August 07 Newsletter

HR Consulting Services

As an introduction to our new HR Consulting Service, we are running a series of FREE workshops addressing a number of specific HR initiatives that impact on your business and relate to the areas in which we now provide HR Consulting Services. Located in the city from 9am – 11am, the topics covered and the dates of the workshops are:

2nd August 2007 - Engaging & Recruiting the Best People

Aligning the workforce with business strategy
The impact of the current ‘skills shortage’
Recruiting people with both the passion and skills to drive strong performance
Myths and dangers of recruiting practices and beliefs
Understanding your responsibilities

14th August 2007 - Establishing Your Employment Expectations

Defining your expectations
Using legally compliant employment contracts to achieve the best employment arrangements
The importance of an induction process

Future workshops:

6 September - Managing Employee Performance
20th September - Managing Poor Performance
4th October - Your Statutory & Compliance Requirements

As we have a limited number of places available, we recommend you book NOW by contacting your Consultant or Lucy Wells our Office Manager on 02 9279 2777.

If you would like to know more about our HR Consulting services, please contact us as above.

WORKPLACE RELATIONS FACT SHEET

The Workplace Authority has published a Workplace Relations Fact Sheet. This document must now be provided to Employees to assist them in better understanding the workplace relations system, their entitlements, protections and where to go for information, help and advice. Effective 20 July 2007, it is now a legal requirement that all Australian employers provide the fact sheet to their employees.

Australia’s federal workplace relations system has a set of rules and obligations that all employers are required to follow and employees should know where they stand.

All full-time employees are protected by a key set of pay and conditions. Part-time employees get similar entitlements based on their hours of work. Casual employees are guaranteed minimum wage rates, casual loading and unpaid carer’s leave.

Know where you stand

The Workplace Authority provides independent advice to employees and employers about the workplace relations system. It has a particular focus on helping young employees understand their workplace entitlements and agreements. Whether you’re an employee or an employer, there’s one place you can go for information, help and advice. By clicking on www.workplaceauthority.gov.au you will be able to access all the relevant information in relation to this initiative including details on how to contact the Workplace Ombudsman.

The Fairness Test also applies to employee Workplace Agreements in industries or occupations where an Award usually applies and where certain conditions have been removed or changed.

If an agreement doesn’t pass the Fairness Test it will have to be changed so that it gives fair compensation, and the employer will have to make up any back pay.

There is a range of support available to help you when creating or negotiating your Australian Workplace Agreement. We strongly suggest that you review the relevant website or contact Workplace Infoline on 1300 363 264 for further information.

APEC Leaders Week

Sydney will be hosting the 2007 APEC Leader Week from 2nd -9th September. And in case you haven’t already heard, a public holiday has been declared on 7th September to facilitate the safe movement of APEC leaders as they arrive to attend their meetings.

The public holiday will apply to people whose workplace is located in the following Local Council Areas (LCA)

Ashfield, Auburn, Bankstown, Baulkham Hills, Blacktown, Botany Bay, Burwood, Camden, Campbelltown, Canada Bay, Canterbury, Fairfield, Holroyd, Hornsby, Hunters Hill, Hurstville, Kogarah, Ku-ring-gai, Lane Cove, Leichhardt, Liverpool, Manly, Marrickville, Mosman, North Sydney, Parramatta, Penrith, Pittwater, Randwick, Rockdale, Ryde, Strathfield, Sydney, Sutherland, Warringah, Waverley, Willoughby and Woollahra.

For more information on APEC 2007 or on the public holiday visit http://www.apec2007.org/

New face in the Chatswood Office!

If you’ve recently called our Chatswood office you will have spoken to the lovely Georgia , who is helping us out while Daisy is overseas. Georgia has a background in call centre and business support recruitment and will be assisting the team until Daisy returns from her globe trotting! Georgia is getting married in November and then heading to Thailand for her honeymoon, so we are hoping that she likes us enough to return in December!

What's happening around town this month?

This year the Sydney Design team at the Powerhouse Museum has selected a festival program that will show you where design is making a difference in our lives, how designers are addressing the bigger issues of social and environmental responsibility, and provide a unique insight into the creative processes of designers and architects. Plus there's the usual feast of celebrations, good humour and creative discourse that make Sydney Design a must on the annual festival calendar.

The Powerhouse Museum and its many partners in design bring you a 16-day festival packed with exhibitions, seminars and speakers, film screenings, design markets, walks and tours, awards and exhibitions. Sydney Design 07 is for everyone, so take part, have fun and get into design this August.

Most events are free, or included in entry to the Powerhouse Museum. Some events and tours are ticketed and need to be booked in advance.

Visit www.sydneydesign.com.au for more details.

TOTALLY USELESS TRIVIA!!

The continents names all end with the same letter with which they start.
No piece of dry paper can be folded more than 7 times in half!.
One in every 4 Americans has appeared on television!.
Dolphins sleep with one eye open!.
Owls are one of the only birds who can see the color blue!.
Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying
The average person laughs 13 times a day!.
No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver,and purple
All of the clocks in the movie "Pulp Fiction" are stuck on 4:20
A group of owls is called a parliament.

JOKE

An excited man starts his new job at the zoo and is given three tasks.

First is to clear the exotic fish pool of weeds. As he does this, a huge fish jumps out and bites him. To show who is boss he beats it to death with a spade. Realizing his employer won't be pleased, he disposes of the fish by feeding it to the lions, as lions will eat anything.

Moving on to the second job of clearing out the Chimp house, he is attacked by the chimps that pelt him with coconuts. He swipes at two chimps with a spade, killing them both. What can he do? Feed them to the lions, he says to himself, because lions eat anything. He hurls the corpses into the lion enclosure.

He moves on to the last job, which is to collect honey from the South American Bees. As soon as he starts he is attacked by the bees. He grabs the spade and smashes the bees to a pulp. By now he knows what to do and throws them into the lion's cage because lions eat anything.

Later that day a new lion arrives at the zoo. He wanders up to another lion and says "What's the food like here?"

The lion says, "Absolutely brilliant, today we had Fish and Chimps with Mushy Bees."