Latest posts

Gossip is a common part of most workplaces, but where should an employer draw the line? While we want to build respectful workplaces, we don’t want to be the fun police either. To help us understand the risks and benefits of workplace gossip, Thorunn Arnadottir joins the show.

In this episode we cover:

• Whether an employer can ever ban workplace gossip
• What’s the line between friendly office banter and gossip?
• Can gossip be considered a form of workplace bullying?
• What are the obligations employers need to be aware of when it comes to gossip in the workplace?
• The potential benefits of workplace gossip, and how it may actually help your business

The Better Business Podcast is brought to you by Employsure, Australia’s largest Workplace Relations consultancy, trusted by more than 27,000 small businesses.

Social Media Marketing Strategy Guide

By now, most businesses have some kind of social media presence, but are you getting maximum return for your efforts? In this episode we’re joined by Sonya McIntyre Reid from Kiss Marketing who shares her insights into social media marketing and how you can go beyond likes, to generate real leads for your business.

This episode covers:

• How to have conversations on social media, that lead to sales
• The things you’re doing that you think are helpful, but are actually wasting your time
• Organic vs Paid content, and how they work
• Scheduling content, tools and how often you should post
• Why 100 followers can be more valuable than 10,000
• How great quality content beats frequency
• Why you need to act like a human, not a brand

Find out more about Sonya:

https://www.kissmarketing.com.au/

@kiss_marketing

https://www.facebook.com/kissmarketingAW/

The Better Business Podcast is brought to you by Employsure, Australia’s largest Workplace Relations consultancy, trusted by more than 20,000 small businesses

Drug And Alcohol Testing Employees

In this month’s episode we look at drug and alcohol testing employees, and help employers understand their responsibilities, as well as employee rights. There are certain industries where drug testing is required, other businesses just want to adopt a zero tolerance approach to drugs in the workplace.

But successfully introducing alcohol and drug testing into your workplace means navigating a complex legal framework. What are the factors small business owners must consider?

In this episode we learn:

• The legal parameters of alcohol and drug testing in your workplace
• The process involved in getting fair, reliable results
• What to do if an employee refuses a drug or alcohol test, and if they return a positive result
• The role of alcohol and drug testing in workplace health and safety, and risk mitigation
• The importance of a proper process so you can protect your business from General Protections and Unfair Dismissal claims

25 Minute Meetings with Donna McGeorge

In this month’s episode of the Better Business Podcast we help you have better meetings with author and coach Donna McGeorge.

Yes, they’re unavoidable, and yes they can be super unproductive, but meetings are standard practice in workplaces across Australia. But is there a way to get more from our meetings?

Joining the show this month is renowned author and coach, Donna McGeorge.

Donna is one of Australia’s leading business thinkers and coaches, having worked with companies such as Nissan, Ford, JetStar, Telstra and Qantas. She’s also the author of 5 books, including The 25 Minute Meeting which teaches us the best practice principles behind powerful and productive workplace meetings.

In this episode, we learn:

• How to organise better meetings to get better results and save time
• Alternatives to the standard sit-down meeting
• Why meetings have become a ‘default’ behaviour, and how to break the pattern
• Preparedness and Presence and the keys to better meetings
• The Scan, Focus, Act process
• How you can politely leave a meeting early

Find out more about Donna McGeorge here

https://donnamcgeorge.com/ 

https://www.25minutemeetings.com/

The Better Business Podcast is brought to you by Employsure, Australia’s largest Workplace Relations consultancy, trusted by more than 20,000 small businesses

Can an employer ever reject a medical certificate? Turns out they can — under certain circumstances. This month Employment Relations Expert Thorunn Arnadottir joins the show to tell us how a small business owner can legitimately reject a medical certificate, and reveals the valid reasons for doing so.

This month we cover:

• Situations when it might be ok for an employer to reject a medical certificate
• How to establish valid reasons for rejecting a medical certificate
• How to raise concerns around and employee’s medical certificate
• Ensuring procedural fairness in rejecting a medical certificate
• How to request more information and organise an independent medical assessment
• Seeking professional advice so you don’t deny an employee their basic entitlements
• The essential criteria for a valid medical certificate

The Better Business Podcast is brought to you by Employsure, Australia’s largest Workplace Relations consultancy, trusted by more than 20,000 small businesses.

In this episode of the Better Business Podcast, Australia’s Number 1 Social Seller Mark McInnes joins the show to tell us how small businesses can use social media to connect with customers online, build relationships and ultimately drive more revenue.

