Modern Awards Causing Ongoing Problems

Lots of stuff today in the the media about the ongoing problems that all businesses, particularly SMEs are having with compliance with the Modern Awards.

For background on this check out the numerous articles on our website, but essentially the new Award system came into play on 1 January this year.For some industries the change from their old awards to the new ones were quite significant, in terms of pay and contions for its employees.

As a result, the Government inplemented some tranistional provisions which are to take place over a 5 year period.Essentially, there will be a gradual change to the new award conditions over that period with incremental increases, to reduce the pain for employers.

However, the real pain for employers is in trying to understand how all of this works and I can understand very easily why there is so much confusion.Not only do employers need to have their head around the transitional provisions, but they also need to factor in the annual wage decsions of Fair Work Australia and be careful not to get into a position where the employees are worse off( and thus be subject to a take home pay order).

When you add to this the fact that a great deal more employees are covered by the award system than previously it adds to one big headache.And one more ingredient to throw into the pot?For those that think "Its all too hard" and do nothing, The Fair Work Ombudsman has been extremely active in invesigating employers that are not compliant.

Look, my view is that , from a big picture perspective, the changes are a good thing for the long term, however the teething problems continue and are now more like root canal than just teething!

On another note, for those wondering about my "lock of the week" pick in the NFL last week, lets just say that there is a good reason bookies make so much money and now they have another $5 from yours truly.Still up on the year though!

My mate TK managed 6 correct picks to my 5, so he is ahead by 5 now, with 14 weeks to go.

Stay tuned for my prediction later in the week....