Recruitment Extra magazine February 2013

February 2013 8543V1302

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Bulletproof your business in 2013 Tax Focus

Employee share schemes Legal Eye

Protecting your business name In Media

Time to get mobile The leading magazine for recruitment professionals in Australia and New Zealand

Join us to celebrate and recognise the achievements of those in our industry at the sixth Recruitment Excellence Awards in 2013. Our annual gala dinner provides a spectacular night of entertainment, great food and networking whilst honouring the best of the best in our business. Don’t miss out!

Nominations opening soon.

For further information regarding nominations or sponsorship opportunities please contact Helen Sykes on 02 8587 7462 helen.sykes@thomsonreuters.com

News

Twitter: top of the jobseeking tools College educated jobseekers are twice as likely to use LinkedIn and Twitter to “advance their passive job searches” compared to jobseekers without degrees, according to a survey by Jobvite.

Respondents to the survey classified as passive career managers, rather than active job seekers, were twice as likely to hold college degrees (40% v 18%),were more than three times as likely to use Twitter to advance their career (14% v 4%) and were three times as likely to use LinkedIn to connect with potential employers (9% v 3%). In contrast, both passive career managers and active jobseekers used LinkedIn almost equally – with 12% and 10% respectively.

Passive career managers were also more than four times as likely to have found their current job via a social network (21% v 5%) and almost twice as likely to have found their “favourite-ever” job on Twitter (9% v 5%). These results reflect the major increases in usage of both Twitter and LinkedIn by jobseekers compared to the previous year.

“While many jobseekers are still using job boards and newspapers to find work, our survey findings show that sought-after, higher-skilled and educated professionals are becoming much more passive in their career management,” said Dan Finnigan, CEO, Jobvite. “As a result, recruiters are finding that the talent they seek isn’t where it used to be. This sought after talent pool is using Twitter more than ever to stay on top of new opportunities.

Recruiters failing to take advantage of this shift are missing out on this to the detriment of their clients.”

The survey further revealed that 76% of jobseekers now use social media tools to look for jobs.

Engaging Gen Y: leaders of tomorrow In line with results from several other surveys undertaken during 2012, Kelly Services has released results from their latest Global Workforce Index which found that Gen Y Asia Pacific respondents valued personal growth/advancement (38%) and personal fulfilment/ work-life balance (37%) above compensation and benefits (20%). According to the Index, work is considered “meaningful” if it provides the ability to excel and develop or if it aligns with personal values.

Karen Colfer, managing director, Kelly Services Australia, said, “Particularly for Gen Y employees, their enthusiasm and ability to adapt to and navigate the fast-changing trends in today’s world are strong attributes that employers and managers should be tapping in to. Organisations that recognise the crucial role Gen Y employees play as future leaders and potential customers are working hard to engage them in the workplace. This engagement and mentoring helps Gen Y employees align their career goals with the organisation, which is crucial in developing loyalty.”

The top two desired employer attributes for Gen Y respondents in APAC are strong market presence/leadership (25%) and corporate culture (24%). These factors eclipsed all others including financial performance (21%), reputation for innovation (14%), longevity (6%) and corporate social responsibility (6%).

Colfer said, “Employers must provide Gen Y employees with more rounded employment packages that feature a clear career development path.

“In a talent-short environment, it is crucial for organisations to actively engage their employees across all generations, especially Gen Y. The future of businesses is with Gen Y and organisations need to recognise that they are the leaders of tomorrow.”

Competition fierce for low skilled jobs A report published by Dr Bob Birrell and Dr Ernest Healy of Monash University’s Centre for Population and Urban Research has found that the number of jobs created in Australia since 2011 was equalled by the number of new migrants who found employment, increasing competition in the jobs market.

The researchers report that high numbers of low-skilled migrants were having a negative impact on employment levels and the labour market participation of other Australians. Young people without higher education qualifications were most affected.

Birrell said that while jobs growth had slowed dramatically since 2010,

the permanent resident immigration program had increased to record levels in 2012-13 with the number of temporary residents – including holders of 457 visas, working holiday visas and students who have work rights, as well as tourists – numbering a million at the end of 2011.

“The resulting ferocious competition for employment is exacerbated by the influx of lowskilled migrants. Anecdotal reports of exploitation of temporary migrants, who might be more willing to work at below award wage for example, indicated just how challenging it is for younger Australians to find work,” warned Birrell.

recruitment extra 2013 February 3

General editor Lesley Horsburgh Tel +61 2 8587 7920 lesley.horsburgh@thomsonreuters.com Production editor Imogen Tear Tel +61 2 8587 7258 imogen.tear@thomsonreuters.com Submissions imogen.tear@thomsonreuters.com Advertising Australia & New Zealand Helen Sykes Tel +61 2 8587 7462 helen.sykes@thomsonreuters.com Enquiries Emily Ings Tel +61 2 8587 7051 emily.ings@thomsonreuters.com Graphic design Michelle D’Souza Printing Ligare http://sites www.thomsonreuters.com.au/recruitment-extra/ www.thomsonreuters.com.au www.recruitmentextra.com.au Customer service and subscription inquiries Tel 1300 304 195 Fax 1300 304 196 Email LTA.Service@thomsonreuters.com Publisher Thomson Reuters (Professional) Australia Limited ABN 64 058 914 668 Head office 100 Harris Street Pyrmont NSW 2009 Tel +61 2 8587 7000 Fax +61 2 8587 7100 © Thomson Reuters (Professional) Australia Limited 2010 ISSN 1835-1395 All information in recruitment extra is copyright.

Material is not to be used or reproduced without written permission.

No responsibility is taken for unsolicited material. Articles reflect the opinion of the author and not necessarily that of the publisher.

4 February 2013 recruitment extra

from the editor Having navigated around some nasty bends during 2012, getting back on track in 2013 will be front of mind for business owners and managers. While some will have had the luxury of road mapping their strategy for the new year far earlier than now, it always pays to check in with all aspects of the business, operational or otherwise and reassess. This month we ask our contributors to consider how recruitment owners might bullet proof their business for an uncertain market ahead.

From cutting costs, retaining talent, business development and harnessing leadership teams we explore how you can ensure your business is as robust as it can be to kick start the year ahead. On the flip side we’ve asked our panelists to tell us where they are most likely to invest this year, with some interesting answers on pages 28 & 29.

If you have a story to share or a question to put to our panelists or regular contributors for 2013 please email: editor@recruitmentextra.com. au – we would love to hear from you. And lastly mark your calendars; REA 2013 nominations will open in March with categories and deadline announced next issue.

News

Hiring intentions “a mixed bag” Australian employers’ hiring intentions are mixed with more than half of employers (59.6%) intending to keep staffing levels steady and a quarter (24.7%) intending to employ more people, according to the latest Hudson Report: Employment Trends.

“Market and economic indicators are mixed and employers are doing their best to interpret what they mean for their businesses and hiring needs,” said Mark Steyn, CEO of Hudson Asia Pacific. “Some employers are sitting tight and delaying hiring or, in some cases, looking at ways they can cut costs should circumstances worsen. While others are forging ahead, adapting their business models and continuing to invest and this is driving the demand for staff.”

The report finds that Western Australia remains the most positive state/territory, although hiring intentions have dropped by 5.0pp to 30.9%. This is followed closely

by Australian Capital Territory, (up 5.7pp to 30.3%), New South Wales (up 0.7pp to 27.0%), South Australia (down 1.2pp to 22.6%), and Victoria (up 1.7pp to 22.1%).

While Queensland reports the biggest drop in hiring expectations (5.8pp to 18.6%) and is the least positive state/territory in Australia.

Information technology is the most positive industry nationally, up 11.2pp to 43.1%. Approximately 12,300 new ICT jobs are expected to be available in the New Year with further growth anticipated to 2015.[1] Positive hiring intentions also increased in Transport (up 8.5pp), FMCG (up 7.8pp) Government (up 4.7pp), Manufacturing (up 1.8pp) and Finance Services/Insurance (up 1.0pp).

The Resources sector reported the biggest drop in hiring intentions (down 12.1 pp) which is having a significant flowon effect for other industries including Construction/Property/Engineering (down 9.6pp) and Professional Services, which, while still very positive is down 9.0pp to 32.4%. Healthcare (excluding Government) and Utilities are also reporting lower hiring intentions.

In terms of professions, Legal is the most positive although hiring expectations have dropped by 17.1pp to 33.3%. Technical

& Engineering and Accounting & Finance are the only other professions to report decreasing hiring expectations. Meanwhile, Sales, Marketing & Communications, Financial Services, Information,

“A key way to enhance productivity is ensuring that staff have the right capability, that is the skills, behavioural and motivational fit, and are supported by systems, process and organisational structures to deliver efficiently”

Communications & Technology and Office Support are showing more positive hiring expectations than last quarter.

Australian Capital Territory and Victoria report increased positive hiring intentions for contractors while all other state/ territories have declined. Office Support, Technical & Engineering and Information, Communications & Technology have the highest demand for contractors.

The Report also looked at Australian employers’ top priorities for 2013. Almost a quarter of all employers (24.2%) cited enhancing performance/productivity of their existing team as their top HR priority for 2013. This was followed by retaining staff (21.7%), restructuring/right-sizing (18.3%), staff development (12.4%), attracting suitable staff (10.7%) and developing leadership capabilities (9.0%).

“Employers are heavily focused on driving productivity and most are asking more of their people as a result,” said Steyn. “Staff retention, capability and strong leaders have a material impact on productivity and must be addressed if employers are to succeed in their quest.

“Staff retention and high performance are outcomes of strong employee engagement. So exceptional leadership, staff buy-in to what the organisation is trying to achieve and feeling part of the team are essential. It can take six months to a year to bring a new employee upto-speed, so employers can ill afford to overlook the needs of their current team.

“A key way to enhance productivity is ensuring that staff have the right capability, that is the skills, behavioural and motivational fit, and are supported by systems, process and organisational structures to deliver efficiently,” added Steyn.

“Ultimately, HR and recruitment practices must be assessed continuously to ensure they match the organisation’s strategy to the current economic conditions, and that there is the right capability to succeed.”

Adecco’s global footsteps Adecco’s Win4Youth programme enters its fourth year in 2013 and is opening up participation to include all Adecco associates on top of Adecco’s 33,000 employees.

This year the programme hopes to achieve 50,000 kilometres or even more on foot, either by walking, by running or in wheelchair. For every kilometre covered by an employee, associate or client, Adecco Group has committed money to selected youth projects around the world. The projects aim to support young people by improving their future chances of entering the job market by offering training, education and skills development.

recruitment extra 2013 February 5

Contents

Inside February

22

Features 20 Behind the statistics 22 Bulletproof your business 24 How to succeed in a slow market 25 Managing the challenges of 2013 30 Fit for purpose 32 Legal eye 33 Improving leadership interactions 36 Employee share schemes

Regulars 3 News The latest news, events and announcements

21

20

14 Online recruitment 16 State Review 18 HR Report 21 In media 26 Head to head

30

31

28 The panel

33

35 On the move

31 Social recruiting Movers and shakers in the industry

37 Directory

Advertising directory

32 6 February 2013 recruitment extra

News

More support for diversity Australian workplaces are more likely to improve their bottom line if they create a culture that is inclusive and diverse, new research has confirmed.

A study conducted by the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission (VEOHRC), in partnership with Deloitte, found that employee innovation levels increased by 83% when they felt included in the workplace.

The research supports international studies which have found that diverse teams are better able to solve complex

problems, exhibit a higher level of creativity and a broader thought process.

“The results show that there are clear economic benefits from recognising cultural diversity. By being more inclusive and supporting workplace diversity, you can create an environment where innovation and a different way of thinking are brought to the table by employees with culturally diverse backgrounds,” said Deloitte spokesperson Alec Bashinsky.

The report also indicated that when diversity was recognised and employees felt

THE CAREER LATTICE Whilst being made redundant is not a welcome experience it can force people to reassess their career path and question whether they are in the right role and/or industry. A recent survey by Right Management of people who were made redundant and participated in career transition programs in the past two years found that 48% changed industries and 49% changed functions.

Tim Roche, Career Management Practice Leader Australia and New Zealand at Right Management, said the figures suggested that many workers weren’t in the right job in the first place.

“Being made redundant is never easy, but undergoing a career transition program can provide an upside. It’s an opportunity to really assess your skills and preferences, and then look for a role that fits you better.

That’s why we see so many people make a big career leap following redundancy – it’s a chance to start afresh,” he said.

The data also reinforced the notion that there is a ‘hidden’ job market that savvy jobseekers tap into: in 2012, 30% of people who found jobs did so through traditional networking and 10% through direct approaches.

Another 17% of successful job searches were through recruitment agencies, and 31% through online job boards. Only 2% found a job through online networking, suggesting this

Being made redundant is never easy, but undergoing a career transition program can provide an upside. It’s an opportunity to really assess your skills and preferences, and then look for a role that fits you better. That’s why we see so many people make a big career leap following redundancy – it’s a chance to start afresh method is yet to hit the mainstream.

The survey further reported a significant drop in the proportion of people who found higher paid roles in 2012 compared to 2011 (31% in 2012 compared to 41% in 2011) while those who accepted a lower-level role increased from 25% to 33%. However, Roche suggests that taking a cut in pay or seniority in order to get into a new industry or job function might be necessary in some cases.

“Career management isn’t always about climbing the ladder,” he said.

“Sometimes it’s more like a lattice, where you step sideways in order to increase your opportunities.”

included they had a better responsiveness to changing customer needs.

Mark Hand, Managing Director, Retail Distribution at ANZ said, “A diverse workforce gives you a great advantage because your people better reflect and understand the needs of your customers in existing, new and international markets. Having a workforce of people with different backgrounds and wide experiences also leads to more innovative thinking and informed decision making for our business.”

SEEK increases stake in China SEEK has announced that it will buy shares in Chinese employment website Zhaopin as it continues its expansion into Asia. SEEK will buy Zhaopin shares from Macquarie and other shareholders for $US105 million, increasing its stake in the business from 55.5% to 72.3%.

Jason Lenga, SEEK International managing director, said the company was continuing to expand into growth markets around the world such as Asia and South America.

