22 minute read
YOUR BUSINESS
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f EXPERIENCED advice for your local business.
Who is your support team?
BY SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION
Running a business can be lonely at times, with small business owners wearing many hats. However, you don’t have to go it alone. There is a network of local support you can access, wherever you are in Western Australia.
It would be easy to assume that WA is dominated by big business and mining companies, but the fact is that the vast majority (97 per cent) of all businesses in our state are small businesses — those employing fewer than 20 people. Of the 220,000 small businesses in WA, 16,000 are in the Agricultural, Forestry and Fishing category, making this the sixth largest small business sector in the state.
As a grower, you may not always think of yourself as a small business owner. However, it’s likely that you share challenges with small business owners in many different sectors, even more so in these COVID times.
Small business owners are generally time poor, manage competing priorities, need to carefully manage expenditure and face other challenges in the running of a successful business. So, it can really help to have free advice and resources you can easily access. When it comes down to it, running a small business isn’t a small job and building a support team around you can help you start well, survive and thrive.
The Small Business Development Corporation (SBDC) is a State Government agency that supports small businesses to succeed.
As well as making workshops and services available in the Perth metropolitan area, the SBDC offers free advisory services through a local network of business advisers across the state.
Throughout WA, this network assists small businesses with individualised guidance, information and learning opportunities — all delivered by local, experienced business advisers.
No matter where you are in WA, the SBDC is here to support your small business through the Business Local network, which offers free practical business advice from people who know your local business environment.
Peel and South West
Kimberley
In our state’s north west, Kimberley Small Business Support helps businesses seeking practical advice, wanting to increase their knowledge of business matters, or looking for efficiencies in their businesses. Business based in Broome, Derby, Fitzroy Crossing, Kununurra, Halls Creek, Wyndham and other locations across the Kimberley can access advice and assistance. Topics of interest include business planning and strategy, finances, marketing, people management and operations. In Peel and the South West, IPS Business Advisory offers free advice on business planning, growing a business through use of the web, taxation and financial matters, staffing and HR issues, IT and marketing to local business owners. Their range of workshops on relevant topics is offered in towns including Mandurah, Pinjarra, Busselton, Bunbury, Margaret River and Collie.
Goldfields
Great Southern
The Albany Business Centre services small businesses throughout the Great Southern including those based in Albany, Denmark, Katanning, Kojonup and surrounds with tailored advice and regular workshops covering everything from social media to occupational health and safety. The Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing industry sector is the biggest economic contributor to the Great Southern region, as well as its largest employer, so you will find local advisers experienced in your industry.
The Kalgoorlie-Boulder Chamber of Commerce and Industry delivers tailored advice and workshops through local advisers who really understand how things work in your area. Guidance is available on a range of matters including starting a business, planning for success, marketing your products and services, social media and digital marketing, employing staff, No matter where you are in WA, the SBDC is here to support your smallbusiness. managing your finances and getting paid on time. Esperance The Esperance Chamber of Commerce and Industry supports the business community of Esperance and beyond with individualised advice and skills development workshops. Experienced local business advisers based in Esperance and Ravensthorpe assist businesses at all stages of development to overcome challenges and embrace opportunities.
Wheatbelt, Mid-West, Pilbara and Gascoyne
Whether you’re just starting out with a great small business idea or looking to grow or solve a specific business challenge, the business advisers at RSM can help you on your journey to business success.
Based in Northam, Geraldton and Karratha and serving businesses throughout the Wheatbelt, Mid-West, Gascoyne and Pilbara, RSM’s local teams help business owners seeking know-how and strategic advice about running their businesses. Areas of assistance include business start up, planning, marketing, licencing, tax, succession planning and more.
State-wide
From their Perth head office, the SBDC supports small businesses throughout WA. People planning to start or already operating their own enterprise can call 133 140 for personalised advice from an experienced small business adviser; find free business resources on the smallbusiness.wa.gov.au website; and access specialised assistance on commercial tenancy, dispute resolution and many other business matters.
