Labour Solution Brings Benefits For All

Diane Rumley, Hun & Friends

In a labour-short market, Searson Buck Workforce (SBW) was facing a challenge - assembling a fit, flexible and reliable workforce for non-continuous assignments.  But in 2003 we began working with international students to fill roles, particularly in seasonal harvest work, an approach that worked so well, we’re now expanding it to other clients.

The feedback from both employers and students on our International Students Program has consistently been extremely positive.  While presenting us with some initial challenges, not least of these being the language barrier, together we’ve developed some innovative solutions.  For example, by understanding that our student crew have strong written English, in order to communicate effectively we often use text messages and emails, allowing us to by-pass problems of accent pronunciation.

As we moved forward, we also found we needed some students to take on a leadership role amongst their peers.  Hun Sheng Chuah is a natural leader who has risen to this challenge.  Studying fourth-year Medicine at UTas, Hun has worked for a number of clients across industries such as aquaculture and agriculture, seeing another side of Tasmania to that of most other Malaysian visitors.  Hun shares with us some of his thoughts about this experience:

Searson Buck - Winner of the 2003 and 2004 Australian Human Resource Institute Award for Excellence in People Management.  This award does not come easily - it requires both character and quality. From the International Students’ point of view though, SBW is truly a deserving winner.

SBW has a strong reputation across the state and its popularity amongst students is growing enormously, particularly because of the good rates of pay and the flexibility of work arrangements and experiences available.

It’s an unfortunate reality that exploitation of International Students has been an ongoing workplace issue. In terms of language skill and qualifications, often we’re not ready to compete with locals in the hunt for jobs (in some cases locals don’t want the work on offer). In order to do so, some are willing to work at low rates of pay, even when they know they’re being taken advantage of.  But with SBW, this is not an issue. We were not only impressed when they came out and offered us the appropriate  rate and plenty of opportunities for a variety of work, we then found that we’re really being looked after - no one else offers the sense of security that SBW does.

Our study schedule matches perfectly with the SBW calendar, offering the flexibility we need. Over summer, there is more demand for casual workers and it’s during this time that we’re having our long break from studies and we need the hours the most. Then, when it comes to autumn and winter, when things are slowing down out there, we are back to studies again.  It all fits so well for us both, like a hand in a glove.

Of course, with work comes extra income, which can be of great help to International Students to improve our living condition and for vacations. However, work isn’t just labour or money for us. Work from SBW provides exposure, experience, cultural exchange, and, most importantly, fun. With every assignment, we get to know more people, most of them locals. With time, we build up a rapport and develop strong relationships. We then start to engage in the Aussie culture, something we love to do.  We also get to know about the operation of the business as well and for those studying human resources, management, and commerce, working for SBW can also be a valuable learning and training experience.

In short, working for SBW as an International Student is a wonderful experience. Searson Buck Workforce has made a huge and positive impact on International Students across Tasmania.

What’s All This About Leadership?

In the latest Donington Report, industry expert Hugh Mackay examines the current search for stronger, more inspired leadership and poses the question:  “Is it just another crutch?”

He asks whether this is a sign of lack of confidence in ourselves; a cop-out from being responsible, or does it emanate from some deep sense of insecurity brought about through growing demands for experience in so many areas of the business world.

Exploring this issue further, he observes that an effective leader is one who helps people to want to achieve their potential, rather than creating structures or processes that simply assist the leader to fulfil his/her ambitions.  Mackay notes that selflessness must be present in a leader – a true leader uses their position to serve the best interests of the organisation or community, in doing so, their leadership goals should be inseparable from those larger interests.

Mackay’s search of the Internet for insight regarding leadership reveals the following important phrases which he asserts all people who seek to be leaders should take note of:

·          The six most important words: “I admit I made a mistake.”

·          The five most important words: “You did a good job.”

·          The four most important words: “what is your opinion.”

·          The three most important words: “If you please.”

·          The two most important words: “Thank you.”

·          The one most important word: “We”.

·          The least important word: “I”.

