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>Retaining Employees / Supporting Employees
In striving to be an ‘employer of choice’ it may benefit your business to encourage diversity and provide mechanisms such as health and wellbeing programs and employee assistance programs to support the welfare of your employees. You can keep your finger on the pulse of what your employees think of their workplace by conducting employee attitude surveys.
A diverse workplace embraces each employee’s differences and provides opportunities for all employees to become all they can be.
It is important to remember that:
under Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) legislation at Federal and State levels, workplaces cannot discriminate against an employee because of their sex, race, impairment, family responsibilities, pregnancy, marital status, sexual orientation or age
if your business is unprepared for diversity you may be found liable for failing to remove direct and indirect barriers to the recruitment, development, support and promotion of EEO employees.
For more information see:
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Office of the Anti-Discrimination Commissioner in Tasmania Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission |
Australia has one of the most ethnically diverse populations in the world. Our workplaces reflect this, and include employees from many different cultures and backgrounds.
Employers have responsibilities and obligations to make reasonable and adequate allowances for staff with religious or cultural responsibilities, such as providing flexible working hours to allow time for prayer or attendance at special events.
Individuals from different generations often have different motivations, expectations and aspirations. Understanding generational differences can influence the way you communicate with, train and reward individuals.
Your workplace may have employees from the following generations:
Veterans - born before or during the Second World War
Baby Boomers - born 1946–1964
Generation X - born 1965–1979
Generation Y - born 1980–1995.
Assisting mothers to return to work is an effective way of retaining knowledge and skill; however, some workplaces fail to make the appropriate provisions.
You can make some simple modifications to cater for the needs of working mothers, such as:
keeping them up-to-date with what’s happening at work while they’re on leave
providing a private place for them to breastfeed
allowing flexible work arrangements to accommodate child care responsibilities
allowing them to take personal or sick leave to care for sick children
offering to pay for child care as part of their salary package (see Motivate, Manage and Reward Performance for the taxation implications of salary packaging).
There are legal provisions relating to the return to work after parental/maternity leave.
For more information see:
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Workplace Standards Tasmania |
Avoid overlooking mature-aged workers when recruiting and selecting new employees. As the general population ages, so do your customers. It’s likely that some of them will be happier dealing with staff members closer to their own age.
Mature-aged workers can make excellent employees because of their:
life and work experience
strong work ethic
higher commitment to their workplace
lower absenteeism
reliability and stability.
There is government assistance available to businesses who employ mature-aged workers.
For more information, see:
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Australian Government Wise Workforce Program (http://www.jobwise.gov.au) A site dedicated to promoting mature age employment. Swinburne University business work and ageing centre |
Keep your valuable older employees in the business longer by offering them phased retirement options. Perhaps they could move to a part-time or casual arrangement, take part in job-sharing, become a mentor or trainer, move to a lower level position or work from home.
For more information see:
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Tasmanian Plan for Positive Ageing |
Invest in the general health and wellbeing of your employees by developing a workplace program that includes activities or initiatives that suit your staff.
Display leadership and commitment to health and wellbeing programs – take part and encourage others to participate.
Involve employees in the development of programs and ensure that programs relate to their needs.
Consider a broad range of initiatives.
There are a number of simple strategies you can adopt, such as:
providing adequate filtered water within the workplace and having your air-conditioning and heating systems checked and maintained on a regular basis
increasing the nutritional quality of food available in the workplace
empowering employees to build physical activity into their working day, for example by providing facilities such as showers, change rooms and bike racks and encouraging the use of stairs
providing incentives such as membership discounts for fitness centres and encouraging involvement in team sports
making working hours more flexible.
For more information see:
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Get moving Tasmania |
Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) provide a professional and confidential counselling service to help resolve problems that may affect an employee’s wellbeing.
Counselling can help with problems including:
work pressure or stress
health or substance abuse
marital/relationship or family concerns
emotional concerns.
EAPs can significantly reduce absenteeism, labour turnover, work related injuries and illnesses and may help the employer to meet statutory duty of care obligations.
Employee attitude surveys allow employees to give confidential feedback on their opinion of the workplace. They also demonstrate the employer’s willingness to listen and to adapt to the changing needs of the workforce.
 Template |
This template will help you to find out what your employees think of their workplace, providing you a with good indication of how you can improve your business to meet their needs. You can adjust this document to suit your own needs. |
Retaining Employees / Supporting Employees
* (Food, Tourism and Hospitality Industry Skills Advisory Council 2006, How to become an employer of choice in an industry of choice: a practical guide to workforce development for the Australian Meat Industry, http://www.fthskillscouncil.com.au/downloads/MeatIndustryWFDGuide.pdf)
