This is the second part of our series on ten easy mistakes small businesses are making. There are a number of common and costly mistakes that employers make – but they can easily be prevented. Are you making any of these mistakes? There is a lot of legislation pertaining to employers and their employees you need to understand what you may be liable for. Many clients that we meet are not aware of the basics and are therefore exposing themselves to breaches which can be extremely costly. Check out the list below to see how you are tracking. Do you know …
- That just because you pay above the Award rate, it doesn’t mean you don’t have to pay overtime? – there is a largely held misconception that if you pay above the Award compensation, you are not obliged to pay overtime and other benefits – this is not the case
- Whether you have compliant employment contracts? – or have you ‘borrowed’ a friend’s contract which has not been updated following the introduction of the Fair Work Act
- If you have a policy around the requirement to bring in a Doctor’s certificate for personal leave periods of more than two days? – many employers do not state in their personal leave policy the requirement to have a Doctor’s certificate after a certain number of days leave. You can also request they see your company Doctor, if you have this in your employment agreement
- That termination can occur without ‘a three strikes and you’re out’ approach – many employers still think that you need to give three warnings prior to termination. It can be undertaken more quickly than this
- That if you have over 14 employees, you need to pay redundancy? – since 1/1/2010, if you make someone redundant you need to pay out a redundancy payment
- You must give employees a payslip with every payment of salary? – you need to ensure that your employees are receiving accurate and timely payslips
- You must have Worker’s Compensation if you have employees? – this one is simple – if you have employees – even volunteers, you must have a Worker’s Compensation insurance policy
- That in an interview, you cannot ask a female employee whether she has children? – this line of questioning is deemed to be discriminatory
- That by not conducting reference checks you leave yourself very exposed? – you should check the basics – even to see if the candidate did in fact work where they said they worked previously. Research claims up to 25% of candidates lie on their CV and you are making it even easier for them
- Whether you are not accurately accounting for annual leave? – if you want to save some money instantly this year then start accurately accounting for all annual leave. This is an area of major fraud – many employees have over stated balances and you are carrying this liability
So how did you go this time? Any quick fixes you can apply?