For more information on leadership or the Donington Difference, please call Anne Kirby-Fahey in Hobart on 6224 9455 or Ros Macfarlane in Launceston on 6334 7799 at Donington Tasmania. Let us know if you would like to receive a copy of this or future issues of The Donington Report

Source - our partner, The Donington Group.

Career Planning? Direct your own success!  

Searson Buck is delighted to announce that it will continue its successful partnership with the Tasmanian Division of the Australian Institute of Company Directors in 2006.  This means the Searson Buck Award, a highly coveted opportunity for one Tasmanian manager to undertake the Company Directors’ Course, will once again be offered this year.

Reflecting on the success of last year’s initiative which attracted a strong field of candidates from across the state, Searson Buck Executive Director, Stephen Porter, explained the Award is open to all senior managers and directors of the company’s clients over the past twelve months.

“Since 1 March, we’ve been accepting submissions from those eager to secure this valuable Award for 2006,” announced Stephen.  “The worthy winner will receive a place in the Company Directors’ Course to be conducted in Hobart during July, a prize that represents financial worth in the order of $4,000, but immeasurable opportunity in terms of career development and network enhancement.”

“In 400 words or less, we’re looking for the entry that best convinces our selection panel of the potential benefit the candidate and his or her employer would gain from participation in the Course,” said Stephen.

Entries close on Wednesday 31 May and must address a small number of criteria.  The applicant’s organisation needs to have used any of the broad array of Searson Buck’s HR and employment services over the past twelve months and the individual must be nominated as deserving by their employer.  They need to be a company director or senior manager who has demonstrated career success, but should not have previously undertaken the Course.  In addition, the successful candidate must be a Tasmanian resident and committed to undertaking the week-long Course, including completion of assessment components at its conclusion.

“Arguably there will be many who meet these criteria across the local business community, so the final component, submission of the 400 word entry, will no doubt be pivotal,” pointed out Stephen. “With applications closing soon, it’s time to think about how you would persuade our selection panel and then submit your entry.”

Len Robertshaw, Manager of the Tasmanian Division of the AICD confirmed that the Searson Buck Award had been hotly contested in 2005, noting that applications to complete the Course in Hobart routinely exceed capacity.  “While Bachelor degrees are now commonplace across industry, those aspiring to the level of senior manager and beyond require a specialized understanding of the roles and responsibilities of a company director.  The AICD’s Course delivers this in a manner that provides immediately tangible benefit to participants from a diverse array of industry sectors.”

Acknowledging these advantages, Stephen explains his company’s motivation to offer the Award.  “We routinely seek innovative opportunities to support the business community that supports us.  We believe this presents a wonderful chance to thank our clients by offering their senior team members such a valuable opportunity that provides benefit to both the individual and their company.  Our portfolio of employment services are widely acknowledged for the role they play in contributing to business success across the state.  Across our company, we view our clients as partners and consider the ability to assist our partners to prosper is a fundamental part of our role.  In conceiving the Searson Buck Award, we believe that we’re highlighting the fundamental connection between HR and management success while continuing to assist our local business community.”

If you’re planning to further your career at this senior management level, contact Stephen Porter on 6223 3055 for more information about the Searson Buck Award.

Stephen Porter

From the Director’s Desk…                       Planning to Succeed

Welcome to our Autumn newsletter for 2006

Many companies say "Our people are our most important asset," yet as CPA Australia's business policy adviser, Judy Hartcher says, "Very few small businesses take a systematic approach to recruiting, training or developing staff". 

After a period of neglect for many organisations, effective HR planning is back at centre stage. Plans cover recruitment (getting the right people onto the bus), staff transition and outplacement (getting the wrong people off) and performance management, retention, and career planning (the right people in the right seat).   Certainly the growing difficulty of finding staff, and holding them, has put a squeeze on organisations and led to the ‘war for talent’. 

As a consequence, experience has proven that they are also less likely to align their HRM practices with their overall business strategy.  “Unless they formalise their HRM practices and include them as part of their business plan, they are less likely to reap the benefits of growth," explains Ms Hartcher.

