​An employee has just approached you with a request to ‘cash out’ a portion of their annual leave.  Roger doesn’t want to take the time off – he just wants the cold, hard cash in this instance.  He’s got seven weeks up his sleeve and he’s requested to cash in one week of his accrued annual leave.  Do you want to agree to this request and are you obligated to sign off on Roger’s request?

It’s a fact, staff turnover costs your business financially and the recruitment process can be an additional load that you simply don’t need.  There are trackable expenses such as recruitment and advertising but there are many intangible costs that are not so easy to determine.  Lost productivity is an obvious one but it isn’t just limited to lost output when a role is not back-filled before your incumbent departs – it’s also the efficiency of a new employee who won’t be as quick as the experienced team member they replace.  And don’t forget the reallocation of time and attention that impacts you or your staff that are involved in the recruitment, onboarding and training a new team member.  And for some businesses, these costs are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to staff turnover.  

​There is no real way to avoid people leaving a company but working on your retention and looking after the people that help make your business a success, can help you reduce the number of departures and minimise these overheads whilst further enhancing a positive, engaged team with increased productivity as a result.  To that end, we have seven quick tips to help you build an employee retention strategy that delivers results.

​Email is both an essential communication tool and an absolute waste of time.  It’s a bold statement but you know I’m right.  Email can take you from sealing a major new deal that will take your business to the next level one minute, while the next you get caught in a to and fro exchange that interrupts you multiple times and causes focus, time and productivity to be lost.  It’s clear that the positives of email outweigh the negatives so the key is to take control of the tsunami of communications and not let email control you.  Simples!  

A case involving a fast food giant, a specific shift start time, a required arrival time, a sneaky cigarette, a ladder, a broken leg and an overturned WorkCover claim all came together recently in a Queensland court with a decision that may have far reaching implications for businesses throughout Australia.  How is this even possible you wonder….