3 Quick Tips on Attracting the Right Candidates with Job Ads

Don’t leave candidates in the dark when applying for an advertised position. If your job ad is only describing the role in question, you are not giving the candidate the full story.

When candidates are applying for a role, they are also applying to join a community. What does that community look like and is it a right fit for them?

Here are three tips when preparing job ads that will help you attract the right candidates:

Graphics and language

Your logo and any unique graphics give the jobseeker the feeling that your company is important.

The way your company looks on the internet can affect the attitude of the seeker looking at your posting.

Accentuate your company’s personality and image through use of language and images so that the job seeker gets a true feel of the culture of your organisation.

Employee testimonials

If the job site where you are posting your employment ad has a video option, this is a great opportunity for getting employees to talk about why they enjoy working at the organisation. It reassures the candidate that the company is looking after its staff and puts a face to the business name. Written staff testimonials on the company description is another option where videos are not possible.

Sell your company

The section of your job posting that describes your company is a great selling opportunity. It should explain why your company is a great place to work and why it is becoming even better. Include your company’s mission / vision statement here and other selling points that you believe would be important to prospective candidates – eg career advancement, training, company growth.

For more useful articles on everything employment, visit our article archives at https://www.winejobs.com.au/knowledge_centre

By Elizabeth Bouzoudis

Independent contractor or employee?

The following extract is from the article Independent contractor, Labour Hire Worker
or Employee? First published in the Wine & Viticulture Journal, November/December 2015. Author Sarah Hills

EMPLOYEE OR INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR
Just because a person wishes to be engaged as a contractor, has an ABN number and you enter into an agreement calling them an ‘independent contractor’ does not automatically mean they are one. Often relationships are disguised in being given a label when, in fact, the relationship in practice is something
different. The courts look at a number of indicators in the relationship and weigh them up to assess who holds the control in the work or task to be performed.

An employee performs work under the ‘control’ of another person in exchange for payment for the services he or she provides. Indicators of an employment relationship include:
• Control by the employer. For example, instruction as to how to carry out duties, uniform and hours of work, etc. Control indicates an employment relationship.
• The expression of the relationship by the parties in writing. For example, calling a contract an ‘employment contract’ or a ‘service agreement’ is persuasive but not determinative.
• The terms of the contract. For example, is paid annual leave provided? Employment entitlements such as annual leave, long service leave and parental leave are employment entitlements.
• Was the worker in business on his/her own account? Were tax invoices rendered? Did the worker use his or her own ABN? Is there an entrepreneurial-like element about the business?
• The worker operating an independent business indicates that the worker is an independent contractor.
• Whose tools and equipment are being used?
• Was the worker required to work exclusively for the company? Exclusivity of arrangement indicates an
employment relationship.

Independent contractors need to manage their own business and acquire their own insurance for their own negligence and own income maintenance/protection. They are distinguishable from employees (and labour hire workers) by the fact that they take personal risk associated with their business activities. While an independent contractor is responsible for their own business (including any employees they employ) when on your site they have a joint responsibility with you for your employees with regards to work health and safety. The importance of knowing who you are contracting with is highlighted by the fact that an intentional act to disguise an employment relationship by calling the employee an ‘independent contractor’ is an offence called ‘sham contracting’. If sham contracting is proved there are heavy penalties to be incurred by an employer (both as a company and/or the individuals managing
the company) under the Fair Work Act 2009.

To access the full article, visit Wine & Viticulture Journal.

Have self-directed teams come of age?

By Pamela Thorne

Written on December 18, 2015

Source: http://www.hrmonline.com.au/

A 2012 Gallup survey of employee engagement in 142 countries showed that in Australia, 60 per cent of employees are dissatisfied with their work, while 16 per cent are actively disengaged.

In a bid to remedy this, organisations have instigated a range of employee engagement programs. But while such efforts often work in the short term, they have failed to deliver lasting results.

There’s a growing realisation that the problem is not with the employees – it’s the way organisations are structured. We are starting to see that in an information-rich world where people want fulfilment and even enjoyment in their work, the old pyramid-style hierarchical systems are failing both organisations and the people who work for them.

Add to this trend the attitudes and beliefs of the generation now entering the workforce: entrepreneurial, team-oriented, and authority-phobic, they prefer the shared economy of Uber and Airbnb. This cohort does not respond to positional power the way previous generations have. They know how to challenge power, and they will do it.

