Employment relations firm, Peninsula have released a summary of their 24-hour Workplace Advice line for FY21-22. Representing over 24,400 businesses across Australia, Peninsula received over 321,000 advice requests over the year from employers seeking assistance on issues ranging from Award Interpretation, Termination, and Employee Management.
In Peninsula’s summary, the company identified the biggest areas of concern from employers seeking help with:
Employee Management (64,792)
Workplace Entitlements (56,025)
Workplace documentation (53,328)
Termination (33,167)
Business owners in Australia face one of the most complex workplace relations regulatory systems in the world. The Fair Work Ombudsman in comparison indicated they received over 375,000 calls on their dedicated help line in their FY-20-21 annual report.
Peninsula Head of Operations, Stephen Roebuck commented:
“As a provider of Employment Relations support, our main goal is to help employers stay compliant with the Fair Work Act (2009).”
“The kind of calls that our advisors help with most often are issues that are inherently complex due to the human element. While the law tells employers what their legal obligations are, it doesn’t tell an employer how to have a difficult conversation with an underperforming staff member, or how to compassionately dismiss someone while following procedural fairness.”
“The Fair Work Act is over 600 pages long[1] and written in legalese. It’s simply not possible for any individual business owner to be across all the details. The fact that our Advisors take such a high volume of phone calls is evidence of importance of services like ours to Australian businesses.”
Peninsula’s figures also challenge recent media reporting of a toxic endemic business culture that deliberately seeks to exploit and rip off workers.
David Price, Peninsula CEO defended Australian businesses: “321,000 requests for help from approximately 24,400 clients are indicative of a business culture that is trying their best to do the right thing by their employees.”
Breaches of the Fair Work Act can carry significant penalties. In its annual report, the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) reported the filing of 76 litigations and the imposition of $2.85 million worth of court ordered penalties. FWO also issued 19 enforceable undertakings to the value of $81,731,999 in recovered wages.
Mr. Price continued, “Business owners get into business to follow their passion and vision. They are rarely experts in HR or in the scope of their obligations in employment relations. This is where we step in, by offering true value and helping them ensure the small issues don’t turn into big problems.”
