Merry Christmas

Warren Myers – CMP Recruitment & Credit Services

With the holiday season fast approaching and 2016 peeking over the horizon...
I'd like to take this opportunity to wish you and your staff a wonderful and safe holiday season and new year.

CMP are developing new services and look forward to sharing them with you in the coming year where I believe will be a year of new innovations from Australians for Australia and the world.

Technologies are being disruptive to many industries but I believe 2016 will be the year it starts to gain traction and prove to be worthy of our attention and improve the economy at large.

We are living in interesting times and that is not a bad thing but exciting to see before our very eyes things change in our world for young and older.

Once again, from everyone at CMP, our warmest thoughts and best wishes for a wonderful holiday season and New Year! We thank you for your support.
 
Holiday Season Support

CMP Office will be closed 12pm - Thursday 23 December, 2015.
Re-opening Mon 4 January, 2016

Help desk support over this period

Phone: 0408 911162 or mail@cmp.net.au

Here are the encouraging signs for Australia's job market!

Warren Myers CMP Recruitment & Credit Services

The number of Australian skilled job vacancies continued to increase in November, adding to growing evidence that labour market conditions are strengthening.
According to the Department of Employment’s internet vacancy index, the number of job vacancies grew by a further 1.2% in November in trend terms, leaving the annual increase at 6.5%.
Vacancies increased in all eight occupational groups, with the strongest gains recorded for labourers, managers and community along with personal service workers.

Reflective of strengthening activity across the nation’s vast services sectors, vacancies for professionals and managers increased by 14.4% and 11.1% respectively over the past year, the largest increase of all occupational groups surveyed.
At the other end of the spectrum, vacancies for machinery operators and drivers, along with labourers, fell by 2.6% and 11.1% respectively, in line with weakening conditions across the mining sector.
In overall terms, vacancies rose in six of the eight groups surveyed.

Like the breakdown by industry, states dominated by the services sectors outperformed those more aligned to the mining sector.
In November all states and territories bar Western Australia and the Northern Territory recorded an increase in vacancies. Over the longer term, the largest annual increases were recorded in The ACT, New South Wales and Victoria at 25.1%, 11.7% and 11.6% respectively.

Queensland, a state comprising large services and mining sectors, recorded modest growth of 3.9%.
Partially offsetting those increases, vacancies in Western Australia, the Northern territory and South Australia fell by 13.3%, 17.2% and 9.0% respectively.

The full breakdown of the November report can be found in the table below, supplied by the Department of Employment.

   
There might always be some grey areas in employers' vicarious liability for end-of-year function misbehaviour, but a recent case provides very clear warnings on what does not constitute acceptable management at these events, a lawyer says.

"It's the end of the year, tensions are high, people are stressed, you put alcohol in the mix and it is a very dangerous time for employers," Karl Rozenbergs, partner at Hall & Wilcox”
Rozenbergs highlights the recent Keenan v Leighton Boral Amey Joint Venture (LBAJV) case, as a warning employers should put themselves in the best position "to prevent things from happening".

At the Christmas function, the team leader told a company director to, "f-ck off", and asked a colleague, "who the f-ck are you?". After the party ended, he attended a public bar adjoining the function space, where he harassed a number of female colleagues. LBAJV later dismissed him as a result of his conduct, but the Fair Work Commission found the termination was unfair.

"[LBAJV] just let him drink and drink and drink. The commissioner said, you've sacked him because you've let him drink, and you haven't got those safeguards in place. That gives an element of harshness to the termination of his employment," Rozenbergs notes.

"[LBAJV] didn't have anyone there monitoring and policing it, that was seen as a negative by the commission."

The commission also looked at the sexual harassment incident that happened after the event had finished. Rozenbergs explains that for an employer to be vicariously liable, sexual harassment occurring between fellow employees has to be sufficiently connected with the employment.

"Further, conduct that occurs after a Christmas function will only warrant termination of an employee if, as per Rose v Telstra, the conduct is likely to cause serious damage to an employment relationship or the employer's interests, or is otherwise incompatible with the employee's duties as an employee."

But in the Keenan case, the FWC ultimately found the team leader's harassing behaviour was not connected with his employment, as it occurred in a public venue that he and the other employees had voluntarily attended once the Christmas function had ended, he adds.

In essence, a work function may be considered a 'workplace', but only within the time boundaries (the official start and end times) and the physical boundaries of that function (event space booked), Rozenbergs says.

"[Vice President Hatcher] was pretty keen that the private time doesn't extend to everything that happens just because you've got a Christmas party. You draw a line."
Best practice risk management

Rozenbergs firmly advises employers to set clear times when holding a function, send emails before the event to remind employees of their obligations, and ensure employees are trained in the organisation's policies.
"Have a designated person at the function who is responsible or in charge of monitoring behaviour ensuring the responsible service of alcohol.

"The next part is to be careful about organising parties after the function. For the employer, you don't want that connection to continue because people will be drunker and the chances of [incidents] happening are higher.
"If it was an organised after party function by the employer, it would be harder for the employer to say, 'that wasn't part of the employment'."

If something does happen, Rozenbergs says, the first step is to start investigating: call everyone in, work out what the actual complaint is, speak to the relevant people, and then try and elicit a list of allegations.
"Properly formulate those allegations, put those to the employee or perpetrator, and then allow them procedural fairness to go through those."

In the past, employers typically found out something had gone wrong via phone calls, complaints and internal gossip, Rozenbergs explains, but more recently they're likely to be alerted via social media, and that's a "grey area people have to be careful about".