Business local support
Running a small business isn’t a small job. As an owner, you wear multiple hats whether as managers, customer service staff, accountants, marketers and so on.
The network of Business Local advisers supported by the SBDC is the trusted choice for advice and guidance for small business owners in regional WA.
Last financial year, they delivered over 17,000 hours of advice to regional businesses through advisory sessions and workshops, including to nearly 4000 first time users.
MORE INFORMATION
Build a support team for your business where you are, by visiting smallbusiness.
wa.gov.au/regional
Small Business Development Corporation
f THE SBDC offers free advisory services through a local network of business advisers across the state.
What’s your COVID-19 plan?
f ARE there enough resources available to keep staff healthy and the business running?
BY MICHAEL BARTHOLOMEW REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT OFFICER, VEGETABLESWA
Managing risk is an essential component of sound business management. Whether you run a coffee shop, a sporting club, or a farm, risk remains a dynamic and an ever-present factor of daily operation.
Resilient business managers have strong risk management mindset and have various contingency plans in place. If you are such a manager, you might be currently asking yourself, “what happens to my business when my staff and I catch COVID-19?”
Growing up on a farm, it is common to have bushfire readiness plans — a memorable list of instructions that can be implemented at a moment’s notice.
Much like a bushfire plan, business risk management plans aim to protect you and your business from the ‘fire’ of economic uncertainty (and can include the threat of actual fire too). These plans also consist of a list of directives, that can be quickly implemented to alleviate the adverse effects of a changing (and often hostile) operating environment. Unfortunately, today’s constantly changing operating environment has delivered us COVID-19.
Outside of health concerns, the labour implications of the normalisation of COVID-19 brings enormous change to labour policy and the impact it may have on a business. We have had time to observe the impacts that such an event has had on the Eastern States, and now Western Australia is facing the prospect of supply chain impacts.
What can you do to make sure you are prepared for this change?
vegetablesWA has developed a checklist that covers some basic questions that help your business to be prepared for a COVID-19 outbreak. Use the simple checklist, to help gain a better understanding of how prepared you are and what you might need to do to ensure the health of yourself, your staff, and your business.
f ISOLATE symptomatic staff in alternate buildings.
The significance of promoting discussion around incorporating COVID-19 issues into the broader business risk management conversation should not be overlooked.
Think about what you can do, write down on paper the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) of protecting your business against COVID-19: what can your business do better than others and what needs improving?
Each farm is different and will be impacted in various ways, being as best prepared as you can with a plan of attack before anything happens is the most effective way of mitigating damages and tackling the challenge head-on. Remember, people and properties with bushfire preparedness plans have a much greater chance of surviving than those without and the same is probably true for COVID-19.
MORE INFORMATION
For the COVID-19 Checklist, please visit
https://vegetableswa.com.au/wp-content/ uploads/2022/02/covid-business-redinesschecklist.pdf
For the most up-to-date COVID-19 information, please visit: • health.gov.au • health.wa.gov.au • wa.gov.au/government/covid-19-
coronavirus
Additional information about business management requirements can be found on the Chamber of Commerce and Industry website, cciwa.com.
If you are interested in the COVID-19 and biosecurity signage as pictured, please reach out to: Michael Bartholomew, Regional Development Officer VegNET 3.0 at michael.bartholomew@vegetableswa.com.au. f MICHAEL Bartholomew (left) and David Ellement (right) holding the new combined COVID-19 and biosecurity signage now available for grower members. Please contact vegetablesWA if you are interested in implementing these on your farm.
The importance of sexual harassment policiesin your business
BY STEPHEN FARRELL INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS CONSULTANT, VEGETABLESWA
Arecent decision of the Fair Work Commission highlights the higher standards that employers and employees need to meet on issues of workplace equality and harassment.
f THE business provided its employees with apparently unrestricted access to alcohol for more than two hours.
Ensure you have robust policies in place.
case studyIn 2021, a manager, who had been working for a business for 35 years and was in a senior position, attended a professional development day and then a sundowner event with colleagues at which alcohol was served.