“China will become the biggest online employment marketplace in the world in the not so distant future,” he said.

The company also has stakes in online employment ad companies across South East Asia as well as Brazil and Mexico.

“Australia is a great market and we’re very successful here but we also want to be a global leader in employment,” he said.

He said SEEK preferred to buy stakes in existing, successful online ad companies outside of Australia and New Zealand rather than trying to take the SEEK brand into new markets.

“We invest in brands that have already been established,” he said. “It’s really difficult to start from scratch without having any brand recognition in a different country with a different culture.”

recruitment extra 2013 February 7

News

Quick predictions for 2013 Business demands for better productivity levels including more multi-tasking will put employers under increased pressure in 2013 requiring careful management of shifting internal cultures as staff react to stress and fear about job losses, according to Kym Quick, CEO of the Clarius Group.

She says early trends indicate that companies are recalibrating after a tough 12 months trading and are preparing for the economic challenges ahead.

With many Australian businesses having been under financial pressure as a result of flat market sentiment, Quick points to a major shift in the employer/ employee dynamic which has caused fundamental changes to expectations and some work practices.

“We’ve seen Australian businesses recalibrate their workforce in reaction to market conditions over the past two years – they’re a lot leaner and there’s a clear focus on improving productivity,” she said.

“However this has taken its toll on employees who have been asked

“We’ve seen Australian businesses recalibrate their workforce in reaction to market conditions over the past two years – they’re a lot leaner and there’s a clear focus on improving productivity. ” to step up and do more while at the same time have seen many of their colleagues lose their jobs. Employers should be very careful how they manage the culture of their business in these sorts of environments where loyalty is closely allied with productivity and performance.”

According to Quick one of the biggest challenges for companies will be when the market picks up in mid-2013. She says

a lot of employees are likely to move on and find new opportunities as soon as conditions improve.

“During the tough market, many employees have remained with their existing employer. Companies who have not supported them during the tougher times, or who have been seen to be tough on those they’ve let go, will be highly exposed to the churn,” warns Quick.

“Australian companies will need to rebuild their culture so employees understand the new direction of the business and feel valued for the role they play. If not, companies risk losing their top talent when the tide turns.”

Quick believes that the three key employment trends this year are that it’s a buyer’s market for the first half of 2013 with employers in the box seat, secondly a focus on productivity will see many employees asked to shoulder more responsibility, and thirdly, culture management and building will be top of mind following head count losses in 2012.

TRY BEFORE YOU BUY we have seen that candidates are also Both employers and candidates are using “There is a candidate open to temporary assignments due to temporary assignments as way to a try the flexibility and increased demand from out new roles before committing to a pool only interested in employers. Candidates are therefore, permanent position, according to research temporary assignments also using temporary assignments

by Hays. because many people want to their advantage and to see if they “Where employers cannot appoint like the employer before making a full permanently, they are increasingly greater flexibility commitment,” says Deligiannis. looking at other solutions such as in their working Previous research into Australia’s temporary assignments,” says Nick contingent workforce late last year also Deligiannis, Managing Director of Hays in arrangements which can showed candidates were increasingly Australia. mean a better work/life recognising the benefits of temporary “Temporary workers are also a longassignments. balance or a chance to term strategy for some employers, with “Our survey revealed that about half some extending the initial contract period advance their career.” of candidates, or 49.8%, say temporary … [That] can be a good way for employers assignments give them the ability to to also ‘try before they buy’ and make sure gain experience and make vital contacts within a particular the candidate is the right fit.” company of interest,” said Deligiannis. “There is a candidate According to the Hays Quarterly Report, there has been a pool only interested in temporary assignments because many noticeable increase in temporary workers in the construction people want greater flexibility in their working arrangements industry and as the new school year hits there will also be which can mean a better work/life balance or a chance to strong demand for temporary teachers. advance their career.”

More IT employers are also taking employees on a contract According to the survey, employers also no longer view basis in order to get them on board rather than waiting for their temporary workers as a quick fix but integral to their businesses own internal process for permanent hires due to the length of and 31.2% of organisations say they consider temporary workers time involved. to be a key component of a long-term staffing strategy.

“In some professions, such as Architecture, for example,

8 February 2013 recruitment extra

News

CREATING A BUZZ Using the word ‘creative’ can make a resume look fairly uncreative when you take into account the fact that this adjective is the most overused buzzword on LinkedIn profiles both in Australia and worldwide. In 2011 ‘creative’ topped the ranking and after a brief interlude in 2012 when ‘extensive experience’ took the top spot, ‘creative’ is back in vogue again.

The top 10 buzzwords that appear most in Aussie profiles include: 1. Creative 2. Effective 3. Motivated 4. Extensive experience 5. Track record 6. Innovative 7. Responsible 8. Analytical 9. Communication skills 10. Positive For a global flavour, here are the 2012 number one buzzwords for countries in which LinkedIn fielded this study: • Australia: Creative • Brazil: Experimental

Workplace bullying rife Bullying and harassment is the biggest issue individuals have to contend with in the workplace, according Queensland law firm Trilby Misso. Whilst their online survey found 29% cited stress and burnout as the most serious workplace issues and 21% pointed to health and safety risks in their jobs, bullying far outweighed both in terms of numbers, with 50% of respondents saying bullying and harassment was their biggest problem at work.

“Society often associates bullying with schoolchildren but bullying perpetrated by adults in the workplace is now among the most common complaints we receive from people seeking personal injury compensation,” said Trilby Misso Principal Lawyer Robyn Davies.

“A recent federal parliamentary committee report found at least 7% of Australian workers have experienced workplace bullying and it could be costing the national economy up to $36 billion a year through absenteeism and diminished performance.”

Davies said while there is greater awareness of workplace bullying and some improved laws and procedures, the onus was still on employers to address the problem through proactive management by their human resource departments.

“Unfortunately, I have found in claims

I have dealt with involving government employees or employees in large organisations that the HR department was a toothless tiger and managers perpetrating bullying and harassment did so unrestrained with the complaints of victims ignored,” she said. “I suspect victims of bullying in smaller workplaces where HR is less formalised simply move on because there is nowhere else to turn.”

Davies, who is currently dealing with eight workplace bullying claims, said the problem was not confined to any age group or industry.

“Some people can face every working day knowing they will be subject to unjustified criticism, a ridiculously heavy workload or marginalisation from co-workers which can lead to anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorders and, unfortunately, sometimes even suicide,” continued Davies. “Workplace bullying often goes unpunished because the victims are too embarrassed to come forward and when they do complain it can be after suffering years of abuse.”

Davies said she supported calls for a national approach against workplace bullying and for Queensland to match Victoria and introduce legislation making it a criminal offence.

• Canada: Creative • Egypt: Multinational • France: Responsible • Germany: Creative • India: Effective • Indonesia: Multinational • Italy: Responsible • Malaysia: Motivated • Netherlands: Creative • New Zealand: Creative • Saudi Arabia: Motivated • Singapore: Creative • South Africa: Motivated • Spain: Specialised • Sweden: Creative • Switzerland: Analytical • United Arab Emirates: Motivated • United Kingdom: Motivated • United States: Creative

Golden oldies Businesses that hire a mature-aged worker can now receive a new $1,000 bonus from the Australian Government as part of a package of initiatives to increase mature-age participation in the workforce.

Although it has been estimated that mature-aged workers can save their employers $2,000 a year on average compared to their younger counterparts (because they are often more reliable, loyal, and provide a better return on investment) they still face many barriers to employment.

“There are over 3.8 million mature-age Australians and many want to work,” said Minister for Employment and Participation, Kate Ellis. “We have a wealth of experience and so many talented and dedicated people being overlooked. Matureage Australians represent a huge boost to our economy, they are loyal workers and they are hard workers but they are too often are faced with unnecessary barriers when looking for work.”

Mature-aged workers are out of work for twice as long as their younger counterparts with the average duration of unemployment for people 55 and over standing at 70 weeks. The job bonus is hoped to work as an incentive to encourage businesses to consider mature-age workers as valuable employees.

recruitment extra 2013 February 9

News

More attention on retention needed According to a recent Hays survey, despite perceived economic uncertainty, approximately one in three Australians will leave their employer in the first one to two years.

The survey found that 31% expect to change jobs every one to two years, 39% consider leaving their employer every two to four years. And 30% indicated they would stay with their employer for five or more years.

“A strategy for retaining your top talent and curbing the turnover of staff has many positive outcomes for a business,” says Nick Deligiannis, Managing Director Hays

in Australia. “Firstly, it can help to prevent the cost of unexpectedly having to replace good staff. As most hiring managers know, the cost of such turnover adds significantly to a company’s expenses.

“While it is difficult to fully calculate the cost of turnover it can often equate to 25% of the average employee salary – and this is a conservative estimate.

“When an employee leaves there is the loss of not only valuable industry knowledge which can contribute to your businesses’ future success, but knowledge about your company, your customers, current projects and past history, which

can take a long time to regain.”

According to Deligiannis, customer and client relations can also be affected by staff turnover and the effect can be felt throughout an entire organisation with other staff having to pick up the workload.

“However, the rate of turnover can be reduced by implementing a few integral but simple retention strategies – and they don’t always involve money. Candidates are also looking for good management, clear career paths and challenges, or even perhaps good relationships at work, to keep them engaged and satisfied with their roles and their employers,” he says.

expect to change jobs every one to two years

consider leaving every two to four years

would stay for five or more years

Outlook positive

for finance and accounting professionals A steady employment market for finance and accounting professionals is expected in the first quarter of 2013, according to CFOs and finance directors surveyed for the Robert Half Financial Employment Report. Thirtyseven per cent of finance executives said they planned to increase their headcount in the first few months of the year, and a further 44% intend to maintain current staff levels. Only 5% said they expected to reduce finance and accounting staff.

In the mining industry 42% of respondents cited plans to add new staff.

In contrast, only 27% of those in financial services said they planned to expand headcount. Financial services companies were also more likely to reduce positions compared with other industries (11% v 5% across other industries).

The survey found that skill shortages persist in finance and accounting with 86% of executives stating it was challenging to

10 February 2013 recruitment extra

find skilled finance professionals. The most difficult functions to fill were in: 1. Financial/management accounting (11%) 2. Accounts payable/receivable (11%) 3. Accountancy (10%) 4. Tax & treasury (10%) 5. Business/financial analysis (8%) David Jones, Managing Director of Robert Half in Asia Pacific, said that after months of subdued hiring in the non-mining states, the job market for finance and accounting specialists had stabilised with greater alignment across WA and QLD with the rest of the Australia. “As choice increases for qualified candidates, companies intending to recruit and retain talent need to ensure they have skilled managers on the front line and that they are considering the right incentives, including non-financial factors such as skill development and career progression,” said Jones.

The research also found that positive sentiment about the Australian economy and business growth prospects is stronger than it was in the second half of 2012. Within commerce and industry 88% of finance executives expressed confidence about their own company’s growth prospects (one third of them “very confident”). In the mining sector 67% of respondents felt “very confident” about their employer’s future (92% were “somewhat” or “very confident”).

In comparison, only 69% of respondents in financial services expressed some level of confidence in their own company (with just 13% “very confident”).

Jones added: “While the majority of Australia’s senior finance professionals feel confident about their company’s economic prospects, we still see evidence of the twospeed economy, with particular strength in the mining industry and weaknesses in financial services.”

News

AUSTRALIA: scarce talent Australia faces being locked-in to its reliance on the resources sector unless businesses in other sectors of the economy make more effort to up-skill and train employees, according to a recent international Grant Thornton study.

The International Business Report (IBR) suggests that Australia is most affected in the world by the scarcity of talent, with more than two thirds of businesses finding it hard to source skilled workers. The fastest-moving sectors credited as major drivers of economic growth beyond the peak of the mining boom, such as hightech and clean-tech, are reporting the most serious recruitment difficulties.

“As an unprecedentedly lengthy election campaign begins, both political parties will need to address the shortfall of skilled workers and how Australia will develop our capacity to compete in innovative sectors,” said Grant Thornton’s Workforce consulting specialist, Rory Gregg.

The research shows that 63% of businesses report a shortage of technical skills, and 70% are citing a lack of required qualifications as a major inhibitor to recruitment plans. According to the study, businesses are now ready to invest in talent to fuel growth but warns that the ongoing dialogue between business, government and education institutions “is not bearing fruit”.

“The research shows that 63% of businesses report a shortage of technical skills, and 70% are citing a lack of required qualifications as a major inhibitor to recruitment plans. ” “In the afterglow of the release of the Asian Century Whitepaper, Australia’s vocal ambitions to move to a more high-tech, clean-tech and service-oriented economy will remain a distant reality if the country does not accelerate investment into the training and up-skilling of its workforce,” said Gregg. “These difficulties are directly impacting Australian businesses’ capacity to take up positions as industry front runners. To compete in these new and growing sectors, Australia needs to address the issue as a matter of priority.

“People talk about R&D spend driving innovation, but the bottom-line is you need to have skilled people to deliver innovative developments. It always comes back to the quality of the people you have, now.”

Gregg urged businesses to get serious about retention of staff and look beyond

current government funded programs and agreements such as the National Agreement for Skills and Workforce Development to fuel innovation and growth.

“Retention of highly skilled staff that will contribute to innovation through planning or execution should be an immediate priority. This may require targeted up-skilling of these staff to ensure they remain engaged and buy into the future growth plans of the business.”

According to Gregg, if access to skilled labour does not improve during 2013, businesses will have no choice but to actively source technical and accredited skills in countries that have greater populations available – namely China and India.

“For business, this can be a positive strategy as their sourcing models may encourage collaboration, alternative ideas, and help work around local regulatory and taxation inhibitors. It will, however, require careful sourcing or partnership models to manage the intellectual risks,” he said.

“We are advising clients to pursue multiple strategies that source skills overseas, up-skill existing employees and engage Government to increase its funding for skills training. Critically, businesses will need to look carefully at their growth strategies, they will need to prioritise activities and these will need to be aligned to their recruitment plans and access to skilled labour.”

recruitment extra 2013 February 11

News

Social media etiquette in the workplace As the misuse of social media infiltrates the workplace, with often negative effects on employees’ privacy, many workers and employers are choosing to either limit their use of social networking sites or turn away from the medium altogether.

