Hello and welcome to Episode 283 of the People Powered Business Podcast.

I have a bit of a theme going at the moment which I’m calling ‘Compliance Quarter’ and today we’re taking a look at the recent changes to casual employment.

We discuss what changed and when, the new definition of a casual that was inserted into the Fair Work Act last year, an update to Casual Conversion pathways and why the onus is on you as the employer to get it right.

In August 2024 a new definition of what constitutes a casual was inserted into the FWA (so it’s law). From this point of time onwards, employers had a legal obligation to ensure that if they engaged someone as a casual employee, they had to meet this definition.

The casual definition requires that an employment relationship must:

1. Have no firm advance commitment to continuing and indefinite work (like a guaranteed weekly roster); and

2. Entitle the worker to casual loading or a specific casual rate under a modern award, enterprise agreement, or contract.

So even if the contract says casual, the actual work arrangement determines status.

In addition, we have seen changes to the casual conversion pathway and the provision of the Casual Employment Information Statement (CEIS).

If you’d like to connect with other businesses who are also juggling the challenges of teams, I’d love you to join us inside our free Facebook Group, The People Powered Community, so I can learn more about what’s working for you and any challenges you might be having.

Join Here. https://www.facebook.com/groups/hrsupportaustralia

Hello and welcome to Episode 282 of the People Powered Business Podcast.

Today I’m sharing a conversation I recently had with Juliet Robinson over on the Grow Your Influence Podcast.

So often when we are recruiting new people into our teams, we are doing it under pressure. We need someone NOW and it can be tempting to just fill the job that has been created, rather than thinking strategically about the skills we need in our team.

When we’re recruiting we often bring in people like us. People we can relate to in interviews so we think they will fit in the team and we can train them up for the job. Sometimes that works. Often it doesn’t. And either way, it takes a lot more time and energy that taking a skills-based approach in the beginning.

In this episode Juliet and Kristy-Lee talk about the challenges of recruiting for a skills-based team that also ‘works’. That is, the new joiners ‘fit’ with the team culture and have the skills to contribute immediately, even if the way they work and communicate is a bit different from the existing team. There are some key steps you can take to ensure the role you’re filling is what’s required and that your next hire hits the ground running.

If you’d like to connect with other businesses who are also juggling the challenges of teams, I’d love you to join us inside our free Facebook Group, The People Powered Community, so I can learn more about what’s working for you and any challenges you might be having.

Join Here.

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Hello and welcome to Episode 281 of the People Powered Business Podcast.

Today we’re tackling a topic which I can’t believe we haven’t discussed before in isolation on the podcast – productivity.

I’ve been having a lot of conversations recently about team productivity – and a lot of business owners seem to have busy confused with productive.

In addition there is a lot of chatter more broadly about productivity declining, ways we can improve it and why it matters.

So in this episode we will look at what productivity actually means, why it’s important to monitor it, and how you might go about measuring (and improving) productivity in your business.

If you’d like to connect with other businesses who are also juggling the challenges of teams, I’d love you to join us inside our free Facebook Group, The People Powered Community, so I can learn more about what’s working for you and any challenges you might be having.

Join Here - https://www.facebook.com/groups/hrsupportaustralia

Hello and welcome to Episode 280 of the People Powered Business Podcast.

In this episode we’re unpacking a recent Fair Work Commission decision that has seen a worker based in the Philippines being deemed to be an employee of an Australian based business, and what that means for those engaging offshore workers.

In the case, the worker, based in the Philippines, was working for a Brisbane based business. Her tasks were to work as a Paralegal. She worked from her home, and was required to work Australian hours – 8:30am to 5pm QLD time.

Her engagement was terminated by the business (because she allegedly copied company data onto a personal computer drive – an allegation she denies).

Upon termination she felt wronged and unprotected. She felt unprotected by Philippines workplace law because of how her engagement was set up, but also wasn’t sure she was covered by Australian workplace law, but because she felt like she was acting just like an employee – she would make an unfair dismissal claim with the Fair Work Commission.

The company of course argued that she wasn’t in Australia, and therefor was a contractor, not an employee, and as a result not eligible to make the claim.

However, the worker pointed out that the Fair Work Act does not in fact state that you need to be physically in Australia for this to make such a claim.

The outcome? The first thing that needed to be determined, was whether she was an employee and therefore eligible to make the unfair dismissal claim.

The Fair Work Commission ruled that she was an employee of the Australian company, and that she was not conducting her own business and therefore not a contractor.

They ruled that as an employee, she was entitled to all of her workplace rights under the Fair Work Act, including the national minimum wage, which was at the time of the termination $6.87 per hour higher than what she was getting paid.

The result This has paved the way for her to make a claim for back payment of wages, and to pursue the unfair dismissal claim, amongst other things.

You can read the full article here: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-06-03/filipino-woman-changed-game-for-australias-offshore-workers/104750996

We unpacked what this case might mean for you if you engage offshore workers in your business.