After the sundowner event, the manager remained at the bar with a few other employees and continued drinking. The manager was recorded on the bar’s CCTV footage reaching towards the middle part of a female’s (who also worked for the business) buttocks with his hand and moved his hand upwards for a few seconds. The footage also showed that the female employee had been physically touching the manager on his shoulder and back.
The business investigated the incident and found that the manager had sexually harassed the female employee and dismissed him. The manager then filed an unfair dismissal application with the Fair Work Commission.
In her decision, the Deputy President found that there had been a valid reason for the manager’s dismissal despite the incident occurring out of the workplace, in a social setting, with none of the participants wearing a uniform or any clothing identifying the business. Supporting her finding, the Deputy President felt that it was relevant that but for the sundowner, which had been organised by the business for its employees who had attended the professional development day, the manager and female employee would likely not have been socialising together and therefore there was a connection between the manager’s conduct at the bar and his employment with the business. Furthermore, the Deputy President found that while the female employee may have also committed misconduct, this did not excuse the manager’s behaviour or provide consent to the manager to touch her in an intimate location.
In her decision, the Deputy President said:
“The bar as to what constitutes consent for physical and sexual interactions has been significantly raised in the broader community. An even higher bar has been set for interactions occurring in work-related environments. The media coverage and social discourse in relation to these issues has been extensive, placing those in Australian workplaces on notice that their behaviour will attract greater scrutiny and face higher standards than in the past.” The Deputy President also criticised the business for its part in the incident, stating:
Mr Keron’s conduct in relation to Witness A appears to have been a direct consequence of his alcohol consumption on the evening of 10 March 2021. In its wisdom, the business decided that the only appropriate venue to provide a networking opportunity for its white-collar professional employees was a sports themed pub, notwithstanding the existence of function rooms at
Optus Stadium. A sports themed pub would appear to be an odd choice for an organisation purporting to be seeking to create a work environment which welcomes women and employees of diverse ethnic and religious backgrounds.
At that pub, the business provided its employees with apparently unrestricted access to alcohol for more than two hours. Senior management did not remain at the function to ensure that its employees safely departed the venue nor was provision made to ensure intoxicated employees could get home safely. The business purport to be committed to principles such as:
“Supporting our people: • We create a safe, diverse, and inclusive place to work where we welcome diversity of thought and experience, prioritise our people and our customers' safety and wellbeing and do not tolerate discrimination, bullying or harassment, including sexual harassment. • We work together as a team, support each other and are professional in our interactions.”
If the business was seriously committed to these principles, the business should give consideration to whether the location, they chose for networking events is one which all employees feel comfortable attending. They should also give consideration to whether the service of alcohol is necessary or even an appropriate element of work-related events given the poor judgement often associated with the consumption of alcohol. If alcohol is a necessary element of the event the business should ensure that its employees are safe during the course of the event, that there is a clear conclusion to the event and that the safe departure of employees is facilitated.”
Conclusion
It is critical for growers and industry organisations to ensure they have robust policies in place making it clear to its workers that there is no place in their business for sexual harassment.
In addition, growers holding social events for their staff should strongly consider whether alcohol should be provided and if so, put in place strategies to protect their staff from harassment.
MORE INFORMATION
If growers have specific questions relating to their business on the issues raised in this article, they can contact Stephen Farrell on 0455 833 352 or at stephen. farrell@vegetableswa.com.au.
of a financial and The importance business review
BY TRUYEN VO REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT OFFICER, VEGETABLESWA
As a Regional Development Officer, I am continually curious as to what the differentiating factor is between the most and least successful businesses. So, I decided to pick the brains of my colleague, Bryn Edwards.