A study by AVG Technologies found that six out of every 10 Australian adults who participated in the survey believe privacy in the workplace has been eroded with the proliferation of social media. To prevent personal information from being circulated at work nearly a quarter (23%) now avoided posting on social networks that have caused them privacy concerns, while 25% said they limit their posts.

Michael McKinnon, Security Advisor at AVG Technologies AU, said: “This study highlights the need for a combination of greater education around social media alongside increased attention and care by both employees and employers to their social media etiquette at work.

“And we’re not just talking about

employees remaining responsible for what they post online on social networks, and ensuring it is not bringing themselves or their company into disrepute or harming their colleagues; employers can trip themselves up just as easily when managing the company’s own social media presence. Until everyone is clear about exactly what is and isn’t acceptable online behaviour, trying to enforce policies will fail, leaving the door open to cyber-bullying and invasion of privacy.”

Other key findings for Australia include: • 8% of respondents discovered secret discussions about them online were initiated by colleagues using social media.

• 10% have had embarrassing photos or videos taken at a work event and uploaded onto social media sites.

• A small number of Australian adults (7%) found themselves subjected to unwanted romantic advances through online media.

• 91% believe that sending unpleasant or defamatory remarks to or about a colleague using digital communications constituted cyber-bullying. Other forms of cyber-bullying included posting negative comments on a social media site about a colleague’s appearance at a work event (89%) and criticising a colleague behind their back through email, instant messaging, social media or SMS (85%).

• Cyber-bullying can easily spill over into the workplace with more than half admitting they would confront colleagues in person if they felt they were the victim of cyber-bullying.

• 57% of Australian adults surveyed knew of a comprehensive policy in their workplace which covered cyber-bullying.

• 53% believe their company is responsible for the online behaviour of employees during work hours if they are using their personal social media accounts.

Job search on the go

Mobile visits to SEEK have doubled in the last year, according to seek.com. au with 35% of all traffic to SEEK and 12% of job applications now coming via mobile devices. The SEEK Jobs app for iPhone has recently reached over one million downloads since its release in April and has been rated ninth in Apple’s free ‘App Store Best of 2012’ list – the only Australian job app to make the top 10.

LinkedIn reaches 200 million

In March 2011 LinkedIn announced it had 100 million members, in January 2013 that figure has grown to 200 million with new members continuing to join at a rate of two per second.

Since reaching 100 million members in March 2011, LinkedIn has added 13 new languages, making the site available in 19 languages. Currently, more than 64% of LinkedIn members are located outside the United States and over 37 million members are in Asia Pacific.

12 February 2013 recruitment extra

News

Talent acquires Sterling Talent International has acquired Hong Kong based technology recruitment firm Sterling Search for an undisclosed amount.

Sterling Search’s founder and owner Neil Bullock will be the Executive General Manager for the new entity and will be working closely with Regional Director, Gavin Henshaw, and Head of Business Development for Asia, Glenn Davies.

The acquisition is part of a broader business strategy aimed at establishing the Talent International brand in the APAC region and aligning it with emerging markets and opportunities in China.

CXC Global Management buyout CXC Global has announced the completion of its management buy-out of its Australian operations, led by its existing management team.

Peter Oreb, Director at CXC Global commented: “Having been in the business for over 10 years, I am genuinely excited by the opportunity to help lead the business forward to our next stage of growth. We are celebrating 21 years of business in Australia and see this as an opportunity to continue to grow leveraging off the experience, energy, resources and above all people we have … making a positive impact for our clients and, in turn, delivering greater success for all.”

Due to the nature of the buyout there will be no change to the nature or quality of the services currently being provided where both local and global solutions will continue to be provided.

Humanis Group rebrands Following approval by shareholders at the company’s Annual General Meeting, Humanis Group will change its name on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) to Bluestone Global Limited.

Managing Director, Rabieh Krayem, said the new corporate identity was designed to create a more integrated brand positioning following the successful re-brand of the group’s generalist business division to Bluestone Recruitment – a project that involved the merger of seven trading brands into one.

“Given Bluestone Recruitment comprises 70% of our business, it made sense to evolve our corporate brand and simplify our overall brand architecture. ” ‘We’ve done a lot of work in the last few months from an operational perspective to simplify our business model given our recent acquisition history, which naturally led to reviewing our corporate brand and how well it’s understood by our stakeholders.

“We discovered that there is strong brand equity in our three core trading brands, Bluestone Recruitment, ResCo Services and UltimateSkills,” Krayem said.

“Given Bluestone Recruitment comprises 70% of our business, it made sense to evolve our corporate brand and simplify our overall brand architecture,” Krayem said.

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Reporting & Alerts

ManpowerGroup expands in Asia ManpowerGroup has acquired Asian executive search firm, Legal Futures, for an undisclosed sum. Legal Futures has offices in Hong Kong and Japan. The company will become part of ManpowerGroup’s professional recruitment brand Experis that launched in Hong Kong in 2011.

Managed Services & Factoring

www.tempay.com.au 1300 409 070 recruitment extra 2013 February 13

Online recruitment

Year-on-Year market share for Business and Finance Employment and Training, in All Categories Based on market share of visits to the industry. Monthly rankings for the month of December 2012 This category features online job databases, employment classified websites, employment agencies and human resource management services. It also includes any websites related to job seeking, vocational training and career development.

Rank

Website

Domain

Visits

1

Seek Australia

www.seek.com.au

25.54%

2

Linkedin

www.linkedin.com

16.76%

3

indeed Australia

www.indeed.com.au

4.72%

4

MyCareer

www.mycareer.com.au

4.48%

5

jobrapido Australia

au.jobrapido.com

4.02%

6

CareerOne

www.careerone.com.au

3.91%

7

Australian JobSearch

www.jobsearch.gov.au

2.72%

8

SimplyHired Australia

www.simplyhired.com.au

1.89%

9

Job Seeker

www.jobseeker.com.au

1.74%

10

Woolworths - Careers

www.wowcareers.com.au

1.07%

11

WebJobz

www.webjobz.com

0.74%

12

Star Now Australia

www.starnow.com.au

0.71%

13

Fair Work Online

www.fairwork.gov.au

0.71%

14

Hays Personnel Services

www.hays.com.au

0.63%

15

Jobs.com.au

www.jobs.com.au

0.59%

16

ninemsn Seek

ninemsn.seek.com.au

0.56%

17

Service Seeking

www.serviceseeking.com.au

0.56%

18

jobsearch.com.au

www.jobsearch.com.au

0.54%

19

Mining Australia

www.australia-mining.com

0.52%

20

Coles Group Careers

www.careers.colesgroup.com.au

0.49%

Date

Market Share

Date

Market Share

Nov-11

0.712%

Jun-12

0.769%

Dec-11

0.569%

Jul-12

0.783%

Jan-12

0.756%

Aug-12

0.776%

Feb-12

0.831%

Sep-12

0.781%

Mar-12

0.800%

Oct-12

0.845%

Apr-12

0.758%

Nov-12

0.845%

May-12

0.818%

Dec-12

0.689%

14 February 2013 recruitment extra

News

70% Gold Coast

All work and no play

68% SYDNEY 67%

MELBOURNE PERTH

65%

HOBART ADELAIDE

I can’t get NO satisfaction Respondents to a survey by InsideTrak on overall job satisfaction have given the Federal Government a top rating of 70% and named it one the most satisfying places to work. The top performing private sector companies were Woolworths, Coles, Bunnings and Qantas. Organisations that performed well consistently had a high rating on company culture. In most instances the second most important factor was opportunities for advancement and the least important was compensation and salary.

In stark contrast to the top rating for Federal Government roles the lowest rating was given to the Tasmanian Government with an average satisfaction rating of 56%. But it was the overall result that revealed only 52% of Australians were currently satisfied in their employment, and the discovery that one in five rated their overall experience as poor or terrible, that interested InsideTrak CEO and Founder, Mike Larsen.

“While these results seem dire and are likely influenced by an unstable global economy and seasonal end-of-year fatigue, they remain an authentic pulse on current Australian employee sentiment,” said Larsen.

“We spend a third of our lives at work and should be fulfilled in our pursuits. People should not be afraid to change their employer if they are unhappy and summer is the time of the year most Australians will start to consider a change.”

For those considering a change the research found that, in terms of industry, the highest ranking areas were Education and Healthcare with both industries rating highly on opportunities for advancement and organisational culture. Mining ranked the highest in terms of compensation and also the greatest level of satisfaction with advancement opportunities. Hospitality was the lowest ranked industry for compensation with 55% rating it as poor or terrible. In addition almost a third (32%) of participants rated their overall employment satisfaction as either poor or terrible.

By region the highest level of overall satisfaction was found on the Gold Coast (70%), closely followed by Sydney (68%) and Melbourne and Perth (67%). Hobart and Adelaide ranked the lowest overall on satisfaction levels (65%) whilst Brisbane ranked the highest in satisfaction levels for compensation (62.5%).

A recent survey of Australian big business has shown that one in five employers intend to use ongoing training and development to engage employees in 2013 while only 2.6% will offer financial incentives.

The survey of 192 Australian businesses, 90% of which had more than 100 employees, found the top three methods to engage employees were ongoing training and development (22.4%), rewards and recognition (13.5%), and career progression (12.5%). Both open internal communications (7.3%) and flexible working conditions (8.3%), were also marked as key employee engagement tools. Just 2.1% of employers said they would use practices that make the workplace fun, despite one fifth of employers stating that workplace culture is the most significant reason why they have been unable to retain employees in the past 12 months.

“Employers in today’s economic environment are stripping their business back to basics when it comes to rewarding employees. ” In terms of how employers would be utilising rewards strategies over the next 12 months over half (55%) responded stating that they will be adopting a total rewards approach which is a combination of programs and practices to attract, motivate and retain employees. Of those businesses using a total reward model, 40% planned to link employee benefits to performance.

Kenelm Tonkin, Chairman of Tonkin Corporation, said: “Employers in today’s economic environment are stripping their business back to basics when it comes to rewarding employees, with financial incentives and workplace culture both now low on the agenda. Choosing to invest in training and career progression will result in both parties getting a valuable return in the relationship; employers however need to gauge what works best for them by listening to staff and assessing what has worked well in the past.”

recruitment extra 2013 February 15

NSW State Review

STATE OF THE STATES:

NEW SOUTH WALES We asked commentators from across the industry to make some predictions on the job market in New South Wales for 2013.

Hudson:

My Career:

Employment trends 2013: Permanent Hiring Expectations NSW Key Findings • New South Wales is the third most positive region in Australia and positive hiring expectations are up 0.7pp to 27.0% — the first noticeable shift forward in increasing headcount since Q2 2011 • Six out of 10 employers intend to keep headcount steady • 12.3% intend to decrease headcount

Employment Forecast NSW Business employment intentions are still positive (+3.2 in June 2012), which is about the same as the national level. This, combined with an improvement in the economy, means the outlook is better, with jobs forecast to be growing by 1.1% on an annual basis by August 2013.

Business employment intentions are still positive and the outlook is for jobs growth to pick up by August 2013 to 0.4%.

Insights • NSW economy grew at 0.1% and it was the only state to record growth apart from Western Australia.1 Although there are signs that hiring expectations in NSW are improving with very modest jobs growth recorded in the last two quarters,2 many employers still exhibit a ‘wait and see’ approach with many organisations delaying hiring decisions until there is a clear improvement in trading conditions.

NORTHERN TERRITORY QUEENSLAND WESTERN AUSTRALIA

VICTORIA

NEW SOUTH WALES 1 2

ANZ Research, ANZ Job Advertisements Series, viewed 05 December 2012.

MyCareer, Employment Forecast, November 2012 Edition.

TASMANIA

The NSW Treasury and market economists expect employment to grow by around 0.6% in 2012/13 before picking up to 1.2% in 2013/14.

- Australian Industry Group

16 February 2013 recruitment extra

QUEENSLAND WESTERN AUSTRALIA

VICTORIA

Manpower: Employment Outlook: NSW The latest Manpower Employment Outlook survey results revealed employers in NSW predict a subdued start to the year, reporting a Net Employment Outlook (NEO) of +6% for the first quarter of 2013. Down from +16% at the same time last year and two percentage points below the national Outlook of +8%, the sentiment is likely to continue for the first half of this year.

The survey found 19% of employers in NSW expect to increase hiring in the first quarter of 2013, while 13% plan to decrease hiring and the remainder (67%) expect to make no changes.

The NSW employment market is being tempered by the slowdown in the resource sector, however there is an underlying optimism from many businesses and employers that it will pick up toward the end of the year.

Skills sets that were in high demand last year, including trade workers, are now on the decline as the hold on mining and construction projects take effect. Many supply and manufacturing companies linked to the mining industry are reporting that their books are strong but customers are telling them to hold off on work for the next three to six months.

The recent spate of State government budget cuts is likely to impact on public sector jobs this year, particularly on the contingent labour force employed there. Interestingly, at a local government level there has been no slowdown in job orders.

The continued roll-out of the NBN will increase demand for specialised skills sets, however there is growing concern that the Australian market will not have enough suitable workers to fill these roles. TAFE and federal government are working to ensure there are enough people adequately trained to do the work, however there may be a need to import labour.

We are seeing pockets of demand and job growth in the state, where ‘micro-sectors’ in certain industries are strong, while the rest of the market is subdued. We expect this ‘multispeed’ labour market to continue into 2013.

• Demand is focused on specialised skills sets, for example, property managers in real estate are in high demand.

• There has been steady growth in the state’s logistics sector, where the industry remains solid and is picking up some of the workers who are coming out of the manufacturing sector.

• The food industry is also strong within the state. Despite many food manufacturers being brought out by overseas consortiums, they are continuing to produce in Australia and drive demand for workers.

• The Health Care and Social Assistance sector already has a shortage of healthcare professionals; this year will see demand for these workers continue to grow.

There have been reports that some commodities are likely to bounce back in 2013, as China’s market starts to pick up after its recent fall and also as India’s market starts to drive demand. This should have a positive impact on Iron Ore and Coal projects and the obvious flow on into goods and services that feed into it.

