The Latest from Kristy-Lee

As a business owner or manager, it can often be difficult to determine an applicants exact practical skills simply by reading their resume and conducting an interview. All job seekers are determined to make the best impression they can at interview, and that will include how they answer questions and what skills they do and don’t possess.

Whilst in an ideal world we would take everyone’s comments at face value and trust the accuracy of the words that are spoken, the reality we all experience as Managers is that it’s not always this simple.

In addition, the quality and type of work expected at one place of work may vary greatly to the expectations you have of your staff. Workplaces, quality standards, culture and practices in any industry are not created equal, so how else can you determine if this employee is in fact a perfect fit or you will be trying to squeeze a square peg in a round hole?

One method which is not always appropriately...

You’ve done it! You’ve found the PERFECT person for the role. They have all the skills and experience you are looking for, they have accepted the proposed salary, you think they’ll be a great fit, and the team are super excited to have them joining you in a few weeks time.

And then your email ‘dings’. Thinking noting of it you go check your email, see it’s from the new employee, but as you start reading your enthusiasm turns to uncertainty, disappointment, anger or frustration.

Their email is informing you that their current employer has made a counter offer, an offer that is too good to pass up, and they can no longer accept your offer to join your team.

Ever been in that situation? Frustrating is an understatement isn’t it?

Counter offers are one of the trickiest things to navigate, do you go back and offer more? Do you negotiate? Or do you just let them go and decide that it wasn’t meant to be?

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If there is one constant theme of the last couple of years, that theme is change. We’ve needed to adapt to constantly changing ‘rules’ and ‘health orders’, be resilient enough to navigate changes in where, when and how we work, and all of this for many businesses has resulted in internal changes to structure, operations and expectations of our team.

Whether it be about changing work location, mandating vaccination, or using Rapid Antigen Tests, things just keep changing.

So how do we as business owners get through all of this change, and how can we effectively, and legally, implement the changes that we need to in order to keep operations going, and our workplace safe?

There is one single thing that is absolutely king when it comes to implementing this kind of change that effects our team, and that is consultation.

Why is consultation so important?

Recent cases heard by The Fair Work Commission have demonstrated the...

The most successful recruitment campaigns rely on you as the business owner or manager being able to choose from a great list of quality talent, a perfectly suited shortlist, who are all skilled for the role you are hiring for – and ultimately are a great fit for your team.

But have you ever found yourself without this stellar shortlist? Instead, you may have found yourself with only one or two applicants, neither of whom are ideal, but you’re desperate, so you’ll probably hire one of them. Or you have a lengthy list of people you’re considering, but none are ideal, they are ok, they have applied, but they are a mish mash of skills, experience and suitability.

The thing is, in order to achieve a high-quality shortlist of applicants to choose from, it’s imperative that your candidate attraction strategies, including any advertising process, social posts or invitations to apply are targeted, aligned to your requirements and engaging to your...

In an industry that hasn’t exactly been characterised by constant change, from 1 November 2021 we have seen yet another change to superannuation rules here in Australia.

The 1^st November sees the commencement of an additional step in setting up new employees and their compulsory superannuation guarantee – it’s called Super Stapling.

Whilst it’s a funny term, put simply, a stapled super fund is simply an existing superannuation account that an employee has which is linked, or 'stapled', to that individual employee. Effectively this superannuation fund follows the employee as they change jobs – it’s stapled to them.

From 1 November 2021, if you have a new employee start with you, and they don't choose or nominate a superannuation fund, you have an extra step to take to comply with choice of superannuation fund rules. Rather than just setting that employee up in your default super fund that your business uses, you will need to check, via the ATO,...

Like most leaders and managers of teams, you have probably found yourself in a place where you had had success in building your team, you have found great people, you have kept great people. Yet at a certain point things weren’t all working as well as you liked with your employees. Perhaps you realised your latest hire wasn’t ideal, or you were getting attitude from one of the team, or they just didn’t seem to be doing what you expected, or you needed to exit someone but the thought of having to do that was less than comfortable.

The first thing you need to know is that it is totally normal, and there are always going to be points as you grow your business where things get a little wobbly in certain parts, despite the fact that you have other elements of your team running along seamlessly.

For the last 7 years I have been on a mission to better understand the unique needs of SME’s when it comes to their human resources, their people management and staffing...

Do you ever find yourself with a song stuck in your head which transports you back in time? Like the Alanis Morisset album I had on repeat over a weekend of painting in a previous property? Of course there are the traditional pull backs of formals, parties, weddings and alike, but sometimes the audio cue reminds us of much more subtle and seemingly insignificant things that happen.

Yet other times, if you love music like I do, some songs just stay with you for no specific reason at all. They are not tied to any ‘event’ or ‘time’, they are just a song that you loved and have never fallen out of love with over the years, every time you hear it you can’t help but smile.

Well, as a fan of all things 90’s music, one such song for me is Hey Jealousy released by a band known as the Gin Blossoms back in the early 90’s. While I do love the song, there is one single line in that song that has stuck with me from the first time I heard it...

Like most leaders and managers of teams, you have probably found yourself in a place where you had had success in building your team, you have found great people, you have kept great people.

Yet, at a certain point, things weren’t all working as well as you liked with your employees.

Perhaps you realised your latest hire wasn’t ideal, or you were getting attitude from one of the team, they just didn’t seem to be doing what you expected, or you needed to exit someone but the thought of having to do that was less than comfortable.

The first thing you need to know is that it is totally normal, and there are always going to be points as you grow your business where things get a little wobbly in certain parts, despite the fact that you have other elements of your team running along seamlessly.

I don’t need to tell you what you already know, and that is that you can’t build a business that delivers you success and results (whatever...

Last week I had the opportunity to participate in a brand new ‘ask an expert’ style event with a fabulous group that I am a long time member of. As I jumped into different virtual rooms I was prepared to answer any question about teams, staff, hiring, firing and everything in between. The rooms were full of businesswomen who all are running successful businesses that they are looking to scale, so all at different stages on the process.

Here’s what was interesting, in almost every room, one of the questions had me recommending an exercise that I call the ‘Clean Slate Exercise’ – I recommended it to someone who was just starting out with building her team, to someone else who has a team but was finding things weren’t flowing as they should, and to someone else who was preparing for the next phase of growth and wanted to narrow down which role next. For all of these women, who were all in very different stages of growing their team, the...

Whilst I often steer clear of topical, time relevant topics, I felt this one was worth exploring today because it’s critical, it’s complex, it’s unchartered territory and for many employers it’s just plain stressful.

Can you, should you, and do you want to mandate the COVID-19 vaccination in your workplace.

I think if you asked most business owners this question 6-12 months ago most would have said they this is a personal choice issue, it’s a minefield of privacy concerns and it’s one more thing that they didn’t really want to have to make the decision about.

Fast forward to September 2021, when Victoria is in the midst of lockdown number... I’m not even sure, I think there is some kind of numbering convention that might have us at 6.7, and NSW thick into a 12 week stint that feels like it’s never going to end, employers are in a very different business environment, and mindset.

The Australian...