If you’d like to connect with other businesses who are also juggling the challenges of teams, I’d love you to join us inside our free Facebook Group, The People Powered Community, so I can learn more about what’s working for you and any challenges you might be having.

Join Here.

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Hello and welcome to Episode 279 of the People Powered Business Podcast.

In this episode we’re talking about workplace relations changes and what’s on the horizon.

Recently HRM Online shared an article where they interviewed the Federal Workplace Relations Minister, Amanda Rishworth, on what we can expect and what’s on the Governments agenda when it comes to Industrial Relations law changes over the next few years.

You can read the full article here: https://www.hrmonline.com.au/organisational-enablement/new-workplace-relations-minister-governments-upcoming-agenda

Today we look at what we know is changing, what we don’t yet know, and what you need to do to be prepared.

I also shared that the best way to ensure you are up to date with all the changes is to get support, which we can offer you through People Powered HR - This simple membership gives you everything you need to handle HR the right way. From compliant plug and play resources to expert answers, you’ll have the tools and support to make smart people decisions - and finally feel in control.

You can see all the details and join us here: https://www.peoplepoweredbusiness.com.au/pphr

If you’d like to connect with other businesses who are also juggling the challenges of teams, I’d love you to join us inside our free Facebook Group, The People Powered Community, so I can learn more about what’s working for you and any challenges you might be having.

Join Here. https://www.facebook.com/groups/hrsupportaustralia

Hello and welcome to Episode 278 of the People Powered Business Podcast.

Happy new financial year – how is the middle of the year feeling for you?

I for one am feeling tired, cold and a little bit over it all – and I’m getting the same vibes from my clients – both in terms of how they are feeling, and how their teams are feeling.

So today we’re talking about the mid year motivation slump.

We’re going to start by looking at why motivation wanes at this time of year. Then we’ll get into why it’s important to give your team a motivation boost right now and why a mid year reset is a great idea then I’m going to share 3 mid year motivation boosters that will help you and your team.

If you’d like to connect with other businesses who are also juggling the challenges of teams, I’d love you to join us inside our free Facebook Group, The People Powered Community, so I can learn more about what’s working for you and any challenges you might be having.

Join Here - https://www.facebook.com/groups/hrsupportaustralia

Hello and welcome to Episode 277 of the People Powered Business Podcast.

Today we are joined by Kate Russell from The Huddle for a discussion on dealing with conflict in the workplace.

Kate is the Founder of The Huddle—a business built on deep listening, emotional safety, and the belief that conflict can be transformative, not destructive.

She’s not a lawyer, nor does she have a master’s degree in conflict resolution. Kate does have over 30 years of lived, professional experience navigating some of the most emotionally complex and high-stakes environments you can imagine—from child support and family services to workplace conflict and leadership breakdowns.

Kate has worked with people in crisis, in silence, in fury, in heartbreak—and she has walked beside them without flinching. Not to fix them. But to hear them. To reflect them. To help them find their way back to themselves and each other.

Kate created The Huddle for leaders and teams who are ready to have real conversations—the kind that heal fractures, build trust, and reshape culture from the inside out.

Her approach blends conflict transformation, trauma-informed practice, emotional intelligence, and good old-fashioned human decency. She is noy here to tell people what to do. She is here to help them listen better, lead better, and live better—at work and beyond.

If you’d like to connect with Kate her website is: https://www.thehuddle.net.au/

Or connect with her on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/conflictcoachandteambuilder/

An Invitation

Would you like to connect with other like-minded business owners, leaders and managers experiencing similar situations with their team? Join the discussion inside our free Facebook Group – The People Powered Business Community. Click here to join us.

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Hello and welcome to Episode 275 of the People Powered Business Podcast.

This week we have a brief but important technical update for you after the Fair Work Commission announced its decision around the National Minimum Wage increase effective 1 July.

This year we have a 3.5% wage increase being applied to the National Minimum Wage and all Modern Award Minimum Wages effective 1 July 2025.

But really, in the scheme of the changes happening in the Industrial Relations legal landscape over the last 2 years, this isn’t the biggest change we need to ensure we’re across.

We have yet another increase to Superannuation on the 1st July 2025, and of course the final implementation phase of the Right to Disconnect laws in August 2025.

This is on top of the last 12 months significant changes to the casual employment definition, the new pathway for casual conversion and the constantly murky area of employees v’s contractors conundrum – all of which employers are still struggling to grapple with.

The reality is, as an employer it is our responsibility to proactively keep up with these changes, so if you’re not across them, now is the time to get support and ensure your business is not at risk.

If you’d like to connect with other businesses who are also juggling the challenges of teams, I’d love you to join us inside our free Facebook Group, The People Powered Community, so I can learn more about what’s working for you and any challenges you might be having.

Join Here. https://www.facebook.com/groups/hrsupportaustralia