A CPA report on the competency of managers found 65 per cent of small businesses have little structure or formality in employment practices. In fact, only one in five had a staffing plan with a budget.

Market forces like workforce ageing, skill shortages, new generation’s workplace expectations and legislative changes are forcing organisations to focus attention on their Human Resources, a key asset but something many companies still take for granted. Workforce Planning brings a perspective that is often missing in company strategic plans, but it’s vital to pose some key questions to shed light on the ‘bigger picture’.  Can the strategy be executed?  Are the human resources in place or even obtainable in the current market?

US academic Jim Collins, in his best-seller Good to Great, analysed many corporate giants to see what was critical to their success of turning a good business into a great one. As one of the standout reasons, he found businesses employment policies were critical.  "We found that they first got the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats," Collins said. "And then they figured out where to drive it."

This has created a need to get a better handle on the size, nature and quality of an organisation’s own workforce, together with an idea of the features of the labour market from where staff can be drawn and, crucially, a reasonable impression of the organisation’s demand for labour over the next few years. Answering these questions will not only develop HR planning capability, but will also lead to greater understanding of the organisation’s human capital, and help ensure this “asset” contributes to the organisation’s future prosperity.

Hartcher agrees that unprofessional bosses with poorly planned staff-handling practices undermine business growth.   "They could benefit by improving their HR practices to maximise the investment in their most important asset - their staff," she said. "Good policies and procedures will help increase productivity and grow the business."

Using Collin’s bus driver analogy, perhaps there might be too many “owner drivers” out there, those that are good at driving the bus but lacking in other skills.  HR management needs a professional approach by people who understand the need for planning.  It needs input, even guidance, from those who have the resources and contacts, together with the HR skills and sensitivity to apply these appropriately.  Importantly, those that have HR as their 100% focus are likely to provide the objectivity required to support your bus in reaching its intended destination.  Human resources are your most valuable asset, getting them wrong can be expensive, getting them right most rewarding.

Celebrating our Temps of the Quarter!

Congratulations go out to sixteen of our Star temps for their commitment and hard work during the last quarter of 2005.  Although all nominees were awarded with a prize and a delicious group breakfast with the Searson Buck Tempforce team, there were just three overall stand-out winners.

                           ·                      Brendan Franklin (IT)

                           ·                      Myra Russell (Administration)

                           ·                      David Morgan (Hospitality)                          

Brendan has been an excellent representative for Searson Buck, proving his abilities in IT and his loyalty to our clients at all times.  He has been an extremely dependable and cooperative temporary staff member over the many months he has worked for us, adding value to his client while strongly representing the values Searson Buck stands for, most particularly professionalism and reliability.

Myra was awarded Searson Buck’s “Temp of the Quarter” as a result of her reliability, easy-going nature and ability to learn quickly and fit into every client’s workplace with amazing ease.  She has also worked above and beyond her duties on many occasions, showing special initiative along the way.

David has been an extremely versatile temporary employee for many of our hospitality clients.  Although only new to the Hospitality team in late 2005, David has gone out of his way to impress our clients and Searson Buck too.  He is extremely flexible in his abilities and always a pleasure to work with.

Special thanks should also go to Emma, Searson Buck Tempforce’s Personal Assistant, in organising such a successful and truly enjoyable event.

The amount of legislation and regulation for business is at times overwhelming, even for a big business that specifically employs people to manage risk and ensure compliance. Unfortunately for many small, and some medium-sized businesses, compliance and risk management tends to centre around financial and environmental matters, with Human Resources (HR) compliance not even “on the radar” until a challenge arises centring on people management issues.

For Powerco, the company responsible for construction and ongoing management of the natural gas distribution network in Tasmania, being a relatively new business to the State presents challenges.  Employing over 40 staff directly, the importance of timely and accurate advice in relation to Industrial Relations (IR) and HR is of critical importance.

