Are you ‘business ready’ for 2017? Take the test.
As December draws to a close you are no doubt taking stock of the year that has passed and reflecting on the areas of your business that have been successful, and perhaps more importantly those that require your attention to make 2017 even better.
To help you get ‘business ready’, Workplace HQ has compiled a Business Health Checklist for the human resources, recruitment and legal areas of your business.
We hope that by answering the questions in this checklist you will be in a better position to evaluate areas for improvement and to start the New Year strategically.
The checklist can be downloaded as a PDF (252 KB) so that it can be printed off or saved for future reference.
| Business Area | Description | Yes | No |
| Legal requirements | Do you know which Awards, if any, apply to your employees? | ||
| Do you know which classification within the Award that each employee falls under? | |||
| Are you paying hourly rates of pay in accordance with the Award? | |||
| Are you aware of the Award specifications for ordinary working hours, breaks, overtime, penalties, allowances and loadings? | |||
| Do your pay slips comply with laws, such as showing separately amounts received for overtime, allowances and loadings? | |||
| Do you comply with the National Employment Standards with regard to employees’ entitlements to take leave? | |||
| Contracts | Do you use written contracts of employment or letters of offer for all employees? | ||
| Does your contract sufficiently deal with matters outside of the relevant Award such as probation, notice of termination, location of work, reporting lines? | |||
| Do your non-Award (or manager) contracts deal with restraining your employees from poaching clients when leaving your employment? | |||
| Do the contracts deal with protection of business confidential information and intellectual property? | |||
| Do you engage contractors and if so, is there a written contractor engagement? | |||
| Dismissals | Do you understand the unfair dismissal laws and how to minimise your exposure to a claim? | ||
| Do you understand the meaning of a genuine redundancy? | |||
| Do you understand ‘adverse action’ and ‘general protections’ claims and how a termination might be effected if there is a risk of a claim being commenced? | |||
| Induction & onboarding | Do you have a clear induction program for all new recruits? | ||
| Do you cover all key areas in induction including policies, procedures, tour of workplace, expectations, uniforms, PPE, IT access, WHS, security, payroll etc? | |||
| Do you follow up and survey new recruits during the first few weeks to gauge their level of engagement, training and role clarity? | |||
| Performance management | Do you utilise probationary periods and proactively manage performance? | ||
| Do you give feedback regularly? | |||
| Is under-performance managed in a timely manner? | |||
| Do you coach line managers in managing performance? | |||
| Discipline | Do you understand your obligations and your rights? | ||
| Are all under-performing employees currently on a performance improvement program? | |||
| Do you feel that all managers are equipped to manage under-performing employees? | |||
| Training & development | Are gaps in skills and competence being reviewed with your key staff and development provided to fill these gaps? | ||
| Are you providing all compliance training, including WHS, anti-bullying, harassment and discrimination? | |||
| Are you providing opportunities for training and development to high performers? | |||
| Recruitment | Do you consider yourself an employer of choice? | ||
| Can you articulate your unique selling proposition to differentiate yourself from competitors in the job market? | |||
| Are your values clearly defined? | |||
| Do you have a current recruitment system that ensures your brand is represented positively to all applicants? | |||
| Do you have a workforce planning strategy which identifies future key recruitment needs? | |||
| Do you have a workforce plan which identifies cyclical labour periods for temporary and/or permanent recruitment? | |||
| Do you have a strategy for how you will attract the best people? | |||
| Do you have a marketing & communications strategy to promote your roles and brand through digital platforms? | |||
| Do you have position descriptions and clear role expectations? | |||
| Can you articulate the ‘ideal candidate’ i.e. skills, attributes and experience for each of the roles in your business? | |||
| Do you have an outplacement strategy for redundancies or retrenchment? |
Recent Posts
