesty’ of the feedback. When was the last time you asked your employees to assess your own performance as their boss? 

A question for you all and please answer – do you believe engagement or morale matters in your workplace? We can help you with assessing engagement and enablement – call us to discuss.

Natasha Hawker owns Employee Matters Pty Ltd; an HR Consultancy that assists small to medium businesses with their HR functions to make them more efficient and profitable. Their offering includes HR Management, Recruitment, Training, Coaching, and Exit Management – find them at www.employeematters.com.au