Rumour and Gossip

I heard it on the grapevine’ the old song goes. But the grapevine has the potential to cause your business strife, misunderstanding and ruin!

In effect the rumour mill and gossip are dangers you cannot ford to ignore. People who indulge in these behaviours are like muggers – they leave you feeling you have been robbed!

As employee and industrial relations practitioners working with small business in Australia there has been much conjecture as to what will happen should the Labor Party in Australia gain Government in late 2007.

This article is written from an apolitical perspective based on what facts are generally known at this time. We do not give political credence to any group as we are practitioners not politicians.

Lucky? This lucky country's economy is on a record-breaking 14-year roll. The big question: Will it continue? Just imagine: From a few convicts dropped ashore in 1788, Australia has developed into a first-class global economy. The reforms enacted by former Prime Minister Bob Hawke and Treasurer Paul Keating during the 1980s set the stage for a remarkable run of prosperity. Specifically, they slashed import tariffs, floated the currency and reduced the power of big labor. The current prime minister, John Howard, who has been elected four times, has continued and expanded these reforms riding a wave of economic growth - 14 years of uninterrupted 4% to 5% growth. The national debt has been virtually eliminated, the currency is strong, the government has recently signed a free-trade pact with America, and it is starting to negotiate a pact with China. Australia received $42 billion in foreign direct investment in 2004. This is all great news, and our portfolio allocation in the Australia iShare (AMEX: EWA) has done very well, with a 105% gain over the past two years. The Australian iShare is up 15% so far this year and provides investors with exposure to about 60% of the total stock market. Some Warning Signs The question is of course, what should we do now. When things are going this well for so long, investors need to be skeptical and weigh the potential upside with the downside risk. - A shortage of skilled and semi-skilled workers and relatively high labor costs (minimum $400 a week).

For many Australians, both employers and employees, the workplace continues to be a place of harmony where each goes to work discharges their individual responsibilities and continues to get on with life.

This is confirmed by government statistics that suggest that 1,000 people per week are migrating to Queensland, Australia to live. The attraction is lifestyle; affordable property and housing, progressive government development and support for new business initiatives and low unemployment.

In addition there are a large proportion of immigrants coming to our shores from the United Kingdom, South Africa and New Zealand to name a few.

Sadly amongst this good news there are some concerns amongst employees. Over the last 10 years with out-placing, downsizing, outsourcing, redundancies, and other interesting forms of industrial justification for off-loading employees, the workplace has been experienced as difficult and for some 'a house of pain'.

One of the biggest challenges any business owner or manager has is hiring the right people. I've recently discovered a simple, inexpensive yet very effective way which will help you get it right. This week I've asked Nathan Chanesman, Managing Director of Myprofile Pty Ltd. to please explain…

"Without quality employees who share your vision and work ethic your business is not going anywhere.So how do you find the "right" employee?

We've all experienced hiring the "wrong" person. It's a nightmare. Hiring mistakes costs money, time and worse can easily ruin your business and your health! A recent survey in Forbes Business Magazine revealed, "Hiring the wrong person is the prime cause of business failure in the USA". For most employers it's a lottery, hire someone and hope it works out.

It's amazing to see so many people who are prepared to sacrifice their lives for the sake of their careers.

I'm sure you know of someone like that. They get up at the crack of dawn, drag their weary bodies out of the house and head off for another exciting day at work. Ten or twelve hours later they head home totally exhausted with all their energy sapped from their body.

They might make the effort to find out how the rest of their family's day has been, even read their children a bed-time story. Finally after having something to eat, taking a hot shower or bath, they then veg out on the couch. They immerse themselves in the newspaper (again) or watch the news or some mindless television show (if they don't fall asleep beforehand).

And this is a common scenario for many people who work for someone else! I can understand it if you own your own business where there's so much extra pressure riding on you, yet to sacrifice so much for someone else???

The United Kingdom offers a large selection of Immigration Visas, Residency and work permits, some of which lead ultimately to Permanent residency (Indefinite leave to remain), a British Citizenship and a UK Passport.

Highly Skilled Migrant Program (HSMP)

One of the most popular ways of settling in the UK is through the Highly Skilled Migrant Program, quite a new program which was designed to compete with similar programs in other countries. This program, which is based on a points system, enables the Visa holder to enter the UK without a job offer or sponsorship, and effectively work for any employer in the UK.

Work Permit Visa

If you have a job offer from a UK based employer, you should apply for a sponsored work permit. You should bear in mind that this work permit will be valid only for 5 years for this specific employer only. Living in the UK on such a visa is counted towards the requirements for permanent residency.

Many of us go into business with unbounded enthusiasm, fervent passion and great ideas only to have ‘people issues’ confront us sometime, somewhere down the track, assertions of unfair dismissal being one.

These ‘people issues’ always seem to raise their ugly heads when we least need the accompanying grief. After all we are in business for lifestyle and enjoying the journey and this wasn’t part of the deal.

Being regarded as the softer skill’s employee relations is usually placed on the back burner and considered a waste of effort and certainly not an investment and almost like well ‘throwing money down the dunny’.

Thud!!! We are often bought back down to reality when we are required to roll up our sleeves and enter the fray of employee relations when something goes wrong and often when the issues have progressed to the critical and emotional stage where it is harder to resolve.

As an early "Baby Boomer" ie, one of those human beings born in the period after World War II and until the early 1960s, I've been giving a lot of thought during the last few years about how much longer I will work and what I'll do after I retire. It could be a dilemma; on the one hand, after 46 years at work, I've had enough working for an employer 8am to 5pm every day except Saturday and Sunday. On the other hand, I'm in good health and don't want to give work away just to spend the remainder of my days pottering about in the garden. So what's the solution?