I often visit small and growing businesses to discuss with them their people management needs. Their need is a very simple one – “I just want to treat my people right and make sure I am compliant”. Unfortunately,until recently, that need could not be addressed in a simple manner and many employers would place the need in the “too hard” basket.
Please, don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that all employers are out there deliberately being “non-compliant”. What I am simply saying is that when something is confusing or hard to understand, some people have a tendency to do what they “think is right”. Sometimes this is not a problem, at other times it is….
Put simply, today’s workplace laws place a responsibility on businesses to have systems in place to manage their compliance and employment relationships – regardless of their size. Penalties for being non-compliant increased at the end of last year – for companies, the maximum potential penalty increased to $51,000 on each occasion for companies and $10,200 on each occasion for individuals.
At People Smartz, over many years, we have been committed to the concept that small and medium sized businesses need simple systems to manage areas such as employee relationships, Workplace Health and Safety and Contractors. We have worked with many businesses to put in place easy to use, sustainable and compliant systems. But in order to maintain compliance, these systems need to be constantly monitored and audited – extra expense for the client, extra time for the client and a never ending “updating” of documents, policies and workflows.
Lately online systems, such as enableHR, have begun making the process simpler. With checklists, workflows and templates they bring the requirements of managing compliance into the reach of small and medium sized businesses without the need for dedicated HR staff. Some (once again, enableHR is one) have the backing of workplace law companies or industry bodies – meaning that changes to the laws are mirrored in the systems workflows and templates etc.
The final point is that they are cost effective, easy to use and designed to be utilised by the end user. They are a “win” for the smart business owner in the ever changing world of workplace laws…..
For more information on enableHR, visit our enableHR web page. If you would like advice on other online systems which may be suitable for your business, please Contact Us