For example, Powerco’s New Zealand base has, until recently, been providing IR and HR advice to the Tasmanian operations. But this approach has proven difficult, particularly where attendance on-site for such matters as employee performance counselling or discipline has been required. Beyond this, the differences in local IR laws, including the pending changes under the Federal Government’s WorkChoices legislation, has made it of critical importance that specialists who known the IR system federally and locally are involved.

Given the above imperatives, Powerco has turned to Searson Buck to provide IR and ongoing HR locum services to its Tasmanian operations, particularly in respect to the employment of Trainee Gas Mains and Service Layers.  This has involved preparation of Australian Workplace Agreements and provision of advice on IR compliance, while also amending NZ Standard Terms & Conditions to satisfy Australian legal requirements. Following this, the entire recruitment process, from offer through to engagement and induction, has been coordinated by Searson Buck.

These services have been delivered by specialists from within our People Performance Team. Manager, James O’Neill, views the relationship with Powerco as a business partnership. “At Searson Buck we bring our expertise in the area of IR and HR to work in partnership with our clients, assisting them achieve their business goals. The relationship is vital. I want it as seamless as possible. We get close to their people, so that we can understand their needs and then deliver.”

For Powerco this has meant Managers can focus on core business, knowing that the HR side, particularly compliance issues, are being looked after while other HR systems, such as performance management, are being driven appropriately.

Powerco’s Chief Operations Officer, Richie Sheather explained “Searson Buck have been very professional in all their dealings with us and have taken the time to understand our business. This has in turn allowed them to deliver quality and timely services that have met our needs. We’re pleased to be in close association with a Tasmanian company who understands the local and federal IR and HR landscape.”

Bruce Monk, Construction Manager in the state’s North, said “The one-stop-shop approach provided by the Searson Buck team has allowed me to continue focusing on the construction of the gas network in the north and northwest, including day-to-day issues arising from this. The expertise of the team identified a number of IR issues which we hadn’t considered.  This allowed us to deal with these upfront, eliminating potential problems in the future.”

Searson Buck also liaises closely with Powerco NZ in planning for strategic HR and direction. James is confident that this relationship will result in benefits for both parties as they share best practice and innovative approaches, particularly in the challenging area of employee attraction and retention across Australasia.

Anne Kirby-Fahey & Barry Kinchin

Source: www.ibsa.org.au/content/latestnews and The Donington Group

☺ A focus shift from the individual to the team;

☺ Flexible working environments due to labour shortages;

☺ The end of “obsession” with short-term shareholder

     value;

☺ Globalisation of the services economy; and

☺ Companies that measure their success on retaining and

     promoting women through management ranks.

Introducing our

UTas Winner

 Fiona Palfreyman, a Faculty of Business student at UTas, was honoured in March at a prize-giving ceremony held in Searson Buck’s Hobart offices.

Maurice Hine, Dr Rob Hecker, Fiona Palfreyman & Stephen Porter

Presented with a selection of rewards as this year’s recipient of the Searson Buck Award for Excellence in Human Resources Study, Fiona’s personal and academic achievements were celebrated by peers and leaders in the field who gathered to recognise her accomplishments.

The 23 year-old from Hobart completed her Bachelor of Commerce degree at the end of 2005, achieving the level of distinction or higher in almost every unit in the course and was noted as a stand-out winner by Searson Buck Executive Director, Stephen Porter.

“Fiona typifies the contemporary professional approach apparent in the HR industry across the country today,” Stephen said.  “HR is a respected profession which increasingly requires newcomers to hold tertiary qualifications.  We regard the HR major in the Faculty of Business at UTas as amongst the best available and have found graduates to be very successful in pursuing their chosen career, both locally and nationally.

Stephen explained Searson Buck’s desire to establish the annual Award, noting that “As Tasmania’s largest locally-owned human resources firm, the prize is as much about supporting students and graduates as it is about indicating to the University that we support the curriculum and quality of academic research and teaching.”

Fiona’s Award encompasses financial support in the form of $500, together with work experience within Searson Buck and career development advice and guidance from one of the team’s leading specialist consultants.  “Searson Buck is extremely pleased to present this prize to Fiona, who has demonstrated not only a capacity to succeed, but a strong commitment to the HR professional.  We regard this as an ideal opportunity to nurture and encourage emerging ‘talent’ in the industry and look forward to supporting Fiona in her future endeavours.”

