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COVID-19

 
 

HAVE A HONEST DISCUSSION ABOUT THE IMPACTS ON YOUR BUSINESS WITH YOUR PEOPLE

We are in difficult times for businesses with COVID-19 causing massive ripple effects in and around the world, from both a personal and business perspective.

You need to plan now to determine what you will do in the coming days, weeks and months, pre- and post-recovery – for your employees, your customers, and yourself.

Here’s what you need to know as an owner or manager:

  • You cannot ignore the Fair Work legislation, just because there is a pandemic

  • You cannot force annual leave on an employee. However, you can enforce annual leave for those employees with “excessive” leave, with notice, and following provisions of any Award that may apply

  • You cannot force unpaid leave, nor reduce wages or salary without agreement

  • You can shut-down your business (with paid leave), with advice to employees, under annual shut-down provisions and following guidelines in any Award that may apply.

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Open communication

All that being said, you can make plans that stand outside these regulations by agreement. This is where a great workplace culture comes into its own.

I encourage all business owners/managers to form a simple strategy – talk to your employees, tell them what you see from a business revenue perspective (fluid though it may be) and ask for their help/agreement on putting other structures into place. It may include all or a few people working from home.

Think outside the box - you cannot force an employee to take leave if they don’t have excessive leave accrued (in most cases, this is 8+ weeks).  However, you can have an open and honest conversation with employees about taking some leave to assist with managing the business and keeping it sustainable.

In the same way, you may be in the situation where you need to start making plans to instigate redundancies – you may wish to instead have a conversation with employees first about taking rolling cycles of unpaid leave, annual leave, long service leave, or reducing wages for a short period of time.

The overriding factor in all of this is to communicate regularly on the changing situation, be transparent and recognise there will be a lot of fear out there as well from employees about how they will support their families. Document any agreements as with a lot of things right now, situations change rapidly.

Many of you will be able to come to some agreement that will hopefully help them, and help your business.

Remember though, if you cannot agree, then you may need to take restructuring steps with the provisions of the Fair Work Act still apply – consult, give people an opportunity to respond, look at redeployment options (or reducing work), etc.

Contact HR Unplugged today to help you plan out your COVID-19 HR strategy. We can even help you deliver it. We can give you the guidelines you must work within, help you write any communication or follow up agreements – all for an affordable fee.

 
 
Mad Panda Media