NEW SOUTH WALES

Australian Industry Group: NSW Labour Market TASMANIA The unemployment and participation rates have remained around 5.1% and 63.4% respectively over the past six months. Jobs growth however remains fragile, with employment growing by just 0.3% over the year to the month of December. A large number of jobs returned to accommodation and food services, information media and telecommunications and in manufacturing in 2012, after suffering falls in employment in the preceding two years. On the other hand, a number of jobs have been lost over the past year in public administration and safety, construction, and retail trade. The labour price index was 3.5% higher over the year to the September quarter, the slowest rate of growth recorded in the country.

Employment growth looks likely to moderate further in the near-term with the job vacancy rate (that is, the number of job ads as a proportion of the active labour force) falling in recent months. Newspaper and internet job advertisements were 28% (ANZ Job Ads series) and 12% (SEEK new internet job ads series) lower over the year to December respectively.

NSW Labour Market: The Outlook The NSW Treasury and market economists expect employment to grow by around 0.6% in 2012/13 before picking up to 1.2% in 2013/14. The NSW Treasury has revised down its forecasts for employment growth since the 2012/13 Budget (published in May) and currently expects employment growth of just 0.75% in 2012/13 and 1.0% in 2013/14. Deloitte Access Economics is currently forecasting slightly slower employment growth in 2012/13 and growth of around 1% in 2013/14. The NSW unemployment rate is expected to remain at around 5.2% in 2013/14 before returning towards 5.0% in 2014/15. This moderate level of unemployment is expected despite the weak outlook for NSW employment growth, due to recent declines in labour force participation (for cyclical, demographic and other reasons).

Current forecasts by the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations suggest a large share of the jobs created in NSW over the next few years will continue be concentrated in health care and social assistance, professional, scientific, technical services, construction, and mining. The Department expects NSW manufacturing to lose another 33,000 jobs over the five years to 2016/17.

recruitment extra 2013 February 17

HR news

HR REPORT recruitment extra's monthly update on the latest news, reports and opinions on what’s happening in HR nationally, trends from overseas and briefs on the activities of equal opportunity organisations, employers, EO tribunals and agencies and governments.

Reporter: Jane Dillon

Multiculturalism survey for ASX ASX200 CEOs and board members will be regularly surveyed to assess their capacity to capitalise upon multiculturalism in an effort to arrest labour market shortages caused through skill shortages, the ageing population, and global labour market competition. The inaugural Diversity Council of Australia (DCA) study will survey business leaders about their cultural background and identity, their global experience and their views on their organisation's capacity to capitalise on cultural diversity. DCA says it will use the data to "benchmark human capital performance in order to better realise the business benefits of diversity".

Called ‘Capitalising on Culture: A National Survey of Australian Business Leaders’, the research is sponsored by PricewaterhouseCoopers, the Department of Immigration and Citizenship and ANZ and has the endorsement of the Australian Government's Australian Multicultural Council. DCA will conduct it biennially.

DCA CEO Nareen Young said "harnessing cultural diversity in Australia and from abroad [was] essential to meeting" Australia's labour market needs. "Australia already has a rich cultural diversity which the survey results will identify and make it easier for businesses to know how to capitalise on culture," she said.

Survey sponsor PwC conducted a global talent survey in 2012 which found only 30% of CEO respondents were very confident they had access to the talent needed to execute their company's strategy, and just under half said recruitment had become more difficult.

Young said the survey would create a baseline for companies to make decisions about "the talent and innovation challenge".

Federal Minister for Multicultural Affairs Kate Lundy said the survey would provide an "invaluable foundation from which to maximise benefits of our multicultural nation."

Disability wage test 'discriminatory' The Federal Government has suspended the 'competency' test used to determine disabled workers' wages after a Full Court of the Federal Court found it was discriminatory.

A Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA) spokesperson told HRR the assessments had been suspended while the government applied to the High Court seeking leave to appeal against the decision.

Two intellectually and physically disabled men, Gordon Prior and Michael Nojin, successfully argued they were discriminated against. Both filed claims in the Federal Court in February 2009 alleging unlawful discrimination under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992. Victoria-based Prior is legally blind and has a mild-tomoderate intellectual disability. Stawell Intertwine Services Inc, an Australian Disability Enterprise (ADE), employed him on less than $3 an hour to maintain gardens. NSW-based Nojin has cerebral palsy, a moderate intellectual disability and epilepsy. He earned $1.85 an hour destroying documents for ADE Coffs Harbour Challenge Inc. The employers used the business services wage assessment tool (BSWAT), which measures disabled workers' competency and productivity, to determine their pay. Prior and Nojin argued the tool compared disabled people without intellectual disabilities to those with intellectual disabilities, meaning those with intellectual disabilities would always recover less. They claimed their employers discriminated against them because of their intellectual disability, and denied or limited their access to certain employment benefits.

Prior and Nojin alleged the Federal Government was involved in

18 February 2013 recruitment extra

the discrimination because it approved the BSWAT and distributed information about it. The government said it would bear the liability if the employers were liable.

On September 16, 2011, Justice Peter Gray dismissed both claims, finding Prior and Nojin were no less able than a non-intellectually disabled person to comply with the requirements and it was reasonable for their wages to be assessed using the BSWAT. The pair appealed to the Full Federal Court. In a split December 21, 2012 decision, the court upheld Nojin and Prior's appeal and granted them declaratory relief. Justice John Buchanan said the BSWAT was skewed against intellectually disabled workers. "[They] are placed ... at a disadvantage, which prevents effective compliance," he said.

"The practical consequence of BSWAT appears to be wages are reduced below the level that would otherwise be applied." Justice Anna Katzmann agreed. "The BSWAT may be fair in its application to some disabled employees. Powerful evidence was given in these cases, however, that it was unfairly skewed against the intellectually disabled."

However, Justice Geoffrey Flick said the appeal should be dismissed. He found Prior and Nojin did not establish the requirements or conditions they relied on were “not reasonable”.

FaHCSIA defended the assessment tool. "The BSWAT has been independently assessed as an appropriate and accurate way of measuring the competency and productivity of employees with disability," a spokesperson said.

(Nojin v Commonwealth of Australia [2012], FCAFC 192, 21/12/ 2012)

HR news

Reactions split on new discrim laws Council of Small Business Australia CEO Peter Strong has accused the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) of falsifying figures to politicise discrimination complaints and justify antidiscrimination law reform, in an exclusive interview with HRR. Strong said he had “no faith” in AHRC as the regulator and alleged it had exaggerated claims that a “significant number of discrimination complaints came from small business”. “It’s not like we have an avalanche of complaints in Australia, so reforming discrimination laws is just an overreaction,” he said.

He further alleged that AHRC “politicising” of discrimination complaints “sets up a belief with young people that they will be discriminated against which is just not true” and was creating a climate where employers thought it was best to “pay [the complainant] to make it go away”. He said consolidating the five acts covering discrimination laws into one Bill had merit only if the laws were applied equally. He said the proposed introduction of sharing the burden of proof for a complaint would unfairly disadvantage small business owners as they would now be forced to defend complaints. He said the cost of defending discrimination complaints was significantly higher for small business, which made a “failed approach”.

AHRC president Professor Gillian Triggs hit back hard at Strong's allegations calling them "seriously out of line". She said all complaint and financial figures were audited by the federal audit office and reported to the attorney-general and parliament.

She dismissed his allegations outright and said she would discuss them with him to "allay the fears of small business". She said AHRC wanted to have a "strong and positive relationship" with small business, and that exemptions to the draft Bill had been included specifically for them.

Triggs said the cmn would have "increased capability" to refuse to accept complaints that were frivolous or without merit and that if a business was using the AHRC code of practice the complaint could be refused. She "conceded" the cost of defending claims may increase for small businesses if they choose to seek legal advice to defend a complaint, but AHRC would be refusing unreasonable complaints and ones that did not meet minimum requirements prior to needing any response from the defendant employer. She said concerns some people had about the introduction of shared burden of proof was ill placed.

Maurice Blackburn employment lawyer Emmeline Gaske told HRR concerns about where the burden of proof lay were "unnecessarily inflammatory" and courts would continue to view vexatious claims dimly. She said the provisions of the new Bill meant if a complaint was accepted by the AHRC the employer would "need to demonstrate how and why the action wasn't discriminatory, so it's reasonable they should assume responsibility for explaining why their action didn't discriminate against protected provisions". "They also have greater access to documents than employees, so are in a better position to argue their position.

Realistically the employer is in the best position to know how and why it made decisions." She said the new Bill would mirror burden of proof measures under the Fair Work Act, which she said were "working effectively".

Engineering apprentices target of tripled employer bonus A $57.5 million scheme designed to bring an additional 21,000 apprentice into the workforce has been expanded for the next four weeks.

Skills minister Chris Evans announced that the Federal Govt has added nine more engineering trades to the Kickstart Initiative. The expansion will triple the incentives made to eligible employers in the first year of taking on an engineering apprentice. The move has been met with enthusiasm by the Australian Industry Group.

Evans said in addition to the routine $1,500 paid to employers who take on engineering apprentices, eligible employers would also receive an extra $3,350 if the apprentice was taken on before February 28.

A spokesperson for Evans told HRR the timing of the expanded program was designed for "maximum uptake" by school leavers and to align with TAFE start dates. She said the expansion was "to ensure there are sufficient apprentices to meet the forecast growth in demand for tradespeople in the building and engineering fields, preventing future skills shortages". She said projections showed an upturn in the housing sector in 2014-15. To date the program has supported employers who have put on 46,000 new apprentices.

AiG CEO Innes Willox welcomed the change saying it was a "necessary investment in this important part of the economy".

“Almost every sector of the economy utilises engineering skills in some way and it underpins much of our economic growth - including in the resources sector. It is also a skills base that takes considerable developmental time and we need to ensure we maintain this pipeline of skills growth,” Willox said.

Productivity 'high road' needed Australia must take the "productivity high road" if it is to reverse its declining productivity, according to a McKell Institute report.

Rather than taking the "low road of cost-cutting, lay-offs and cuts to working conditions" government, industry and unions must work together to "improve management capability and focus on workforce development and upskilling to deliver productivity growth", the report said. The report further added that with a more dynamic approach "Australia can improve productivity while growing businesses and wages".

It attributed Australia's productivity decline to an increase in total employment coupled with a decline in output growth caused by the global financial crisis, and a failure of Australian businesses to innovate. However, the main driver was "large falls in productivity in a small number of specific industries, notably mining, utilities and agriculture". The report said policy measures including new business models, transformative management practices driven by management education, and improvements to skills formation and skills utilisation were urgently needed to arrest productivity decline.

Australian Industry Group Chief Executive Innes Willox told HRR the peak business body agreed "a key issue for domestic productivity is improved linkages between education, research and business to help drive innovation". Willox said it was an issue AiG and others had "been raising for many years" and he hoped will now be acted on.

HR Report is an independent fortnightly new service published by Thomson Reuters. The service is available in paper and email format. For further details visit: www.thomsonreuters.com.au/hr-report-email.

recruitment extra 2013 February 19

Opinion

The slow moving beast Simon Boulton, Director, Aequalis Consulting takes a look at the latest unemployment figures and asks what it all means for the recruitment market

W

hen the latest unemployment figures were released last month, the unemployment rate had ticked up to 5.4% over the course of December. The numbers, which are released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics each month, have a strong bearing on fundamental economic decisions, usually interest rates, and far reaching effects on currency exchange rates, stock market movements and fiscal policy itself. But what sits behind these numbers in the recruitment market?

The fact is that come rain, hail or shine the number of good candidates remains the same. Demand for this pool ebbs and flows, but the amount of talent in the pool remains constant.

Over the last 34 years our unemployment rate has averaged 6.9%.

At its height, in 1992, it was 10.9%, and hit a record low of 4% in 2008. The recent trend, over the last 12 months, has been up and down between 5.2% and 5.4%. Whilst the rate is relevant to recruiters, it doesn’t give a sophisticated insight to either hiring or job seeking.

Even with rising unemployment organisations still hire. At our record low of 4% people were still leaving jobs; the supply demand dynamics are simply not clear cut.

You will have often heard the phrases “candidate shortage”, “skills gap” and,

20 February 2013 recruitment extra

my personal favourite, “war on human capital”. The fact is that come rain, hail or shine the number of good candidates remains the same. Demand for this pool ebbs and flows, but the amount of talent in the pool remains constant. Periods of high demand fuel liquidity; people start moving jobs, someone leaves and they get replaced. In a small market like ours it doesn’t take much for this to drive spikes in hiring activity. The musical chairs shuffle, so someone from Westpac leaves for ANZ. ANZ hires someone from CBA and so on. Of course there are exceptions to this, we have a high number of foreign nationalities in the workforce, and Australia remains a way for workers to come and live the dream!

This transient workforce is hard to quantify. Recruitment businesses often build platforms on temporary divisions and this ‘hidden’ component is again hard to reflect in labour figures.

Looking at month by month changes in the statistics of unemployment can give a snapshot of a much slower moving beast. The facts are that as the financial performances of companies weaken, there is an increased focus on costs. People are one of an organisations highest costs and a cost that be ‘easily’ reduced. Organisations are under cost pressure and hiring has slowed, no question. The tightening has led to job cuts; there are fewer jobs out there. Workforces are going through significant change, automation continues, technology enables more to be done with less. Centralising, hubbing, offshoring, business transformation, efficiencies – these are all having a significant part to play in contributing to fluctuations in unemployment.

So what does this increase actually

People are one of an organisations highest costs and a cost that can be ‘easily’ reduced. mean? Clients are talking about hiring freezes and candidates are too cautious to move. Hiring managers are desperate to recruit, but are told they can’t; job seekers are desperately looking but can’t find anything. What is perhaps most often overlooked is retention.

Even when there are job cuts taking place, organisations need to keep their good people and this creates another dimension. Specialist skills will continue to be in high demand bucking any consistency in broader numbers.

Simon Boulton is Director of Aequalis Consulting, with offices in Sydney and Melbourne. Simon has more than 15 years of recruitment experience in London and Sydney. In 2008 Simon joined Aequalis Consulting as a Director. At Aequalis he provides tailored strategies for companies in various industries to attract and retain the most talented professionals in the market, as well as the overall management of Aequalis Consulting. Simon provides comment regularly in news and trade media, including Daily Telegraph, Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, Weekend Australian, recruitment extra, HR Daily and Sky Business News.