The solution, according to a new wave of management thinkers and CEOs, is to reinvent management altogether. It’s not the work or the workers that are the problem. It’s the way we manage both.

Some organisations have already taken a leap of faith and redesigned themselves using self-managed teams as the operating model. These new ways of working are not just an add-on. They require a wholesale reinvention of corporate decision making, processes and responsibilities. Their examples show that even large, complex organisations can operate on self-managed principles, and that the energy and potential that is unleashed is phenomenal.

Pioneers of the movement, the Management Innovation Exchange (MIX), an online community led by Professor Gary Hamel, talk about ‘hacks’ and ‘moonshots’ as they trial new ways of working. The MIX is sponsored by a network of strategic partners including Harvard Business Review and McKinsey & Company.

These early adopters show that, in general, the quality of work life and employee satisfaction (positive attitudes) are considerably higher, with consistent reports of significant reductions in costs along with increased productivity.

At Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, employees can outsource mundane aspects of their job without asking for permission. At a GE plant that assembles jet engines in North Carolina there is just one supervisor and 400 employees. Results have been so good that GE is rolling out this model in another 80 factories.

Under the leadership of Ricardo Semler, the highly successful Brazilian company Semco boasts an organisational chart that features concentric circles, representing autonomous, democratically run units that interact with each other. In just one innovation, Semco has done away with all restrictions on business travel. The caveat is that employees publish their expenses online where colleagues can view them. They are constrained not by the need for management approval or company guidelines, but by their peers.

The online music site Spotify has a flat hierarchy using autonomous eight-person ‘squads’. Each squad can choose what they want to work on, as long as they adhere to the internal company motto of ‘Be autonomous, but don’t sub-optimise’.

At California-based Morningstar, the world’s largest tomato processor, there are no titles and no promotions. Even with 400 full-time employees, no one has a boss and employees negotiate responsibilities with their colleagues. When decisions need to be made, they seek the advice of their colleagues before deciding.

Even the Australian Federal Police is moving away from a rigid paramilitary command and-control style to a focus on flexible, multi-skilled teams.

What can we learn from these pioneers? It’s easier to work with human nature than against it. And that employees can even enjoy work.

New law protects small business from unfair contract terms

Has another business offered you a standard form contract? Or do you offer standard form contracts to other businesses?

If so, you need to be aware of the new law that protects small businesses from unfair contract terms.

Many businesses offer standard form contracts on a ‘take it or leave it’ basis where there is little or no opportunity to negotiate the terms.

This new law will apply to standard form contracts entered into or renewed on or after 12 November 2016 where:

• at least one of the businesses employs less than 20 people, and
• the price of the contract is no more than $300 000, or $1 million if the contract is for more than 12 months.

The ACCC, Australian Securities and Investments Commission, and state and territory offices of fair trading will enforce this law, and if the court finds a term unfair, that particular term will be void and treated as if it never existed.

Examples of terms that may be unfair are ones that:

• allow one business, but not the other, to change or cancel the contract, or to limit or avoid their obligations
• penalise one business, but not the other, for breaching the contract.

So if you offer standard form contracts, start reviewing your terms and conditions to make sure you’re doing the right thing.

Or, if you’re a small business and you’ve been given a standard form contract which you think includes an unfair term, find out what your protections are under the new law.

For more information

• Read the online guidance at www.accc.gov.au/uct
• Watch the animated videos on the ACCC YouTube channel – one is about the rights of businesses that receive standard form contracts and the other is about the obligations of businesses that offer them.
• Read the media release
• Call the ACCC small business helpline on 1300 302 021 if you have any queries.

Source: http://discoverdome.org.au/

How to Make Your Job Postings Seem Exciting

Employment Crossing outlines key elements that can make your job postings more successful by making them more exciting to job seekers.

Source: http://www.employmentcrossing.com/

Graphic Appeal

The Internet is a graphic medium. Sometimes, we in the HR business do not always remember the impact that the simple page layout can have on job seekers. And it is different than the newspaper business.

Include your logo wherever you can. Your logo and any unique graphics give the jobseeker the feeling that your company is important. It may sound superficial, but the way your company looks on the Net will affect the attitude of the seeker looking at your posting. Accentuate your company’s personality and image and maintain the “look and feel” that reflects the culture of your company.

Make the copy look appealing. Long paragraphs or lists that have too many entries are harder to read, especially at a computer monitor. You have the ability to include as much information as you need, but break it up in a way that is eye-catching, and make it easy for the jobseeker to find the most important elements of your job.

