The COVID-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic has created unprecedented business disruption. For businesses that have either had to close (due to government mandated directives) or businesses that have experienced a significant downturn in trading conditions, measures will undoubtedly now need to be taken to effectively manage your workforce. Different measures to consider include:
- Taking paid or unpaid leave,
- Modifying hours of work,
- Modifying remuneration,
- Adjusting accountabilities to continue doing useful work, and
- Redundancy.
When implementing these types of measures there are risks including wage claims, constructive dismissal claims, general protections (adverse action)claims and even worker’s compensation claims.
Importantly, there is no ‘silver bullet’ in managing these issues and we find that even within specific businesses there is not a ‘one size fits all approach’ meaning that workers are often managed on a case by case basis. The key is to ensure that you follow the right process, dependent on your circumstances.
At Human Outsource we have already helped dozens of SMEs grappling with these issues over the past few weeks.
Call us now on 1300 723 911 for a free consultation. As part of that consultation you will receive free general HR advice related to your circumstances with no obligation to engage us for further services. Ultimately, as a company we have the interests of SMEs as our core focus and as such we are happy to help any Australian business through these tough times.