Tempforce Does It Again

Searson Buck Tempforce has successfully managed another hospitality project recently, delivering the support team required for a major event held in both Hobart and Launceston during March.  Managing a team of ushers, ticketing and gate staff it was a great day out at both venues, attracting over 10,000 patrons.  Tempforce in Launceston were extremely happy with their day as this was their first major hospitality event.

Tempforce received fantastic feedback from the event’s promoters, with a representative from Sports Marketing Australia declaring “You and the staff were the best we’ve ever had out of the nine shows so far across Australia.”  Tempforce Division Manager, Anna Wodrow, responded by saying “It’s great to receive this feedback and to know we’re assisting in the success of these high profile events. We have a fantastic team of temporary staff who have the high levels of dedication and commitment required to ensure events run smoothly and become a memorable experience for patrons.”

For more information on how Searson Buck’s Tempforce team can help your next event be the success you’ve planned, contact Anna Wodrow on 6223 3055.

Specialist Sector Attention

– We’re Planning for Your Success

Gail Joubert, manager of Searson Buck’s PermPower division, has responded to the growing shortage of people in most sectors of industry by assigning each of her team of professional recruiters specific industry sectors to manage.

Searson Buck understands that each industry sector has specific requirements regarding skills, and that employers generally look for industry experience when hiring, especially for technical, management or professional people.  But Gail notes that each specific sector usually has an active industry group that co-ordinates industry representation, forums, member events, development activity, and social networks.  “To properly service an industry, we see the need to be involved actively in that sector, to get to know the companies and their teams, and their particular people issues and demands”, said Gail.

Gail indicated that while Searson Buck already service clients in almost every sector, there is a need to expand the depth of knowledge and to build partnerships so that we can work with these companies more effectively and even pre-empt staff demands for our clients.  “For example people from out of the state often make enquiry to us regarding work here, registering their CV with us so that we can represent them to prospective employers,” Gail explains.  “Our understanding of the various industry sectors allows us to place these candidates more effectively, not only leading to the original applicant’s satisfaction, but also that of their eventual employer – our client.”

Gail Joubert

Gail observed that “Without specific industry knowledge, we might unintentionally limit in the clients to whom we might refer that person, meaning that other companies that could use the skills on offer then miss out.  Instead, by being recognised as an industry specialist we find that people looking to change employment will register with us and then use us to help progress their career in their chosen sector.”  Additional services like salary relativity information, employment trends, and interstate activity can also be provided through generation of greater insight and understanding.  Plus we can introduce our client to other Searson Buck Divisions like “TempForce” or our HR/IR division, “People Performance” when the need for these particular skills and services becomes apparent.

With each Recruitment Consultant allocated to an industry, Gail sees the outcome as improved capacity to be involved and more effective contribution of Searson Buck’s resources to helping meet that sector’s HR demands.  “Better sector knowledge, built through involvement in industry associations and functions, and development of client relationships will allow an improved level of service, especially the capacity to help find the right person with the right skills”, she said.

More news regarding consultants and industry sectors will be published in our next newsletter and soon on our new website.

Total employment has remained relatively constant over the past four months, although it remained three percentage points higher than the figure recorded in March 2005.  Looking at gender differences, total employment amongst males fell slightly over March, but remained 3.3% beyond figures for the same point in the pervious year.  With full-time male employment largely unchanged over March, this adjustment relates to a reduction in the number of males in part-time roles, although it should be noted that overall, total part-time employment remained 5.6% above that recorded in March 2005.  Amongst females, full-time employment actually fell by 1.6% over the year, although this was off-set by an increase in part-time employment by almost 7%.

Looking at the picture of unemployment, it’s noted that although overall rates fell marginally over March, since the same time last year we’ve witnessed a 13% increase to a total unemployment rate of 6.4%, up on the figure of 5.9% recorded at the same point last year.  At a comparative level though, this translates favourably to the national average of 5.1%, with only WA recording a lower rate of 4.2%.