Some of our customers actually have a graphic artist help them out. While that may be a little extreme, the idea is that image is important.

Sell Your Company

It is easy to assume that everyone is completely familiar with you and your operation. Frequently, that isn’t true, and even when a seeker knows your name, they don’t really know what makes your company tick.

The company description quickly becomes boilerplate, copied from one posting to the next. That is probably okay, but every once in a while, it pays to take a close look at how you present your company’s unique nature. What are the key elements that a jobseeker finds out from your Internet job posting?

The section of your job posting that describes your company is a great selling opportunity. It should explain why your company is a great place to work and why it is becoming even better. Try answering at least some of the following questions:

• What are your main products and services?
• What distinguishes your company from the competition?
• What are your likely sources of growth and prosperity?
• How long do people stay at your company?
• How does this job relate to your company’s future?
• What are your company’s goals?
• What about in-house career advancement and training?
• Do you have new products or services?
• Are you growing?
• What achievements are a special source of pride to your company?

You can think of more, but you get the idea-set yourself apart. Make your company special and tell the jobseeker all about it.

Sell Your Community

I remember an old song lyric that went, “eight hours to work, eight hours to sleep, and eight hours to play.” While long hours and commuting may cut into that play time, the place where your employees live is important. You can also include one more line in your job description, and that line can tell the jobseeker what it is like to live in your neighborhood.

Community events, local websites, and anything else that makes you, your company, and your community attractive to the jobseeker is not only fair game, it helps you land the perfect applicant.

The bottom line is this: HR has evolved into a marketing function. Selling the right jobseeker is the key to your success.

South Australian wine grape growers to go into arbitration with unions over working conditions

Source: abc.net.au

The South Australian Wine Industry Association will follow through on a submission to the Fair Work Commission to change the modern award rate for casual employees working in the wine sector.

The SA Wine Industry Association wants to halve the minimum engagement time casual employees are entitled to work, from four to two hours.

The current award rate stipulates that employers must either provide four hours work or four hours pay each time they engage a casual worker.

Chief executive of the SA Wine Industry Association, Brian Smedley, said the proposed change would be contested by unions in front of the Fair Work Commission in March next year.

“At this stage we have had discussions with unions about our proposal and there is no agreement that has been reached.

“At the end of the day, this is really about what is fair and a relevant safety net for terms and conditions for the wine industry employment,” Mr Smedley said.

There are concerns that a change in the wine award would affect workers in grape growing, manufacturing, retail and hospitality sectors, who are often subject to sudden changes in their labour requirements.

Mr Smedley said the current award is out of line with other agricultural sectors, including the horticulture award where employers are not required to guarantee minimum working hours for casual employees, such as table grape pickers.

Wine grape growers said they were exposed to financial risk during peak periods around harvest.

They claimed they often have to send home large numbers of casual vineyard workers after one to two hours of work due to weather, yet were still obliged to pay the remainder of the minimum engagement.

South Australia produces 47 per cent of the nation’s total wine crush, with the total workface increasing tenfold during peak periods over harvest.

Mr Smedley said the wine industry was trying to reduce challenges hampering the competitiveness of Australian wine and needed more flexibility in the workplace.

New good work design handbook online

SAFE WORK Australia has launched a new handbook to help businesses meet obligations under the work health and safety laws, reduce worker injury rates, and improve productivity and bottom line.

Safe Work Australia Chief Executive Officer Michelle Baxter said that that well-designed, healthy and safe work allowed workers to have more productive lives, which in turn drives business efficiency.

“Principles of Good Work Design shows businesses how to go about designing out hazards before a worker gets injured, which delivers tangible savings by avoiding the costs associated with incidents that result from poor work design practices,” she explained.

“It is often easier and more cost-effective to address hazards and risks during the planning and design stage. This applies to the places we work in, the things we use at work, as well as to how we design organisational structures, roles and tasks.”

A Safe Work Australia initiative under the Australian Work Health and Safety Strategy 2012–2022 and led by Comcare and WorkCover Queensland, the handbook contains information about the ten principles of good work design and how they can be applied to any workplace, business or industry.

Principles of Good Work Design is a ‘living’ electronic document that will be updated regularly with links to case studies and practical examples from businesses that have successfully applied the good work design principles.

“The handbook complements a range of existing resources available to businesses and work health and safety professionals,” said Ms Baxter.

“Failure to consider how work is designed can result in poor risk management and lost opportunities to innovate and improve the effectiveness and efficiency of work.