In media

GO MOBILE or get out of the race

By Mike De Vile, Agency Head WA, Reagent Employer Marketing

F

or the last five years’ or so the start of every year has been greeted with an article speculating that this really is the year of the mobile. There are more reasons to believe that 2013 could actually be the year that employers need to invest in a mobile site. Allow me to explain.

NBN Co has set its sights on delivering super-fast fibre-optic broadband to 93% of Australia, with the remaining 7% covered by satellite and fixed wireless (a bit like a pocket WiFi but on a grander scale). It’s because of this scale that, in 2011, NBN Co drafted in Ericsson, who are rather good at developing networks for remote locations, to help them roll out its LTE 4G network.

Now we’re on the subject of 4G, it’s been hard to avoid the noise the telecommunications companies are making about their investment in the speed of their network and the rollout and coverage of 4G. Just in case you live under a rock, here are the headlines: Telstra is planning on investing $500 million, Optus $2 billion and Vodafone $1 billon over the next two years, which is big news for the power of your mobile.

As the first to launch their 4G network into the market, Telstra already has a strong foothold and has coverage in over 100 locations including the CBDs of every major city. Telstra boasts its 4G network already covers 40% of Australia. In 2013, your mobile will be more powerful than ever before, and it will only get faster and faster!

Research performed by AIMIA predicts that in 2013 more than 84% of people in Australia will own a Smart Phone, compared to 67% in 2011. With the likes of Samsung, Nokia and HTC all producing more affordable handsets, some for less than $40 per month or $150 on pre-pay,

this figure will likely be closer to 90% by the end of the year.

Combing all of this means more people will be using their mobile phones for more than texting and calling. Between 2010-2012 the growth in mobile phone use has seen a 25% increase in sending and receiving emails, 21% gathering information and 20% visiting websites, and/or searching or browsing the internet.

In terms of specific activities, 23% of all activity use for mobile is to search for job opportunities. That alarm bell you hear isn’t a call from another lost candidate, it’s the realisation that 2013 is the year to get serious about mobile.

Not convinced, I will continue.

Seek reported in November 2012 that 35.4% (just over 7 million people) of all visits are now from mobile devices, which represents a 208% year-on-year growth.

In the graduate market, GradConnection reported that in 2012 12% of its site’s traffic was from mobile. And little old Google predicts that 50% of all its web traffic will come via a mobile in 2013.

Most people are using their mobile on the move (85%) and the most popular times of the day are 7-9am, 11am-1pm and 8-10pm. Therefore you can assume that on the train into work the talent you are looking to attract to your company is looking for their next career move, on their mobile.

Taking a closer look at the analytics for the careers websites of some of our resources clients reveals that mobile traffic ranges from 6%-32% which, combined, totals almost 90,000 visits per year.

Between them they are competing for very similar talent and often in a very similar geographic location.

Imagine you are recruiting for a Mining Engineer, you’ve got a careers website and

you’re investing heavily in a print and online campaign to attract the right talent. Your target audience lives a busy life and only finds time to search for their next career move during their lunch break. They see your ad and want to find out more so they type the address into their browser on their mobile. Your site comes up but because your site hasn’t been built in a way that renders the page correctly on their Smart Phone, you’ve lost their interest!

It’s a very real scenario and one that employers will need to address before it’s too late.

So, where to start. You need to find out who is accessing your site and what device they are using – typically, the majority of visits come from an iPhone. Does your site currently render on a Smart Phone and is the information easily accessible? How will your candidates take their interest further?

Answering these questions should give you a good idea of where you currently stand.

Investing the time and money now could save you playing catch up, just look at Optus and Vodafone!

Mike De Vile is Agency Head, Western Australia, for Reagent Employer Marketing. He has spent the last 25 years working with organisations throughout the UK, New Zealand and Australia to identify what makes them unique in the market and helping them to bring this to life at all stages in the employee lifecycle – from initial awarenessbuilding, through recruitment marketing, onboarding and internal communications and utilising all forms of media.

recruitment extra 2013 February 21

Feature

Bulletproof

By Nicholas Beames, CEO and Founder of astutepayroll.com

Australia came out of the GFC relatively unscathed and in some ways stronger. We, however, are not out of the woods totally and persistent gloomy talk of upcoming economic trouble is everywhere.

I’ve been a business owner through a couple of downturns, not recessions as such. My experiences, both good and bad, are burned into my memory. It’s these experiences I call on to provide some proverbial armor to help you bulletproof your business and start 2013 strong.

Get on top of your cash flow You have heard this before, and you know it’s true: “Cash flow is the killer of small businesses” and only through regular finance meetings (weekly for recruitment firms) can you really get to understand your cash flow.

There are many ways to improve cash flow, such as leasing instead of buying, negotiating new terms with suppliers, chasing outstanding debts, etc. Cash flow is, of course, tied to profit and profit can be boosted in three ways: more sales, higher prices, and lower costs – all of which are still possible in a tight time. But first of all, know your own figures.

Seriously consider invoice financing.

There are some really good and innovative suppliers in the Australian space. One of the newest is earlypay and my firm, astutepayroll.com, partners with them through our online workforce management and invoicing application. earlypay charge fixed fees and allow you to vary the level of funding you need from week-to-week.

Some weeks you might need 80% of your invoicing value and other week’s maybe only 50%. It’s a great option if you need to get your hands on the cash quickly.

Build-in flexibility and connect like never before If your business and marketing plans were formed when times were overwhelmingly positive, they will need to change. Avoid

22 February 2013 recruitment extra

commitment to fixed long-term costs or splashing out on large items. Also, review your main costs and consider alternatives.

When it comes to marketing remember 2013 is the year for starting or hopefully maintaining your social media strategy.

Make sure your ‘digital footprint’ is what you want it to be. You can be sure customers, candidates, and prospective employees are going straight to Google and searching for you and your business.

Try it yourself and see what comes up because this is what sets the impression of you and your business. If you can’t see all your achievements and core messages then you need to work on your website and your social media pages. For example check out my firm’s digital footprint by heading to Google and searching for “astutepayroll.com”. As a result of years of focus and constant tweaking your result return includes more than 10 pages of hits including every award we have won, all our core messages, and – most importantly – the ‘feeling’ and ‘impression’ we want people to form of us.

I firmly believe that LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook are the best friends a Recruiter can have. They are pretty-much free and when used properly extend your reach to an unlimited level. If you don’t know how to seriously make use of these tools search on Google for free webinars and book yourself in for some free learning.

Lastly remember the more options you have the better.

your

Adapt your recruitment offering Think about how you have been making money over the last 12 months and question if you will be able to do that in 2013 and beyond.

If your business is based on winning tenders or through the provision of service to a small number of big companies then you are likely to feel the pinch this year.

Also, look carefully at your current client list and consider how strong it is likely to be over the next 12 months. Regular buyers might become less frequent and good payers can turn bad.

Talk to the banks – all of them I have always said that the best time to see your bank manager is when you don’t need them, not when you do. Banks don’t like surprises and won’t be rushed, so even if you are feeling flush it is a good time to start discussing your business with your bank and seriously consider reaching out to a few others and see what they can offer.

If you haven’t provided them with information on the business during the good times, then it will be harder for

Feature

Business you than for someone who has been.

Remember that banks are conservative by nature and need time to get used to ideas.

Pursue your debts This might be a tough time for some of your clients and you might have to be a little choosier when accepting business.

However, if you feel that you can’t turn the business away, then build in some safeguards. Check your terms and conditions are clear and legal, and ensure your credit control process is working. But also be prepared to see things from your client’s point of view.

Trim the fat You need to thoroughly review your business on a regular basis and find ways to cut costs. Often the biggest cost to a business is employing staff and this means making some tough calls.

Check that you haven’t got people that are twiddling their thumbs or that are working on projects that aren’t profitable. Nearly all companies can reduce labor costs by at least 15% if they carry out a thorough review.

Outsourcing is one way to reduce overheads. Successful Recruiters are identifiable by what they don’t have – lots of back office operational staff and other non-sales staff. The number one biggest back office cost to a recruitment firm is managing payroll. It is possible to obtain online software that totally automates the process of managing your workforce from compliance, timesheets, expenses and award interpretation though to invoicing and payroll. Recruitment firms pay a fraction of the cost of hiring an extensive back office to use the software themselves with just one staff member, or they can outsource actual processing as well.

Sell, sell, sell…

Don’t start taking resources away from advertising or marketing budgets, or try to save money by reducing sales commissions. On the contrary, this is the time to be really focusing on bringing in the business – and the business owners and managers need to be intimately involved.

Bond with your team Never forget your team and be aware that tight or uncertain times make staff nervous. They have mortgages and rents to pay, and people can get very emotional if they think their future is in jeopardy.

Remember, it has been many years since there was an economic recession downturn in Australia, almost two decades in fact, so many won’t have experienced one before. You are by no means a charity, but use this time to develop loyalty from your best staff – after all they are relying on you just as much as you are on them.

Nicholas Beames is the CEO and Founder of astutepayroll. com. In 2006 Nicholas founded astutepayroll.com and, with his business partner Marcus Webb, has grown the company into the largest online Temp & Contractor management application provider in Australia. Nicholas has completed post graduate studies in Commerce, Accounting and Business with Sydney University and is completing an MBA with Southern Cross University. He is a Fellow of the AHRI, a Fellow of the RCSA, and a Member of the AICD.

recruitment extra 2013 February 23

Feature

How to succeed in a slow market,

without reducing fees T

By Stefano Masiello, CXC Global

he global economy can be described as an unpredictable creature. At one moment it moves along at a fast pace, where everything flows nicely and recruitment agencies enjoy robust business, then the breaks are applied suddenly. Global businesses must structure their operations in such a way that the business can easily adjust to the changes in economic conditions, without financial loss through price slashing.

Putting strategies in place that will prepare your company for the eventual economic downturn will allow business to go on as usual without resulting in a financial nightmare. Complacency, especially during the fast period, is the vehicle that will transport your business to the path of failure in a slow market. Only companies that produce a premium service can realistically seek to ask clients to pay the same prices during a slow period. Below are some measures you can adopt to ensure your agency remains successful in a slow market without reducing your fees.

1. Increase your visibility. Avoid being dependent on any one medium to bring in the clients.

It is good business sense to take advantage of new and emerging networks that are popular among the people.

Businesses and contractors are becoming avid users of social networking sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn. They use these mediums to have direct contact with their connections. This means you will be able to source both job seekers and businesses as clients from the same sites.

2. Use the good times to build credibility.

Use your presence on the various social networking sites and through other mediums to build your agency’s credibility. People have no problem spending money, even in downtimes, if they know they will be getting value for their money. Being a trusted, established member on various sites during fast periods will gain you credibility. This will

24 February 2013 recruitment extra

help you during the slow times as you will have become known as an agency that delivers what they promise.

3. Automate your business.

We live in an age where people value and demand efficiency. Taking too long to acknowledge and respond to a job application or a business’ request for a candidate to fill a job position, does not equate to value for money. Manually managing volumes of applications and requests will likely result in oversights and mistakes that will only irritate and disgruntle clients.

4. Build talent pools.

Divide and record your job seekers into talent pools. Store each pool in separate data banks. This will allow you to easily respond to any request for a candidate to fill a position. You will also be able to keep track of the number of clients you have in each pool.

5. Maintain communication.

As a recruiter, you know what it feels like to be valued or not valued by a client. You may have been given the job to supply candidates to fill positions at a business, only to find later that the client had gone and contracted another agency to fill the positions because you were taking too long. That leaves you with a bunch of candidates that you will now have to tell that there will be no job.

Communication bridges the gap between you and your clients. Your clients feel valued when you stay in touch with them and let them know what is happening.

This again demonstrates the usefulness of social networking sites where you can keep current with your clients, and easily update them on what is happening. This saves you from making individual phone calls which could be costly and time consuming.

6. Give incentives and an added-value service.

Think of low-cost incentives or some added value services that you can offer clients as a part of your package.

It is easier for people to pay the sum

required when an attractive deal is packaged and marketed to them. This way they will see their money buying several benefits as opposed to just one.

Think about things that you know your clients will value. It is useless to make offers that a client cannot benefit from just for the sake of creating a package.

7. Focus on your core business.

Ensure the people within your company are focused on your core business – recruitment. Paperwork and administration can bog you and your staff down, taking you away from selling. Identify areas of your business which are not profit centers such as payroll and administration and outsource them to companies who specialise in these areas.

Outsourcing such functions as payroll, administration and reporting to contractor management companies such as CXC Global can also allow you to provide and promote a superior service to you clients and candidates.

The unpredictable nature of the economy is a reality that businesses must be prepared to deal with. Slashing prices each time the market becomes slow is not a sustainable practice for many businesses, as they still have their expenses to meet. There is no one-sizefits-all or step-by-step strategy that can address this issue when the market slows down, but these general strategies will bring you some good results.

Stefano Masiello is Head of Marketing at CXC Global. He has over 15 years’ experience in Australasia, the Middle East and Europe working primarily with leading ERP and payroll IT organisations. As a qualified Industrial Designer, Marketer and Project Manager, Stefano’s experience ranges from developing online multi-currency solutions, GPS, medical, HR, payroll and superannuation to market turnaround and penetration campaigns for global clients.

Feature

Managing the challenges of 2013

By Raj Sesha, Director SDP Solutions

R

aj looks at some of the potential pitfalls ahead and provides advice on how to manage the changing demands of the marketplace As we proceed into a new year, some of us may feel the pinch on profit margins. Last year the market saw a steady and stable development, however some recruitment agencies still faced cash flow challenges which hindered their growth opportunities. The year ahead may bring some level of uncertainty; however it is imperative not to dwell on the negatives but to look at new and improved ways of doing things. With some industry professionals forecasting that Australia will continue a steady economic growth for 2013, there is some hope that opportunities will arise and that there will be generation of jobs. It is therefore crucial that recruiters maximise their cash flow, and seek to improve back office systems, where necessary, to withstand these prospects.