While these figures are suggestive of a positive picture for Tasmania, it should be observed that the number of people in the local labour market did decline during March, an outcome caused by those unemployed simply choosing to cease their current search for work.  Although the current Tasmanian rate of participation is 1.7% higher than that of last year, the local level is still well below the national average rate of 64.5% at 61.2%.

A further indicator, drawn from the ANZ Bank’s Job Advertisement Series, shows that Tasmanian figures began to rise again, marking an increase of 1.3% after a series of falls in late 2005.  Comparative national figures show rates fell by 0.5% over the month, to a total decline of 7.2% over the year, suggesting that our local market again bucks the national trends in this key area.

Source – DEWR Labour Economics Office.

Snippets – Feeling Stressed?

Stress levels amongst business leaders worldwide have risen by 50% over the past year. The Grant Thornton International 2006 International Business Owners Survey of more than 7,000 business owners in 30 countries around the world showed that 57% of all business owners reported high stress levels.  It’s pertinent to note that the research identified a link between the degree of stress and the amount of holidays taken. Those executives with poor holiday allowance (ie fewer holidays taken per annum) showed higher stress levels, while other factors contributing to stress included high levels of business travel and fears over job security.

Source: www.gti.org and The Donington Group

Starting Our Finishing School

Searson Buck’s Hospitality Customer Service Course has been compared to a one-day finishing school for hospitality staff, offering graduates a little of the extra polish required to really stand out in this high demand industry. 

Delivered by an external trainer with both excellent skills and experience in the industry, the service is primarily designed for Searson Buck’s existing and new hospitality temp staff, particularly those who wish to enhance their skills and to learn the traditional etiquette of high-level service.

Searson Buck Hospitality Customer Service Staff Trainig

There are more than three million retirees aged 45 years or over in Australia, according to statistics released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.  Of those, 63% have worked in the last twenty years and from amongst this group, almost 35% left the workforce once they reached retirement age or became eligible to receive superannuation or the pension. Of others in this cohort, 26% retired due to injury or ill health, while 11% retired after being retrenched or dismissed by their employer, or after finding that there was no longer any suitable work available.

Source: www.abs.gov.au/ausstats and The Donington Group

Snippets From The Donington Group

The Donington Difference is that we work from the heart not just the head. Our experiences and approaches address the practical and emotion issues to produce effective results for the individual, in the shortest possible time.  Donington partners are themselves actively involved in the delivery of career transition programs.

Donington Tasmania – Career Transition.  Call Anne Kirby-Fahey in Hobart on 6224 9455 or Ros Macfarlane in Launceston on 6334 7799 for more on how our partnership can add value in planning for your own business evolution.

New Faces...

Brett Smith

HR Compliance Manager

With a mix of knowledge and experience gained through working in business and providing HR/IR consulting services, Brett brings an ideal mix of skills to his new role.  Promoting a proactive approach to HR he is working with clients state wide completing HR audits, OH&S tasks, policy and procedure work, strategic plans and performance management systems.

Thane Brady

Industrial Relations Manager

Thane joined Searson Buck in a new role of Industrial Relations Manager in our People Performance Division.  Based at our Launceston office he is providing a state wide service covering all aspects of Industrial Relations including advocacy work, workplace relations advice, enterprise agreement and Australian Workplace agreement making.  With over twenty years IR experience, Thane brings a practical and results orientated approach to his work.

Donna Corbett

Receptionist

Joining Searson Buck prior to Christmas, Donna has taken on the key front office role of Receptionist for Hobart.  Building on 6 years in similar work she provides our first point of contact for telephone and face to face enquiries helping to ensure we continue to deliver a friendly, professional and high level of customer service.

Mia Potter

Office Support

Head Prefect at St Michael’s Collegiate in 2005, Mia is taking a gap year from her study and working in a diverse role in our Hobart office.  As a trainee she is benefiting from gaining practical experience and knowledge of office work and human resources prior to commencing her tertiary studies.