"There's things that happen in terms of Facebook where people post photos. That's a really scary thing because you could be at an after-function event which isn't connected with employment, and say your boss, who's fallen over, you get him or her in a photo in a compromising position and posted that on Facebook.

"When you come back to work and it's still on Facebook – so it's on work time – you're [considered] to damage that relationship," he warns.                                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                                                                    Article from HR Daily
 
Warren Myers
Your Recruitment Consultant
mail@cmp.net.au

Leaving a job can feel spectacularly awkward at the best of times. However, it’s really important to be graceful when you do it. We’re in an increasingly connected, small world, and both companies and candidates move quickly.
Today’s employer could be tomorrow’s client, big new sale, or even the key contact you need to land the great new career of your choice.
Many people leave their employers with a bad taste in their mouth, however, impacting their ability to turn old employers into long lasting assets. These tips will help ensure you don’t do the same.


Make sure you finish major projects before you go Don’t just coast after giving notice.
Hustle instead. Take the time to finish every major project on your plate, and attend to the details and quality of what you do.

Don’t have major projects to deal with? You should launch at least one: creating a resource to make life easier on your replacement. Outline processes and procedures. Let your boss know you’re doing this so he or she knows the resource exists. This will show you care about the future of the company, and it will show you’re doing everything you can to keep your leave taking from causing chaos.
 
 
Do it in writing!
Your notice should never only be given verbally. Put it all in a letter, then hand that letter to your supervisor in a face-to-face meeting. This is the most professional way to handle a resignation, and your professionalism will be remembered.

Besides, a resignation letter is an opportunity. In it, you can:
• Thank the company for the opportunity to be a part of their team.
• Reiterate your accomplishments at the company to remind your boss that your time there was both fruitful and productive.
• Mention which projects you’ll be wrapping up during the notice period, which can discourage your boss from letting you go early (or explain how you only need half your notice to get everything done that you need to do).
• Request positive references in the event you require them in the future.
In fact, a resignation letter is the only place you can gracefully accomplish these goals. Do not miss the opportunity!

Keep your mouth shut!
Angry at your current company? Go home, write it all down on a piece of paper, then burn the paper you wrote it on. Then? Don’t ever speak of the problems you encountered ever again.

Seriously!
Don’t tell your old employer (not even during an exit interview). Don’t tell your new employer. Don’t mention your problems at networking events. This behaviour will come back to bite you, if only by making the people who hear this talk wonder what you’re saying about them.
If you have to tell someone, restrict your gripes to your Mom, Dad, or spouse. Nobody else wants to hear it. Besides, talking constantly about what went wrong keeps you stuck in that place instead of giving you the power to move on and hit the ground running somewhere else.
 
 
Want to leave like a superstar?
Offer to stay on as long as your team needs, then offer to help find and train your replacement. This means you’re absolutely not leaving your employer in the lurch and is one of the most smooth and professional ways you can exit a company.
By making this offer you’re setting clear objectives and ensuring you get a good reference.
You’ll also ensure the ongoing respect of your peers.
                                                                                                                                                                      Acknowledgement to Ben Hutt
 
Warren Myers
Your Recruitment Consultant
Phone: 9228 3300
www.cmprecruitmentspecialist.com.au  

Colin Murphy's report says each of the 10 agencies examined needs to improve its employment practices.

ABC News: Andrew O’Connor

Numerous West Australian public sector agencies are at risk of employing inappropriate or unqualified staff because of issues with verifying the identity and credentials of employees, a report has found.

Ten public sector agencies, including the departments of Racing, Gaming and Liquor, Regional Development and Environment Regulation, were investigated for the report by auditor-general Colin Murphy.

Several of those entities were given "poor" ratings in terms of their policies and procedures, screening of new staff and monitoring of existing employees, while all were found to have room to improve.
Among the problems identified were failures to conduct criminal background checks, confirm the identity of employees or verify staff qualifications.

According to the report, 16 per cent of employees from the 10 agencies examined had not had their identity or right to work verified, and there was inadequate evidence supporting an employee's right to work in Australia in 55 further cases.

"We found many instances where the identity, qualifications, right to work in Australia and criminal backgrounds were not checked with the risk that inappropriate or unqualified staff are employed," the report stated.

"All 10 agencies need to improve their practices in some way, with only one agency rated as good against any of our three lines of inquiry."

The investigation sampled 553 staff across the 10 agencies and found criminal background checks were performed on only 263, although that was not required for all jobs.

Both the Department of Regional Development and WA Tourism Commission were found not to have conducted any criminal background checks on their staff.

www.cmprecruitmentspecialist.com.au  the Recruitment Specialist

With the countdown to Christmas upon us, it is important that business managers start planning now for the inevitable cash flow challenges that many will experience in the new-year. January is typically a crunch month for Australian businesses who need to ensure that they have adequate working capital to meet creditor and tax obligations, whilst waiting for outstanding invoices to be paid.

Now is the time to be managing your cash-flow and focusing on key areas to ensure that you remain on track and can continue to seize new opportunities as they arise in 2016.

CMP Recruitment and Credit Services has been working with businesses for over 20 years and because we understand the challenges faced at this time of year, we are able to offer flexibility in tailoring a credit solution to meet specific needs of business managers:
 

Credit Temp Staff that will manage the Debtors Ledger!
 
Credit Insurance to protect against debtor insolvency!
 
Invoice Finance cash when you need it most!


Our range of Services is all about the companies’ largest asset the debtor’s ledger.

So let us ease your cash flow pressures while you concentrate on growing your business in 2016
 
 
Warren Myers
Recruitment and Credit Services