INTHEBLACK November 2021 - Magazine - Page 49
Left: People queuing outside
a Centrelink office in Sydney.
Centrelink offices around
Australia have been
inundated with people
attempting to register for the
JobSeeker allowance in the
wake of business closures due
to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Right: Sarah McCannBartlett, Australian Human
Resources Institute
“ SO MANY ORGANISATIONS FIND
THEMSELVES IN HOT WATER
WITH THE FAIR WORK
COMMISSION BECAUSE THEY’VE
IGNORED OR FORGOTTEN ABOUT
THEIR OWN PROCEDURES.”
SARAH MCCANN-BARTLETT,
AUSTRALIAN HUMAN RESOURCES INSTITUTE
“I cannot emphasise enough that managers
need to follow their organisation’s written policies
and procedures when it comes to terminating an
employee,” says Sarah McCann-Bartlett, CEO
and managing director of the Australian Human
Resources Institute.
“So many organisations find themselves in hot
water with the Fair Work Commission because
they’ve ignored or forgotten about their own
procedures.”
Nick Northcott, chief strategy officer of Australian
online dispute resolution platform Immediation, says
all businesses should assume they will have unfair
dismissal claims brought against them.
“There’s a higher burden on employers to be
proactive in thinking about how they’re going to
handle a dispute, because it is going to happen at
some point if you’re an employer,” he says.
“The bigger you are, the higher the risk, and the
higher the burden on you to put in place systems,
structures and processes to manage things effectively.”
Northcott says factors businesses should be
considering are their employee structure, their culture
and the level of trust in management by employees.
“The lower that level of trust, the more likely you’re
going to end up in dispute,” he says.
“Something that employers can do right now
is build that level of trust. Questions to consider
include: how often do you communicate with your
employees, what messages do you give them and how
fair are you being in that employment relationship
when it comes to factors like pay?
“When you find yourself in a dispute, how you
respond is critical.
“One pathway might be, an employee makes a
complaint and the first step the company takes is
to ring their lawyer and end up in a very defensive,
combative mode of trying to protect the company.
“The alternative approach is much more open,
where you sit down and talk with people about what
exactly the issues are, understand their perspective
deeply, and then try to find a pathway through to
resolution.”
McCann-Bartlett agrees. “High-quality and
frequent communication goes a long way when
terminating employees. If employees understand why
the termination is valid, if they are clear on what the
process and next steps will be, and are treated with
fairness and respect, then the process is more likely
to go smoothly for everyone.”
GOING TO MEDIATION
Northcott points out that if a complaint is lodged
with the Fair Work Commission, it will ultimately
end up at the mediation table as part of the process.
He says having some form of mediation as soon as a
complaint is raised by an employee is highly beneficial
for all parties concerned.
intheblack.com November 2021 49