Companies are now using a greater number of contractors and temporary workers than ever before, and employing a higher number of workers poses increased management challenges. For example, there is more administration, receivables management, policy compliance, contractual obligations and statutory requirements to attend to when managing the contingent workforce. However, recruitment agencies do not have to undertake the pressures of these challenges – outsourcing can be an effective and efficient option. By outsourcing recruiters are able to free up the time spent on administration in order to concentrate on their core business operations and enhance their growth in the marketplace.

From being in the industry of contingent workforce management, we have developed and adapted our company to meet the changing demands of the marketplace and this is essential to remain competitive and to maintain growth. Being resilient to change is what has kept us in the industry today, from our humble beginnings back in 2004.

Two years ago, we were approached by a potential specialist medical recruitment agency employing around 20 temporary medical workers and contractors. Despite having a good workforce base they were having difficulties translating this into profit and were starting to lose contractors to the competition. When investigated, it was discovered that they had cash flow

Outsourcing back office operations also helps improve efficiency and is often a better way to manage all facets of employing contractors. issues and their back office systems were struggling to operate effectively. More specifically they had too many aging receivables, at about 30-35%, which was a result of bad management and administration such as late invoicing to clients and contract, timesheet and payroll disputes – basically there was no organised system in place. It was essential that this company improved their cash flow management. In this case a system was designed that involved contracts for each contractor to ensure invoicing and payroll systems ran systematically.

A package was developed that provided total management of their contingent workforce, including back office services, cash flow management and factoring solutions. This package in turn generated profits and improved cash flow and competitiveness. As a result the agency now employs 80-100 contractors.

Factoring services can ensure better cash flow management for recruiters because invoice factoring enables payments to be made to contractors on time. Outsourcing back office operations also helps improve efficiency and is often a better way to manage all facets of

employing contractors. Outsourcing can reduce costs; it provides one single point of accountability improves risk compliance and allows the company to free up time and resources to concentrate on their core activities, company policies and branding.

Cash flow problems are the bane of most new small and medium contract recruitment agencies. The first couple of months to a year into operations can see many hundreds of thousands of dollars in outgoings. Factoring services can offer a solution to maintaining a healthy cash flow and enhancing and facilitating growth in the market regardless of the conditions.

Adopting new technologies is also an innovative way of embracing growth prospects. There are systems available that allow recruitment agencies to manage contractor management processes in-house, once again freeing up time and resources to concentrate on key recruiting activities.

As we face another year of increased threats of new entrants into the marketplace, do not be left behind the competition, seek better and more efficient ways of operating whether it be maximising cash flow by improving back office systems or implementing new technology. It is important to engage in change and not be afraid to adopt new and innovative business strategies, as the end result will be growth.

Raj Sesha is an Australian Certified Practising Accountant (CPA) who specialises in providing effective contingent workforce solutions to recruitment agencies, independent contractors and corporates across Australia, New Zealand and branch offices of foreign companies operating in Australia. With over 15 years of expertise across the banking and accounting industries, he manages strategic business development, client relationships and strategic cloud initiatives.

Raj leads a dedicated qualified team of CPA’s who provide a professional service to the clients in areas of contractor management, payroll and salary packaging services.

recruitment extra 2013 February 25

Head to head

Rod Hore, HHMC and Nigel Harse, look at what’s in store for the industry in 2013

The business basics must be right for survival, let alone growth Rod: The editor has asked some big questions this month. Maximising cashflow, ensuring processes are efficient, implementing beneficial new technology and positioning yourself for growth are topics that go right to the heart of a business owner’s issues.

Nigel: That’s so true and recruitment is no different to other industries when talking about the importance of getting the business basics right. Given the current economic environment every business needs to take a strong stance in managing its cash and cashflow; cash is king and always will be!

Of course other factors are important too, system and process improvement, staff productivity and retention all need to be continuously evolving and the ability to build customer loyalty and generate new business are just a fact of life if you want to be around for a long time. We both have these conversations within the industry on a regular basis and I’m not expecting it to change any time soon.

Rod: How do you think the recruitment industry rates in these areas?

Nigel: Most people within the industry talk

26 February 2013 recruitment extra

the talk but aren’t so good at walking the walk. Yes they have great ideas and plans but often it’s poor implementation that prevents things from happening or they get busy or hit a bump and then can’t find the time or enthusiasm to deliver to the plan.

Rod: The numbers sometimes look good for an agency but we both get the opportunity to look under the covers and I have to agree, there is often a lack of enthusiasm for continuous systems improvement. Thankfully the RCSA and ITCRA are pushing for certification and quality systems.

improvement. All of these reasons are just an excuse to stay in your comfort zone and staying in your comfort zone for too long will eventually lead to tears.

I think most people enjoy the excitement of ringing the bell and making money. Delivering process improvements isn’t always fun, requires long term attention and discipline and these aren’t generally the strengths of many recruiters. Getting involved in a certification process can help you stay on track and do what needs to be done within a reasonable timeframe.

"Most people within the industry talk the talk but aren’t so good at walking the walk. Yes they have great ideas and plans but often it’s poor implementation that prevents things from happening or they get busy or hit a bump and then can’t find the time or enthusiasm to deliver to the plan."

Nigel: I’m no different to anyone else and accept that change can sometimes be stressful, hard work and at times disruptive but that shouldn’t hold you back or prevent

Rod: There appears to be little rigour around the specification and implementation of new technology for agencies.

Head to head

"The lifecycle of a client will vary as will their needs over a period of time, some of this is predictable but much isn’t so it’s wise not to be too dependent on any set of clients. If you accept this then you must accept the fact that client development and acquisition are the lifeblood of the future."

Technology for agencies is rapidly changing which makes it a confusing time to see clearly what is relevant and what is “noise”. Owners and managers need to be very precise about their requirements so they can decide if they would benefit from new technology – sometimes the existing manual process is the best solution. After technology is chosen comes the daunting task of running an implementation project within time and cost constraints.

2013 will be a big year for technology change within agencies – not just the front-office Applicant Tracking systems, but timesheets, payroll and accounting systems. It is very important to get it right.

New Business Development Nigel: What about new business development? There are some horror stories from 2012.

Rod: It is very sad that some companies have ceased to exist recently. My assessment is that some of those companies have put too much faith in the status quo. They were expecting the industry to stand still and expecting their clients to be stable. Both are false assumptions.

I certainly believe that, from a marketing and sales perspective, you have to assume you are going to lose every client you currently deal with in the short to medium timeframe. They will change their procurement methods, or employ an RPO, or reduce the size of the panel they deal with, or be offered a significantly cheaper solution from the industry, or take recruitment in-house. There are so many options available.

Someone, somewhere in the client organisation is looking at the cost or the effectiveness of their recruitment processes

and agitating for change. Even if they are currently your client, if it is not you who is agitating for the change, you are in danger of being sidelined. It will not matter that you provide a highly regarded service to the organisation – the way the organisation undertakes recruitment will change.

The result is an increasing dependency on new business development. An agency’s client list must be continuously refreshed and growing.

Nigel: You’re right and I have seen some great companies disappear too, they sat on their laurels and thought they were safe and that’s a huge mistake. The lifecycle of a client will vary as will their needs over a period of time, some of this is predictable but much isn’t so it’s wise not to be too dependent on any set of clients. If you accept this then you must accept the fact that client development and acquisition are the lifeblood of the future.

That’s the reason why I always encouraged everyone to get involved in developing new business; it helps safeguard their future and career. It is tough for one person to generate enough business to keep a team busy!

Rod: But it’s always been the case that if you are not a salesperson you don’t understand why the salesperson gets the all the kudos, status and financial rewards.

Nigel: You’re right but the owner understands the importance of new business and is prepared to pay to get it We are starting 2013 with high hopes for those agencies that concentrate on running all aspects of their business, but equally there are dramatically tough times ahead for those that ignore the basics.

Nigel Harse, MDBTWO Nigel commenced his recruitment career in the UK in 1977. In 1990 he came to Australia and launched ECCO Personnel, and in just five years took the company from $7 million to $75 million in sales. The company doubled in size, turnover and profitability each and every year for four years. This Australian subsidiary of the worldwide Ecco Group was consistently ranked within the Top 3 performers.Throughout the 90s Nigel was instrumental in the creation, development and delivery of training for the Special Interest Groups within the NAPC He also served as a Councillor for five years and is a former Vice President of the NAPC (now RCSA). Nigel was appointed as a NonExecutive Director for Catalyst Recruitment in October 2001 and is a Fellow of the RCSA and the Australian Institute of Company Directors. In 2003, Nigel established the Recruitment Industry Benchmark Report (RIB Report) in response to frequent requests from industry members to find a means of comparing the results and successes of peers. Currently, Nigel is a business coach and mentor to recruitment firms throughout Australia and New Zealand.

Rod Hore, Executive Director, HHMC Australia Rod was born and educated in Western Australia and works with organisations throughout Australia and New Zealand from his base in Sydney. Rod has 20 years, experience in the Information Technology industry undertaking a range of sales management and leadership roles. Since 1999 Rod has been the Executive Director of HHMC Australia Pty Ltd providing advisory and M&A services to global, locally listed and private organisations in Australia and New Zealand. Much of Rod’s work is with emerging private companies, providing advisory services to owners who are seeking to define and achieve their growth ambitions.

Rod is an enthusiastic supporter of the Recruitment Industry and is an accomplished presenter on topics related to small business.

recruitment extra 2013 February 27

The Panel

Deb Loveridge

Jane Beaumont

Managing Director Asia Pacific at Randstad

CEO Rubicor Group

In 2013 employers will grapple with the complexities of a multi-speed economy, falling productivity and an increasing need for specialist skills. Randstad’s focus will be on improving our brand promise, our capability and strengths, boosting our RPO and MSP initiatives and ensuring we maintain a sound investment strategy through the economic cycle. Perhaps best described as a set of beliefs about how to win – our strategy in 2013 will be about winning customers, taking market share, producing profit for stakeholders and living our values.

The Randstad WOW Report 2012/2013 showed that boosting performance and productivity will be a major human capital challenge this year, and addressing it won’t be easy. We’ll look at strengthening employee engagement and collaboration, aligning our workforce plan with business strategy and building our middle management capabilities.

Attracting and retaining quality staff will be an increasing issue given limited resources, so Randstad will be investing in our employer brand which we believe provides the bargaining power to draw in talent. While financial health, job security and career development are key drivers for those seeking a job move, if your company cannot pay the highest salary then a strong employer brand can provide a compelling proposition for prospective employees.

This year it’s important to re-think your sourcing strategies and be original. We know that innovative people want to work for innovative companies, where they get to be involved with new projects, hear about new ways of doing things and where new ideas are appreciated. Our end goal will be to find faster ways to deliver to clients and build deeper networks from which to source specialist and technical skills.

We will continue creating and fostering new skills – in the Randstad business model today we have roles for market analysts, channel specialists and steering and concept managers. Whilst there may be a concern about productivity levels when adding non-billing heads like these, we can now show a direct link to higher conversions and therefore improved productivity and profitability since the introduction of these new roles.

Deb is the Managing Director Asia Pacific of recruitment & HR services specialists, Randstad. Deb was a founding member of the company back in May1988 when it was just one small office in Sydney (formerly known as Select Appointments).

Deb has committed more than 20 years to the staffing services industry and to the development and expansion of the company in Australia, New Zealand and Asia. Randstad is a Fortune Global 500 Company and one of the world’s largest HR services providers, employing over 570,000 people every day around the world with the aim of ‘shaping the world of work’.

28 February 2013 recruitment extra

If you are able to invest financially in your business next year where do you plan to spend – training, marketing, social media, staff development?

2013 is forecast to be another economically challenging year so it is important that we focus our investment on those areas that will make a real difference to the bottom line, for instance through improved consultant performance or greater client engagement.

In addition to technology programs already underway such as cloud computing, telephony and systems reviews which are designed to improve business efficiency, we will be paying specific attention to four key areas: •

Social media – continuing to develop our use of social media such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter to build effective talent communities and to improve branding and awareness.

•

Staff development and training – this is always on our agenda and will continue to receive considerable attention. As well as providing stronger foundation training and ongoing development for our consultants, it is also critical that we invest in developing our leaders and emerging leaders. In the current economic environment our employees require ongoing support and development to continue to grow and to respond effectively to the challenges and opportunities of the market.

•

Selective investment in consultant headcount – this requires us to be very aware of market forces so that we can pinpoint those segments of the market with the best growth prospects where we can add value through competitive advantage.

•

Growing our temporary and contract business – this represents a large share of the recruitment market, and has the added attraction of reducing reliance on permanent placements and providing a valuable annuity-like income stream.

Jane is Chief Executive Officer and an executive Director of the company. She joined Rubicor Group in September 2006 as Chief Operating Officer and was promoted to Chief Executive Officer on 1 April 2009. Jane has over 32 years’ recruitment experience in the UK and Australasian markets. Prior to Rubicor, Jane spent five years with Manpower as Vice President Sales responsible for business acquisition and strategic sales. In 2001 she took on the role of Managing Director for Spherion’s recruitment group in the Asia Pacific. After Spherion was acquired by Ross Human Directions Limited in June 2004, Jane spent two years as Managing Director for the group’s recruitment businesses as a board appointee.

The Panel

Chris Sandham Managing Director M&T Resources

Where is your business most likely to invest in 2013 given the market forecast remains cautious?

Our company never stops investing in improvement so the difference lies in further refining how we prioritise where the money goes. As part of a public-listed company, it also means we need to show returns pretty quickly. Here at M&T Resources, we believe that these top three priorities drive the most business benefits not just economically, but also towards building a company that is socially responsible and a great place to work.

People I have always stressed the importance of developing people to become more than just transactional recruiters. It is my key responsibility to help the people I work with grow – be it professionally or personally. As new technologies replace a lot of what recruiters do, it is more important than ever to ensure that our people offer true value. Gaining business acumen is one way, the other is to have the right culture in place that makes us great to work with. I am further developing our awardwinning learning and development programs, investing heavily in training, mentorships, induction, forums and more. We also encourage our staff to lead social causes, for example our Driving Diversity initiatives that seek to advocate and contribute to workplace diversity.