In this episode we cover:

• The basic principles of social selling and how it differs from traditional marketing or social media engagement
• Getting the right balance of social content to engage customers, without being too ‘salesy’
• Connecting with leads online using helpful, interesting content
• Having better conversations through social media
• Best practice tips on building an effective social media presence that can increase your sales
• How small business can use Social Sales to level the playing field with bigger competitors

Learn More about Mark McInnes
https://www.social4sales.com/

In this month’s episode of the Better Business Podcast we help you find your business niche with Marketing guru Richard Toutounji. We learn why niching can help you reach more customers, how to reach your niche and the niching secrets of top Aussie businesses.

Anyone who’s run a small business knows that familiar temptation — to think that everyone is your customer, and that you should sell to anyone willing to pay you.

While offering products and services that meet a specific need is the reason we go into business, trying to sell to everyone isn’t necessarily the recipe for success.

But when you have a niche business and target a very select group of people, you position your business as a specialist in the field, and reach a subset of customers more willing to choose an expert business over a generic supplier.

In this episode, we learn:

• Why focusing on the parts of the business you love could be a great way to find your niche
• How to start small and add niches as you grow
• Low cost marketing tips, going ‘organic’ and having conversations with potential niches
• Simple ways to test the market
• The niching secrets of top Aussie businesses
• Why fear holds us back from niching

You might know Richard from his appearances in the Sydney Morning Herald, Channel 10, The Telegraph — or even from the Australian Amazing race when he and his wife Joey were contestants!

Today Richard works with business owners helping them build an online presence, developing their online marketing. Richard has a long history of turning established organisations into marketing machines.

Find out more about Richard here:
https://commarketing.com.au/
http://www.richardtoutounji.com/

In this month’s episode of the Better Business Podcast Essentials Update we take a look at one of the most vexing issues in the recruitment process – Dodgy CVs.

Our Employment Relations Expert Thorunn Arnadottir stops by to teach us how to spot a dodgy CV, offers common tips for employers to vet candidates, and what you can do if you’ve hired a candidate you suspect has lied to get the job.

In this episode, we learn:

• How to spot inconsistencies in an application form
• How to ask the right questions without risking an Adverse Action claim
• How discrepancies between job titles and duties can be a tell-tale sign of a dodgy CV
• The importance of the job description, interview and reference check process
• When it’s ok to discipline and terminate an employee who has lied on their CV

To mark World Mental Health Day, we speak with Patrice O’Brien, General Manager of Workplace Partnership and Engagement from beyondblue. In this episode we delve into the world of Mental Health and how it applies to small business owners.

It’s an important conversation. 1 in 5 Australians will experience a mental health condition in a given year, and almost 1 in 2 will experience a mental health condition at some point in their lifetime. A recent report on mental health in the workplace by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) looked at the financial cost incurred when employers did not take action to manage mental health conditions in their business. It estimated that the cost to Australian business is approximately $10.9 billion per year.

So how do we create workplaces that support mental health – not just for employees, but for small business owners too?

Patrice offers some great insights into the importance of self-care, and why when it comes to mental health at work, prevention is the best cure.

The Takeaways

• Why small business owners need to look after their own mental health, and recognise the signs and symptoms of depression and anxiety
• How absenteeism and presenteeism is costing your business
• Planning ahead for peak times to ease the mental burden of work on your staff
• Why civility in the workplace is a key ingredient to a mentally healthy culture
• Businesses that thrive are the ones who prioritise mental health in the workplace
• The best and most important changes you can make in your workplace are simple and free

Important Small Business Resources

beyondblue https://www.beyondblue.org.au/

HeadsUp https://www.headsup.org.au/

Lifeline https://www.lifeline.org.au/

To mark World Mental Health Day, we speak with Michael Morrison, founder of The Black Light Principle and mental wellness coach and consultant.

Michael is a former Advertising executive who has also struggled with mental health for most of his life. Before starting The Black Light Principle, Michael would spend his days flying around the world, pitching ideas and negotiating million-dollar deals with some of the world’s biggest brands.

But by night he was wracked with depression and would often spend his time walking around glamorous foreign cities feeling morbid and dreadful. He masked his condition, and realised it was an deeply troubling and exhausting way to live.

Michael left advertising to start The Black Light Principle, a platform for him to speak and consult about mental wellness in the workplace, and has become one of Australia’s leading authorities on the lived experience of mental illness.

The Takeaways

• How we mask our feelings in unhealthy ways
• The exhausting nature of the ‘get up, get dressed, show up’ mentality
• How we’re being pressured to adopt and avatar and be inauthentic at work
• How small business woners have a unique opportunity to beleaders in workplace mental health culture
• The tension between strength and vulnerability

 

Find out more about Michael Morrison at https://michaelmorrison.com.au/