f MAKING input purchases before the season, allows a grower to save their money, which is reflected in their profitability. vegetablesWA has recently wrapped up the third year of the Vegetable Industry Benchmark Project and started the Building Horticulture Business Capacity Program1 with Bryn as project manager. Bryn commented that both projects highlighted the breadth and the impact of the many challenges the industry faces — but a key takeaway was that successful businesses can tackle these challenges more effectively when they have solid financial management and sound knowledge of their business operations, as well as actively seek out opportunities to learn Businesses with solid financial management can tackle challenges more effectively. and challenge themselves through projects like the Benchmark Project and the Building Horticulture Business Capacity Program2 . In both projects, vegetable business owners are connected with farm management experts who conduct a full business and financial analysis of the enterprise. From this, the business owner is given a confidential, detailed, independent perspective on the current state of the business and where improvements can be made to further profitability. The review also provides an anonymous comparison to the wider industry through industry benchmarks. As a Regional Development Officer (RDO) at vegetablesWA, while I obviously do not see the individual results, the Benchmark Project provided a lot of key insights and details. In particular, the industry averages of grower performance in Western Australia and how the top and bottom 25 per cent differ from this, and more importantly the key factors that keep a business at the top. Yet despite the numbers, Bryn’s perspective was simple — the best businesses are well organised.
Source: www.plexusconsulting.co.nz/blog/post/54694/Stuck-in-2nd-Gear
“You can drive past two farms and they may look very much the same from the roadside, but it’s what goes on in the inside, their business and financial management, that makes the big differences.” Bryn and I then discussed the common traits of the top farm managers.
It was clear that successful managers thoroughly think things through and continually check back in on their plans, which increases the chance of higher profitability.
These managers also review their budgets and expenses and are clear about the true cost of production and expected yield throughout the season. They also adjust plans accordingly as issues arise and are strategic decision makers who focus on return on investment when making expenditure decisions.
f A successful grower is able to effectively manage the major profit drivers, price, productivity, and input/output costs.
Characteristics to increase profitability
The following list outlines additional characteristics that are shown to increase the profitability of horticulture operations: 1 Knowing exactly which tasks they are going to perform at any moment.
A grower should know when they plan to make their farm ready for the new season (cleaning the finished crop, planning crop types to grow for the coming season, ordering seeds/seedlings, working the soil, rewarding themselves a break/holidays and other necessary activities). Basically, all tasks are chronologically arranged to a grower, making them more adjustable to any unexpected events. 2 Based on the list of planned tasks, a grower can organise their time in addition to other important activities.
Since farming is often a job with varying duties, having the list of all planned tasks keeps a grower focused on their crop production.
A grower who plans all activities knows when and how they will use machinery, farm materials, and labour-power. That way, a grower can prepare themselves in advance, allowing them to make educated decisions on purchasing farm materials, sourcing additional workers, or scaling the volume of crop grown according to the available workforce. 3 According to the planned activities, a grower should also plan their finances.
By organising farm activities, a grower can successfully plan how much farm materials they need to buy and from this, have a good handle on what the true cost of production is. In fact, they can create a detailed budget, which can enable them to purchase the exact number of seedlings, fertilisers, pesticides, and other inputs.
Making input purchases before the season, allows a grower to save their money, which is reflected in their profitability. 4 They are focused on getting the big decisions right. A successful grower is disciplined in financial and operational management practices, with a focus on budget/cost control and return on investment. They understand which big decisions need to be made, what information they need to support that decision and when it needs to be made. They are also able to effectively manage the major profit drivers, price, productivity, and input/ output costs. Through a series of seasons, a grower will gain a better perspective of how reliable their business is in terms of generating profit. Once the cost structure and profit resilience are well understood, decisions on appropriate debt levels and price targets can be made. Ultimately, lowering the negative impacts on the business. 5 They are open-minded and communicative. Being a good planner, prepared and analytical decision maker are not natural human characteristics. These are skills acquired through learning, reviewing, and improving over time. A successful grower is often openminded and able to communicate effectively. They are open to new ideas and capable of analysing insights to improve business performance. Industry information and business advice will come from reliable third parties, which can include accountants, local agronomists, regional development officers, other farmminded people, and staff. These are people you should network with, as these resources can help you achieve business goals and promote innovative ideas.