Systems It is my intention that clients and candidates engage with us knowing we have the best systems to meet their needs quickly, effectively and with more flexibility. Backend database system, mobile application, website; we are optimising all digital touchpoints to make it easier for our candidates and clients to get what they need. Exciting initiatives include cloud technology, implementing Office 365, enterprise BYOD strategy and more.

We are thinking of candidates job-hunting using their iDevices on the train. We are thinking of enabling staff access to candidate information anywhere, anytime. We are thinking of clients who need real-time reports. How can we make their lives easier?

Marketing and product development It is often said that marketing is a cost centre and in tough times, it is often the first to have its budget cut. I see it differently. We intend to keep investing in this space. It is much, much more than just about trying to sell to more people or selling better. We are bolstering our product offering to add more value to candidates and clients, including L&D training, branding, e-communication and more. Attraction of the best people to our stable is also a continuous employer branding effort to make us the best place to work at as far as IT and business recruitment goes.

So there you have it. Our top three priorities out of many that’ll be our focus this year. The recruitment industry is undergoing much change so (sorry to be cliché!) if you’re not swimming, you’re sinking.

To stop investing, be it time or money, is to stop getting better.

Chris uses his extensive IT recruitment experience spanning more than 18 years to drive smarter recruitment practices at M&T Resources. Under his leadership, M&T Resources has achieved strong annual growth, gained new PSA clients and continued expanding into the Asia Pacific region. M&T Resources won three awards at the Recruitment Excellence Awards 2012 and won “Australia’s Favourite IT Recruiter” title at the SEEK Annual Recruitment Awards 2011.

recruitment extra 2013 February 29

Feature

Fit for Purpose: 2013

By Chris Riley, General Manager, Sales & Marketing, ManpowerGroup Australia & New Zealand and General Manager, Manpower Australia

T

hroughout 2012 Australia was one of the only developed countries that posted steady economic growth figures.

However, the forecast is more subdued for 2013 which means we need to work harder, smarter and be better prepared for what we do.

As a starter, it’s important to be across industry news and developments in order to prepare for the year ahead. We need to anticipate which sectors are likely to grow and which roles will be hard to fill if we are to help our clients optimise their workforces. Keeping abreast of local labour market fluctuations as well as broader macro-level trends is crucial.

ManpowerGroup undertakes a quarterly survey of employers across Australia and New Zealand regarding their hiring intentions for the coming quarter. The results provide a clear snapshot of labour market sentiment, providing data that can be drilled down into specific industry and regional groups (See Figures 1 and 2).

Labour market fluctuations In recent years, we’ve seen a trend of plunging employer confidence, followed by Figure 1

Figure 2

30 February 2013 recruitment extra

an upsurge in optimism, then a return to more subdued ‘business as usual’ attitudes.

At the end of 2009, the Australian market experienced an uptick in employer enthusiasm, which resulted in strong hiring intentions and a falling unemployment rate which lasted until mid-last year. In 2012, the Eurozone crisis and a sluggish US recovery created uncertainty which has tempered the Australian market. The decline in exports and the strong Australian dollar also hurt industrial employers and impacted their ability to hire.

All these factors will continue to have an effect on the labour market in 2013 and no doubt there will be others that surprise us. The employment outlook results for quarter 1 of 2013 show that hiring sentiment in Australia is cautions, hovering at +8%, the weakest level since 2009. However, there are pockets of demand and job growth, where ‘micro-sectors’ within certain industries are strong. We expect this multispeed labour market to continue in 2013.

A mosaic labour market Within the labour market there are a range of areas that are experiencing growth that is driving demand for workers. For example:

• Oil and Gas projects and work will grow.

While jobs in resources are predicated to drop, the Oil and Gas sector of the industry remains strong, with an expanding pipeline of projects that will drive demand for workers throughout the year.

• The Finance, Insurance & Real Estate market looks like it will buck the downward trend, with the latest survey results showing an increase in hiring intentions in the sector leading to an outlook to +19%. The uptick in finance service jobs is somewhat surprising; however it shows employers in the sector are responding quickly to the volatile market.

• We’re seeing growth in risk and compliance roles, as the finance industry struggles with changes to legislation around super and financial advice.

Similarly, financial sales roles are on the up, as organisations invest in new products to diversify in a tough market.

• Skilled trade workers will remain in high demand, as construction work being driven by resource sector projects will continue to drive need for roles including mechanical fitters, sheet metal workers, pipe layers and electricians.

• Engineers will be needed for a range of industries and projects. Technical specialists in Civil, Mechanical and Mining will be increasingly tricky to find with projects coming online throughout the year from government, the NBN, Oil and Gas and infrastructure in many states.

Chris Riley is responsible for developing strategy and driving all critical elements of sales and marketing for ManpowerGroup ANZ. With almost two decades’ experience in the recruitment industry he has been well placed to observe changing industry trends both locally and internationally having worked across all areas of sales and operations and is experienced in all aspects of Human Resource Outsourcing including RPO, BPO and Vendor Management Solutions. Chris was formerly Managing Director of an ASX listed recruitment company and has held senior leadership roles with some of the largest recruitment firms in the world including working in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and the UK.

Social Recruiting

In one year and out the other

By Richard Spencer, Director, TWOSocial

2

012 was a pretty tough year for most recruiters and with the local economy continuing to slow down, 2013 is unlikely to offer much respite. So with 2013 a few weeks old and most of our new year’s resolutions having been consigned to their own unique place in history – in one year and out the other – what is the rest of the year likely to hold in terms of social media and recruitment?

Firstly, I would expect to see more corporate careers websites develop into careers communities, integrating seamlessly with corporate social media presence. It is no longer acceptable for an organisation to have a website strategy and an independent social media strategy – HR departments and their advisors need to start thinking in terms of ‘whole of web’ strategies to account for the time we are all spending in social channels. With one in every four minutes online spent on social media1 it is getting more difficult to encourage users to visit corporate sites, particularly the ever elusive passive candidate, and as such, organisations need to think more about taking their message to their audience. Recruiters face similar challenges and greater use of community development techniques more typically expected of consumer brands is likely to be seen in recruitment markets.

Equally, with a tough year ahead, maintaining positive and ongoing relationships with clients will remain important, and social channels will have their part to play. Many recruiters spend time and money driving thought leadership through surveys, publications, seminars and media releases, but less use the potential of social media to extend the reach and effectiveness of the material they produce.

Social referral schemes are also an area which feels underutilised in recruitment generally, largely because many recruiters still view social channels as a one-to-one medium. Internal referral schemes for corporates and the right questions during an interview have been used to great effect to reach into employee’s and candidate’s networks – so why not social channels?

Interesting research by the EhrenbergBass Institute2 into the Facebook Fans of consumer goods brands, demonstrates that the heaviest users of a product, typically a brand’s advocates, are the most likely to join a brand’s community. Common sense certainly, but underutilised in social media community management.

If your biggest advocates are the ones that connect with you or your clients most readily, then why not encourage these same people to introduce you to people they know, or who might be interested in a vacant role? Social media channels are designed to join together people with a shared affinity. Specific career paths create proven communities and so harnessing the ‘social’ component of a given community should encourage candidates to introduce people they know for specific roles. This is not a new concept, but is one which has gained limited traction up to now in Australia.

Finally, and because it is hard to ignore the elephant in the room, it is also extremely likely that Facebook’s sojourn into recruitment advertising in the US will be extended and also converted to be revenue generating. With Facebook continuing to face pressure to review and extend its revenue lines notably through the significant steps they have already taken to include mobile platforms in advertising plans, then recruitment advertising (indeed classified advertising as a whole) would

seem to be a likely target for future growth.

Facebook’s Social Jobs Partnership (www. facebook.com/socialjobs) was launched in the US in November 2012, and as at the end of January 2013 contained just fewer than 2.4 million vacancies.

The Social Jobs Partnership is a collaboration venture between Facebook and the US Department of Labor, amongst others, and is designed to help get American’s back to work following the difficulties their economy has endured over recent years. With the current unemployment rate at 7.8% in the US3 , Facebook’s partnership is pro bono, but it creates a feasibility study for similar, revenue generating ventures in other parts of the world.

Regardless of what the rest of 2013 has in store, in the words of Neil Gaiman, “I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world.”  Australia Online, Neilsen 2012 Marketingscience.info 3 Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 1

2

Richard Spencer is a Director of TWO Social, a specialist Social Media agency. As well as being a regular media commentator, Richard advises organisations on how to maximise their opportunities across Social channels. Prior to founding TWO Social, Richard was Senior Vice President, Global Marketing and Interactive with TMP Worldwide, Global Head of Marketing for Michael Page and has been working in digital communications since 1996.

recruitment extra 2013 February 31

Legal eye

Trademark protection – why bother?

I

By Joanna Oakey, Director, Aspect Legal f you think that having a business name or a company name means your brand name is protected, think again…

There is a common misconception that simply registering your business name, or having a company name, gives you rights over that name. Time again clients come to me to finally register a trademark only to find that it has already been registered.

If someone else has registered a mark similar to yours, for similar sorts of goods or services, one of three things will happen: 1. You may be prevented from registering your mark, therefore leaving you with a company name or brand name that can’t be protected.

2. You may have to go through a difficult process of proving that you had used the mark first, or for a sufficient period of time.

3. You may have to try to negotiate a deal with your competitor so that they will allow you to keep using your name.

Simply having a business name, company name or domain name registration is not enough.

So why might you want a trademark registration?

Clients come to me to register their marks for many reasons.

Sometimes because they are gearing their business up for a sale in the future, and want to ensure they have their bases covered by proving their “ownership” of the brand that they are hoping to sell.

Sometimes they come to me because they have noticed a competitor in the market using a similar name, giving the new competitor a free ride on their marketing spend. Or they may have received a notice from another trader claiming to have a better right to their name.

And sometimes they come to me because they just want the protection of knowing that their asset is secured.

Whatever the reason, when I have to deliver the news that they may not be able to get their trademark registered because someone else got in first, the reception I get is not pretty.

32 February 2013 recruitment extra

So why would you care if your trademark is registered or not?

1. Protection from competitors using your name.

When you have a trademark registration it is far easier and cheaper to stop other people using that name. If you don’t have a registration, you have to prove your rights to that name, which can be a difficult and expensive process.

2. Protecting your business from being accused of infringing another company’s mark.

When you have a trademark registration, you have written proof of your registered rights in a name, and this alone is quite often enough to stop any issues before they start.

3. “Insurance” for your marketing spend.

If you are spending money on marketing your company, you are essentially creating market recognition of that name. It is important then that you protect that name from others in the marketplace using it to their advantage.

4. Recording your asset in the balance sheet.

Your name/trademark is generally so closely attached to the goodwill of the business, that it is quite often one of the most valuable assets that your business has. By registering your trademark you are creating it as a separate asset that can be reflected in the accounts of the company – great news if you are looking to sell or get finance.

5. Open your business up to the opportunities of licensing.

Once your trademark is registered, many new doors open in relation to how you can now deal with your mark. You can licence it to others and make licence fees/royalties or you can hold it separately in an asset holding entity.

6. Preparing for a business exit.

Trademark registrations are an essential tool in preparing your business for a sale.

They prove your ownership of your brand, show your proactive steps in protecting the value of your brand equity and help you demonstrate that you have “your ship in order”.

Put simply the best thing that a trademark registration brings is peace of mind that you have protected that important business asset.

Timing The earlier you get your trademark registration, the better. Trademark registrations are awarded on a first come, first served basis. And once your competitor has a trademark registration that they shouldn’t have had, it’s a tough job to get it off them. In fact, the only way to strip them of that ownership is to take your matter to the Federal Court, which is likely to cost somewhere near six figures, if not more.

Costs Trademark registrations on the other hand are surprisingly inexpensive. In fact, the cost of registering a trademark (for a trademark that lasts indefinitely – upon the payment of a small renewal fee every 10 years) can be less than the cost of insurance for a company car. Most of us don’t think twice about insuring our car every year, yet many business owners just don’t take the same caution with their brand and goodwill.

Sobering thought isn’t it!

Perhaps the real question for businesses considering trademark protection is not whether they should register their brand, but whether they can afford not to…

Trademark protection services If you would like advice about registering your trademark, send us an email enquiry to us at trademarks@aspectlegal.com.au

Joanna Oakey is the director of Aspect Legal, and works with organisations ranging from SMEs through to corporates in the areas of commercial law, mergers and acquisitions, procurement, and branding. Aspect Legal provides a range of proactive and commercially driven services to assist recruitment businesses in all facets of legal business risk and growth.

Leadership

WHEN IT COMES TO LEADERSHIP, ALL CONVERSATIONS ARE CRUCIAL

By Mark Busine, General Manager of DDI Australia.

I

n the four decades leading up to 2010, perhaps the most significant change in the corporate landscape was the transition from an economic society based on physical and tangible assets to one based on intangible assets, including customer relationships, brand, ideas and innovation. It is now estimated that intangible assets account for more than 80% of an organisation’s value, and knowledge workers more than 40% of the workforce.

McKinsey and Co has explored the relationship between workplace interactions and the productivity of knowledge workers, believing that the key to improving productivity lies in organisations’ ability to identify and address the barriers workers face in their daily interactions. This research focused on the physical/technical, social/ cultural, contextual and time barriers that inhibit effective workplace interactions.

However it overlooks an important reality: leaders spend a considerable portion of their time engaged in interactions and the quality of these interactions has a significant impact on the performance and productivity of both individuals and the organisation.

Consider the amount of time wasted in poorly managed meetings; or worse, the lost productivity when somebody leaves a discussion frustrated and disengaged.

If organisations were able to quantify the financial impact of poor conversations they would quickly conclude that improving the quality of workplace interactions should be a priority. Indeed, one might conclude that the ability to effectively manage interactions is at the heart of successful leadership.

The Common Interaction Traps Through our research we have identified seven common interaction traps that inhibit leader, team and organisational effectiveness.

1. Going straight to fixing the problem Leaders can jump too quickly to presenting the solution. In doing so, they fail to understand the context of a situation and miss opportunities to include all parties.