Good work design can radically transform the workplace in ways that benefit the business, workers and clients.”

Principles of Good Work Design is available on the Safe Work Australia website.

National workplace relations laws need to change, SAWIA chief

A submission from the wine industry to the Productivity Commission’s national workplace relations review has highlighted the need for comprehensive reforms to the federal workplace relations laws.

The detailed submission prepared by the South Australian Wine Industry Association (SAWIA) in collaboration with the Winemakers’ Federation of Australia (WFA) contains 22 recommendations.

“We have identified a range of changes that need to be made to get flexibility and balance back into the system, lift productivity and cut red-tape and compliance costs, particularly for many of the small businesses in the wine industry,” Brian Smedley, SAWIA chief executive, said. “For example awards are still complex, inflexible and overly prescriptive despite numerous reforms to the award system over the last three decades.”

Smedley said a new approach is required and the award system should be largely replaced by clear legislated minimum standards.

“We need legislative changes that support employers implementing smarter, more efficient and productive work practices,” he said. “Enterprise agreements should reflect core employment conditions and not be used as a vehicle to ban the use of contractors, casual employees or labour hire staff – a supplementary workforce is an essential part of the modern workplace.”

Employers and employees should be allowed to agree to individualised working arrangements that are stable, meaningful and mutually beneficial, according to Smedley.

“Therefore the Individual Flexibility Agreements (IFAs) must be given wider scope to work as intended.”

Smedley said the wine industry also needs a system that caters for seasonal fluctuations.

“For example, vintage is dictated by weather conditions and as such days and nights of the week have no real meaning if grapes need to be picked in the coolness of the evening or pressed on a weekend then employees are needed for these tasks,” he explained. “For cellar doors, weekends and public holidays are the peak periods for tourists. Yet, the award system penalises the industry for weekend and public holiday work, requiring penalty rates of up to 250 per cent per hour.”

Smedley said other recommendations made in the submission were aimed at simplifying the making of enterprise agreements and restoring the balance in relation to employee protections.

“For example, we need the practice of paying go-away money where an employee has been dismissed for poor performance or serious misconduct stopped – it has become normalised even when claims of unfair dismissal lack merit,” he said.

To view the full submission, go to www.pc.gov.au and follow links.

Penalty rates, hidden compliance costs come out in survey

Source: Grapegrower & Winemaker, May 2015, www.winebiz.com.au/gwm

A RECENT survey of wine industry employers from across Australia has found the current workplace relations system to be complicated and expensive.

Real-life examples from employers were collected earlier in the year by the Winemakers’ Federation of Australia (WFA) and the South Australian Wine Industry Association (SAWIA) in a bid to
identify the impact of current workplace relation laws.

The move came ahead of an important submission to a national review by the Productivity Commission into Australia’s workplace relations system. As well as finding the current process
complicated with often delayed decisionmaking, employers noted the main sources of compliance costs related to the award system, leave entitlements and termination of employment.

Industry feedback was gathered using an online survey and individuals share their views and experiences in order to give real examples for the case to simplify the system. While the contributors will not be identified in the submission, their experiences will support the comprehensive submission being made to the Productivity Commission, and ultimately to the Australian Government
later this year. Aimed at uncovering hidden costs in the wine industry, the survey also found penalty rates for weekend and public holidays were major costs and caused concern for employers, especially during vintage and for cellar door operations.

The issues led to support for abolishing the Modern Award system and incorporating some of the core award entitlements into the National Employment Standards (NES). The results and feedback will be used by SAWIA as recommendations in their submission to the Productivity Commission’s inquiry, according to Brian Smedley, SAWIA chief executive.

“So this is a unique opportunity for wine industry employer’s right across the country to have a say on how workplace laws effect our operations and also to suggest ways flexibility and productivity
can be improved,” Smedley said.

“Some areas we know are problematic such as penalty rates and public holidays and we also want to highlight the need to cut red tape and reduce the unnecessary compliance burden on wine businesses.”

More information about the Productivity Commission inquiry can be found at www.pc.gov.au/inquiries.

Winemakers forced to recruit overseas workers over lack of applications from Adelaide’s jobless

More than 105,000 temporary work visas were granted by the Department of Immigration to foreign nationals in 2013-14.

The South Australian Wine Industry Association has told a Senate committee inquiry into temporary work visas that many of its members experience difficulty recruiting skilled and unskilled workers. More

Source: News.com.au