Over nine years working at vegetablesWA, I know that growers are hard workers who spend most of their time out in the field. They are often faced with a lack of time, which leaves them striving to manage all farm activities. I often hear growers say that time is a finite resource, and there is a better use for it than pre-planning and analysing.
To which I argue that being ‘well organised’ is an essential component to a successful business.
For a small amount of planning now, you can save a lot of time down the track.
MORE INFORMATION
Contact Truyen Vo on 0457 457 559 or at
truyen.vo@vegetableswa.com.au
f BEING ‘well organised’ is an essential component to a successful business.
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New pay slip obligations
for WA industrial relations employers
f IT will be compulsory for employers to provide a pay slip to their employees within one working day of paying their salary/wages.
BY STEPHEN FARRELL INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS CONSULTANT, VEGETABLESWA
On 22 December 2021, the WA parliament passed the Industrial Relations Legislation Amendment Bill 2021, fulfilling an election promise to implement the recommendations arising from the review of the WA industrial relations system conducted by Mark Ritter and Stephen Price.
The Bill makes amendments to the Industrial Relations Act 1979, the Long Service Leave Act 1958, and the Minimum Conditions of Employment Act 1993. In addition, it also amends the Public and Bank Holidays Act 1972 by making Easter Sunday a public holiday in WA.
The Bill affects those growers who are not companies Easter Sunday now a public holiday in WA. or constitutional corporations and therefore are not covered by the federal industrial relations system. One of the significant amendments is the enhanced requirements on employers to provide pay slips to their employees. From the commencement date of the new laws (yet to be announced but likely in early 2022), it will be compulsory for employers to provide a pay slip to their employees within one (1) working day of paying their salary/wages. This does not mean, however, that the employee must physically receive their pay slip within one day of payment, as long as the pay slip was generated within that time frame. For example, a grower who downloaded, printed, and then posted the pay slip to their employee within one day of paying the employee would still be meeting their obligations, even though the employee may not receive the payslip until later.
In order to be compliant, the pay slip must include the following information: • The employer’s name and Australian
Business Number (if any); • The employee’s name; • The period to which the pay slip relates; • The date on which the payment referred to in the pay slip was made; • The gross and net amounts of the payment, and any amount withheld as tax; • Any incentive-based payment, or payment of a bonus, loading, penalty rates or another monetary allowance or separately identifiable entitlement; • If an amount is deducted from the gross amount of the payment: — The name of the person in relation to whom or which the deduction was made; or if the deduction was paid into a fund or account; — The name, or the name and number, of the fund or account; and — The purpose of the deduction; • If the employee is paid at an hourly rate of pay: — The rate of pay for the employee’s ordinary hours; — The number of hours worked during the period to which the pay slip relates; and — The amount of the payment made at that rate; • If the employee is paid a weekly or an annual rate of pay — the rate as at the latest date to which the payment relates; • If the employer is required to make superannuation contributions for the benefit of the employee: — The amount of each contribution that the employer made during the period to which the pay slip relates and the name, or the name and number, of any fund to which the contribution was made; or — The amounts of the contributions that the employer is liable to make in relation to the period to which the pay slip relates, and the name, or the name and number, of any fund to which the contributions will be made.
Conclusion
These new requirements have been in the public domain as being likely to come into force for at least 2 years, so it is likely that accountants and payroll systems have already been updated. These requirements are the same as the obligations on national system employers covered by the Fair Work Act 2009 but small growers who do not use sophisticated accounting or payroll systems should check that their pay slips are compliant before the new laws come into effect.
MORE INFORMATION
If growers have specific questions relating to their business on the issues raised in this article, they can contact Stephen Farrell on 0455 833 352 or at stephen.farrell@ vegetableswa.com.au.
f IF the employer is required to make superannuation contributions, the amount of each contribution that the employer made during the period to which the pay slip relates and the name, or the name and number, of any fund to which the contribution was made needs to included on the payslip.