2. (Mistakenly) believing one size fits all Over time, people develop a preferred

style or approach to interactions but this can make them oblivious to the impact their approach has in certain situations and on certain individuals.

3. Avoiding the tough issues Many leaders struggle to address the tough issues. They lack the skills to diffuse uncomfortable situations and tackle sensitive topics.

As a result, issues can go unresolved, leading to even greater tension.

4. Inconsistently applying skills Leaders often adopt a different approach to different situations. As a result, they may readily apply skills to some interactions and not others – an inconsistency that can breed confusion and feed a perception that the leader is ineffective.

5. Influencing through the facts only As leaders move through the ranks, they increasingly need to influence through personal rather than position power. Too often leaders rely on logic and rationale to position an argument when a “softer” approach would be better.

6. Spotting opportunities for change but forgetting to engage others Leaders often recognise opportunities for improvement but struggle to include others. They oversimplify the issues surrounding change and show little appreciation for the impact change can have.

7. Coaching in the moment When they need to coach direct reports, leaders often struggle to provide coaching in a timely fashion – when it’s needed most. Furthermore, the conclusions leaders reach about their team members’ development needs can often be superficial.

Improving Leadership Interactions A circuit breaker is an automatic electrical switch designed to protect an electrical circuit from damage caused by an overload or short circuit. When leaders apply the skills they need for effective conversations the skills act as a circuit breaker to prevent damage to critical relationships. At DDI,

we refer to these skills as the ‘Interaction Essentials’. They include: • Maintaining or enhancing self-esteem • Listening and responding with empathy • Asking for help and encouraging involvement • Sharing thoughts, feelings and rationale • Providing support without removing responsibility The Interaction Essentials also include interaction guidelines that form a fivestage process (Open, Clarify, Develop, Agree and Close) leaders follow to ensure that interactions achieve their intended outcomes. These skills may sound like common sense, but our research has shown that leaders often lack them. The good news is that these skills can be developed.

Conclusion People typically move into leadership positions based on their strong technical knowledge and skills. However, the assumption that people with such skills make good leaders is simply not true. The functions and skills of leadership are quite different and require a fundamental shift in the way one thinks and operates.

The transition to a leadership role is difficult. It’s challenging but also achievable. Acquiring core skills such as interaction skills is possible for anyone willing to try new behaviours and new ways of viewing themselves and their work.

Mark Busine is General Manager NSW of DDI Australia. Mark consults with organisations to determine appropriate human resource and talent management strategies and implement large-scale succession management and talent development programs. Mark has extensive experience in organisational development and consulting in both an internal and external capacity. He has significant corporate HR and organisation development experience across banking, finance, and professional service organisations.

recruitment extra 2013 February 33

On the move

ON THE MOVE 



Change at the top: Rubicor Jane Beaumont has announced her retirement and stepped down as the CEO of Rubicor Group. Kevin Levine, previously the CFO of Rubicor, has taken on the CEO role as of mid-January.

John Pettigrew, Chairman of Rubicor, said, “Jane had expressed her desire to the Board to retire almost 18 months ago, but agreed to stay on until the business had been stabilised and a framework for the restructuring of the Company’s balance sheet had been agreed.

“With the Company now engaged in constructive negotiations with its bank relating to a restructure and a recapitalisation of the business, at Jane’s request, the Board has agreed that this is an opportune time for Jane to hand over her responsibilities to a successor to take the Company forward in its next phase.

“The Board would like to express its sincere thanks to Jane for her leadership of Rubicor through a very difficult period for the recruitment industry and for her dedication and commitment to Rubicor’s customers and staff. Subject to the conclusion of a restructure, Jane will leave the company well positioned in its chosen markets with a strong and robust leadership team able to take the Company forward. We wish Jane all the best in her future endeavours.

“We are delighted to have someone of Kevin’s calibre to take over from Jane in the role of CEO. Kevin has been with the Company for seven years and has extensive experience with the business and industry. Kevin’s experience and expertise mean that he is well positioned to lead the company and to support the ongoing growth and development of Rubicor’s specialist recruitment and human capital solutions businesses.

34 February 2013 recruitment extra

Kevin Levine “Kevin will be supported by the well established and highly experienced management and executive teams in Head Office and within the specialist businesses”.

Levine added, “My key focus over the next few months is the debt and corporate restructure of the Company.

I look forward to the opportunity to work with the team in growing and developing the business and maximising its ability to take advantage of opportunities in the market”.

In addition to Levine’s appointment Sue Turk has been promoted from general manager of operations to the new role of chief operating officer (COO).

As COO, she will work closely with the CEO and the businesses in leading the operational strategy, management and overall performance of the recruitment businesses across Australia, New Zealand and Singapore.

Paul Cooper has been appointed to group managing director of workforce services. He will be responsible for growing contract and temporary revenue streams by developing new volume-based recruitment services catering to the temporary recruitment market.

Bibby appoints new Managing DIRECTOR Bibby Financial Services has appointed Mark Cleaver as Managing Director, Australia and New Zealand. Cleaver has worked for Bibby Financial Services for the past 16 years and is relocating from Europe where he is currently Regional CEO of the European business. Cleaver will officially commence his new role in April 2013.

Ian Watson, CEO, Asia Pacific, Bibby Financial Services commented, “Mark’s experience and successful track record of growing businesses within the Bibby Group makes him ideally suited to take up this position and build on the success the team has already achieved.”

Itcom appoints new GM Itcom Australia has announced the appointment of Paul Archer to the role of General Manager – Queensland. Archer, who gained 10 years of IT recruitment experience in the UK, has spent the past five years working with Davidson Recruitment as IT Practice Lead.

Itcom Director Damien Ross said, “We are very excited to have someone of Paul’s calibre heading up our Queensland business.”

On the move

CareerOne appoints new CEO CareerOne has announced that Karen Lawson has been appointed as the company’s new chief executive replacing Dean Capobianco who has held the interim chief executive position since May 2012. Lawson’s appointment will be effective from March 4.

Lawson joins CareerOne from Yahoo!7 where she was general manager – business development and publisher partnerships.

Board director, Stephen Hollings, said: “Karen is a first class digital media executive with exciting and innovative ideas. She is commercially and customer focused with the perfect skills and experience in leading businesses strategically, financially and operationally. She is, on all levels, the right leader to take CareerOne into its next phase of growth.”

In her most recent role at Yahoo!7, Lawson had full commercial and operational responsibility of the organisation’s data, advertising, publishing, technology, search, mobile and strategic partnerships, including the Microsoft Bing alliance, and driving business development across the organisation.

She began her career at Yahoo!7 in 2005 as business manager – personals before being promoted to head of marketplace with oversight of Yahoo!7’s Commercial Channel properties. She was appointed general manager of commercial partnerships in 2008 and was named general manager - business development and publisher partnerships in 2010.

Prior to Yahoo!7, Lawson worked in various business development and strategic partnerships roles at Pitt Crew, Ernst & Young and Cable & Wireless in the UK. Lawson said: “I am delighted to be joining CareerOne. Monster Worldwide and News Limited have together made it into a real force in the employment industry. The CareerOne Board supports the vision I have for the company and I look forward to working with its leadership team in continuing the momentum the brand has built in the market.”

Lawson will report to the Board of CareerOne which comprises of Dr. Hollings and John Pittard from News Limited, as well as Mark Stoever and Tim Yates from Monster Worldwide.

Hollings said of Mr Capobianco: “Dean has done a terrific job as interim CEO, overseeing the launch of several customer products, such as CAN Direct and BeKnown, making the recruitment process much easier for everyone. This was always a temporary role for Dean but he is committed to staying with the business to ensure an orderly transition and the successful completion of some current business initiatives before spending more time developing his existing business interests in Australia and Asia. On behalf of the Board, I wish him all the best in his business endeavours.”

Management consultant for Talent team Talent International has engaged the services of leadership coach David Carman as a fixed-term Management Consultant.

Carman will work with the leadership team across Australia, New Zealand and Asia, focusing on personal development and management outcomes as well as assisting in organisational reviews, assessment of acquisition opportunities and strategic client account development.

Olivier appointed to RCSA Board At the end of 2012 the RCSA announced the appointment of Bob Oliver as Finance Director to the Board.

Olivier, who has twenty years of recruitment industry experience, formed the Olivier Group in 1991 and saw the firm placed in the BRW Fastest Growing Private Companies in Australia for five years in succession.

Olivier was sold to Advantage Professional in 2008 and in 2010 Olivier was made Director, Global Market Intelligence for Advantage Resourcing. He remained a Director of Olivier Group until 2011.

Olivier’s industry credentials include publishing the Olivier Job Index, the first dedicated measure of online job board recruitment advertising, serving on the Reserve Board of Australia’s Business Liaison Group until 2011, co-authoring two books on e-recruitment best practice and running HRO2 Research – a company that specialises in employment research and data analytics.

Olivier is also Chartered Accountant and served as Chairman of the ICAEW Sydney Group for two years, in addition he was a NSW State Councillor for AHRI. Olivier joins the following RCSA board members: President Lincoln Crawley FRCSA, Managing Director, ManpowerGroup; Vice President Robert van Stokrom FRCSA, Chief Executive Officer, DFP Recruitment Services; Vice President Jacqui Barratt FRCSA, Director, SALT Recruitment Ltd; Matthew McArthur FRCSA (Life), Chief Executive Officer, McArthur; Denis Dadds FRCSA, Manager OH&S Unit, ManpowerGroup; Peter Langford FRCSA, Managing Director, HORNER Recruitment; Steve Heather MRCSA, Managing Director, Mining People International; Alan Bell FRCSA and Matthew Hobby FRCSA, State Manager SA, McArthur.

recruitment extra 2013 February 35

Tax focus

Employee Share Schemes: Still attractive?

By Paul Masters, Tax Partner at Deloitte Sydney

E

mployee share plans have been used worldwide in attracting, retaining and motivating employees in one form or another for a very long time. In contrast to purely cash-based performance rewards, share plans can be better at aligning employee motivations with owners by providing a longer-term, more tangible and directly aligned goal with owners – dividends and share price.

Options/rights to buy shares are regularly used in place of actual shares to provide a more performance-dependent reward.

Use of share plans can also have significant taxation advantages to both employer and employee.

The Australian tax rules around share grants to employees were tightened in 2009. Of significance this involved removing the election available to employees to defer income for up to 10 years. As a result many companies simply ceased employee share plans or converted to cash-based performance rewards rather than adjust to the new laws. It was seen by many as simply “too hard” and potentially involving risks for both employer and employee. Annual compulsory reporting of share plans to the ATO, which were introduced at the same time, was the nail in the coffin for many.

Now, a few years on, understanding of the implications of the new rules has improved bringing down the costs and risks associated with implementation of share plans. As many of the intrinsic tax advantages of employee share plans remain intact under the new rules, employee share plans are squarely back on the agenda in remuneration planning across a wide range of businesses, including smaller privately-owned companies.

Under the current rules the time at which share grants become taxable to an employee is referred to as the “taxing point”. This date is critical as it determines

36 February 2013 recruitment extra

not only the year in which employees become liable to tax, but also the value of the shares or options that are subject to tax. The taxing point is generally the earlier of selling the interest, ceasing employment or any time where a “genuine risk of forfeiture” and restrictions on sale do not exist. In essence, there must be a real likelihood that shares or options granted would be cancelled or a period of trading restriction for the taxing point to be deferred. For example, this would be satisfied if shares rights are cancelled (except for unusual circumstances – eg “good leaver” provisions) on cessation of employment.

The clear risk with the defined taxing point under the current rules is that an employee may become taxable on the basis that the taxing point has occurred however, for good reason the employee may not have actually sold the shares or options. Further, for rights/options that still have remaining time before expiry, valuation methodologies typically result in a market value in excess of the cash value the employee is able to access at the time tax is payable. It is therefore desirable to ensure that the taxing point of a share plan is either early enough to ensure nil or negligible value or late enough such that the employee is readily able to cash-in and cover any tax liability.

Fortunately, alternate structures such as loan funded plans can reduce this risk.

When set up correctly, the capital growth component of employee remuneration can be maximised then taxed at a 50% discount (under the CGT regime) and/or incentives can be provided to employees without tax liability arising until later years.

A loan scheme involves issuing shares to an employee by way of loaned funds.

The loan is ideally limited to the value of the shares (so that the employee cannot lose money). These schemes are therefore similar to share option plans in that if the

share price falls below the loan value, the employee can walk away from the arrangement. Due to the manner in which the legislation is drafted, loan schemes can avoid having a benefit provided to an employee valued above the face value.

Specific exemptions also exist to ensure ESS loans do not get caught by rules controlling employee loans (such as fringe benefits tax and tax provisions designed to treat loans to shareholders as dividends).

Use of loan funded plans are often highly attractive to private businesses as they can be priced to avoid dilution of shares without all shares also rising in value – thereby offsetting any value loss to existing owners. The impact on the profit & loss can also be minimised, another potential bonus for those who may be looking to sell their business in the foreseeable future.

While there are some conditions to be eligible for deferred taxation and/or a $1,000 discount (such as a 5% maximum ownership and for share plans that 75% of permanent employees are able to participate), these requirements may not need to be met to achieve outcomes that can lower the tax burden of employees while also providing incentives to perform.

Talk to your tax advisor (or us) to determine if such a scheme can work for you. 

Paul Masters is a tax partner at Deloitte Sydney. He ­specialises in ­providing taxation advice to recruitment companies, particularly in the areas of M&A, restructuring and tax planning. He is the tax adviser to four ASX listed recruitment companies and ­numerous private recruitment companies.

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is here to help. They are the most innovative invoice finance offering in Australia today.

Now you get the most powerful online timesheet and invoicing system in the industry, with peace of mind knowing your invoices will

be paid within 72-hours*. There are no hidden costs, no admin fees and your debtor ledger will be looking leaner & cleaner in no time.

Give earlypay™ a call today on (02) 8116 4745 to get your cash-flow flowing and breath easy.

AUTOMATE YOUR WORKFORCE MANAGEMENT. ONLINE ANYTIME.

BECAUSE YOU’VE GOT BETTER THINGS TO DO *earlypay™ is a wholly-owned product of CMLPayroll Pty Ltd. Terms and conditions apply. Offer to approved customers only.

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